In the Greenhouse Gas Protocol's spend-based transport example, why are totals printed per dollar, and is the method fit for my freight bills?

The example multiplies dollars by kilograms per dollar, so 7,300 is kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent, not kilograms per dollar as printed. More important, the guide says the method suits screening and recommends fuel-based and distance-based methods for transport. Use rupee bills only when nothing better exists.

What the guide says about the method

Under the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol's Category 4 guidance, the spend-based method is for when the fuel-based and distance-based methods cannot be applied. It says the method "is effective for screening purposes; however it has high levels of uncertainty and the fuel-based and distance-based methods are recommended for accounting for transportation emissions."

It needs the amount spent on each type of transport, an environmentally extended input-output (EEIO) factor per unit of money, and, where applicable, inflation data to move values between the factor's year and the spend year.

Two wording problems in the guide (our reading)

• The example's three results and total are printed with the unit kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per dollar. Dollars times kilograms per dollar leave kilograms, so the unit should be kilograms CO2e. Our reading is that this is a label slip: the arithmetic is fine.
• The introduction to the Category 4 methods describes the spend-based method as money spent on each mode of business travel transport. That wording looks carried over from Category 6. The method itself is applied to freight spend (our reading).

Do not compare it with the distance example

The guide's distance-based example for chairs gives 5,000 kilograms and the spend-based one for televisions gives 7,300. They are different companies with different inputs, so the gap says nothing about which method reads higher.

If all you have is rupees

1. Our advice, in line with the page on tax in spend-based figures: take the freight bill before Goods and Services Tax (GST) and keep it per transporter and mode.
2. Pick an EEIO factor in the same currency and year, or convert as the guide's inflation note describes.
3. Multiply, and label the answer kilograms.
4. Mark the line as an estimate and ask the transporter for weights, distance or litres, so the line can be replaced later.

The guide's example, then rupees

• Truck: 20,000 x 0.04 = 800 kilograms CO2e
• Air, long haul: 30,000 x 0.15 = 4,500 kilograms CO2e
• Container ship: 40,000 x 0.05 = 2,000 kilograms CO2e
• Total: 800 + 4,500 + 2,000 = 7,300 kilograms CO2e, not per dollar
• Rupee unit check, example: rupees (Rs) 5,00,000 x 0.0005 kilograms CO2e per rupee = 250 kilograms CO2e

The guide's figures are examples and not for real use. The rupee factor is an example to show the unit check, not a published factor.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records. It does not turn a rupee-only freight bill into emissions. The freight calculator works from tonnes and kilometres, so ask your transporter for those.

• Tax, inflation and currency in spend-based figures
• What an input-output factor includes
• Freight factor units, checked
• Free calculators

Sources: GHG Protocol Technical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions, Category 4 (Upstream transportation and distribution)

Last reviewed 2026-11-06. The slips are in the 2013 guide's printed text; check the current edition if one is published.