# How do we count emissions when goods are bartered instead of bought?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/barter-trade-emissions-accounting

Emissions follow the physical goods and services, not the payment. Count goods you receive as purchased goods by quantity, using a factor per kg or unit. Goods you give away were already counted when you made or bought them. A spend-based estimate needs a fair market value, so record one.

## Received

- Quantity and type from the delivery challan.
- Supplier figure or a named factor per unit.
- Category 1, or Category 2 if it is a capital item.

## Given

No new emissions are created by the swap; the goods' production stays where it was counted.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible keeps purchase invoices on the Scope 3 trail with the category, method and factor source on every line, so spend-based estimates are labelled as estimates and can be replaced with supplier data later.

- [Intercompany transactions](https://senseible.earth/answers/intercompany-transactions-group-carbon-inventory)
- [Capital goods in Scope 3](https://senseible.earth/answers/capital-goods-scope-3-count-in-year-of-purchase)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-value-chain-scope-3-standard)

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.