Which gases must Scope 3 cover, and what happens to biogenic CO2 from a supplier's biomass boiler?

Scope 3 covers six gases where they are emitted in the value chain: CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, HFCs, PFCs and SF6. CO2 from a supplier burning biomass stays out of your Scope 3 total but must appear separately in your public report. The boiler's methane and nitrous oxide stay in.

The six gases

The Scope 3 Standard requires CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, HFCs, PFCs and SF6 wherever they occur in the value chain. Other gases with IPCC 100-year GWP values, such as NF3, are optional and listed if you include them. If you also file in India, check BRSR's own gas list rather than assuming it matches.

What "separately" means for biomass CO2

• CO2 from burning or decomposing biomass is not counted in any scope.
• It must still be reported, per category, as its own line in the public report.
• The rule covers that CO2 only. Methane and nitrous oxide from the same boiler count in the category total.
• Other emissions in the biomass chain also count: diesel to haul briquettes, power to make them.

Removals are not netted

Carbon taken up by trees or crops in your value chain is not subtracted from Scope 3. You may report it on a separate line. The standard's own example: a transporter running on diesel and biodiesel puts the diesel in Category 4, the biodiesel CO2 on the separate line, and no removal from growing the biodiesel crop in Scope 3.

What to ask a supplier with a biomass boiler

• Fuel tonnes by type, fossil and biomass kept apart.
• Methane and nitrous oxide from the boiler, in CO2e.
• Biogenic CO2 as a separate figure, split to your purchases on the same basis as the rest.
• Fuel invoices or a fuel register that back the tonnes.

Worked example: a supplier's share for your orders

• Boiler on rice husk briquettes: methane and nitrous oxide 1.9 t CO2e; biogenic CO2 72 t
• Diesel to haul the briquettes: 4.0 t CO2
• Into your Category 1 total: 1.9 + 4.0 = 5.9 t CO2e
• Separate line in your report: 72 t biogenic CO2, not added to any scope

Example figures for the supplier's share. The point is where each number goes, not its size.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads a supplier's fuel invoices line by line, so fossil fuel and biomass purchases show as separate lines with their quantities. Where it has no published factor for a fuel, it shows no figure rather than a guess.

• Scope 3 supplier evidence
• Biomass boiler methane and N2O
• Evidence for biomass fuel
• Which gases BRSR asks for
• What a Scope 3 report must show

Sources: GHG Protocol, Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard, sections 6.2 (boundary requirements), 6.5 (biogenic emissions and removals, example 6.1) and 11.1

Last reviewed 2026-10-31.