# Do paint solvents in a car body shop count in its carbon footprint?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/car-body-shop-paint-solvents-carbon-count

The solvents themselves are mostly volatile organic compounds, an air quality issue rather than a greenhouse gas line. What counts is the paint and solvent you buy, as Scope 3 purchased goods, and the gas or diesel for the booth's heaters, as Scope 1.

## What to count

Booth heater fuel as Scope 1.

Booth fans and compressors as Scope 2.

Paint, primer and thinner bought as Scope 3 category 1.

## What not to count

Do not add solvent VOC emissions to a CO2e total unless your method converts them; most small workshop reports do not.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and diesel, LPG and gas invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a dated, fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record for each site. Intensity per unit uses the activity count you enter, and estimates are labelled as estimates.

- [Car paint booth per vehicle](https://senseible.earth/answers/car-paint-booth-emissions-per-vehicle)
- [Auto service workshop footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/auto-service-workshop-carbon-footprint)

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

Last reviewed 2026-10-21.