# A chemical unit buys block ice to cool its reactors: which scope is that ice in, and how do I estimate its carbon dioxide (CO2) when the ice plant gives no figures?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/chemical-unit-bought-ice-blocks-which-scope

On our reading of the Scope 3 standard, bought ice is a purchased good, category 1, because you burn no fuel and draw no power to make it. With no data from the ice plant, Bhimavaram's cluster averages of 102 kilowatt hours (kWh) and 2 litres of diesel a tonne give about 74 kg of CO2 a tonne (estimate).

## Where bought ice sits

- The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol's Scope 3 standard puts "all upstream (i.e., cradle-to-gate) emissions from the production of products purchased or acquired by the reporting company in the reporting year" in category 1, purchased goods and services.
- It says emissions from the use of purchased products are counted in scope 1 "(e.g., for fuel use)" or scope 2 "(e.g., for electricity use)". Melting ice in a reactor jacket is neither, so our reading is that the ice is category 1.
- The power the ice factory used to freeze it is the factory's own scope 2, and reaches you only through the ice.
- A delivery you pay for, in a vehicle you do not own or operate, falls in category 4, upstream transportation and distribution.

## How common it is in the cluster profiles

- The Ahmedabad profile says a few micro and small chemical units use ice blocks for cooling instead of an ammonia chiller, and that local ice factories in the cluster supply them.
- The Thane and Ahmedabad profiles say a few units with intermittent processes use ice blocks instead of chillers. Thane's peroxide batch uses ice water.
- Thane's list of savings includes a chiller machine "to eliminate the use of ice-based chilling system". Our reading: if you switch, that cooling moves from category 1 into your own power in scope 2.

## An estimate when the ice plant gives nothing

- Bhimavaram's 80 block ice plants used 38,410,897 kWh and 762,222 litres of diesel to make 375,994 tonnes of ice, so 102.2 kWh and 2.03 litres a tonne.
- At 0.675 kg of CO2 a kWh and 2.645 kg a litre of diesel: 69.0 + 5.4 = 74.4 kg of CO2 a tonne of ice.
- By plant size the table prints 76 to 112 kWh a tonne, which matches its kWh and tonnes, and which is about 51 to 75 kg a tonne from power.
- The profile's text gives 83, 102, 114 and 118 kWh a tonne for the four sizes, which do not match its own table lines. The table's total row prints 98, which is the plain average of the four rows (76, 99, 105 and 112); weighted by tonnes, the printed totals give 102.2. We used the printed totals.

## What to keep

1. Tonnes of ice bought each month, from delivery slips: blocks times block weight.
2. The supplier's name and, if they will give it, their kWh and tonnes for a month.
3. A line that says the figure is an estimate, with its basis.
4. Do not net it against your own Scope 2.

## Example: 1,500 kg of ice a day

- Ice bought: 1,500 kg a day x 300 days = 450 tonnes (example figure)
- Power at the ice plant: 450 x 69.0 = 31,050 kg
- Diesel at the ice plant: 450 x 5.4 = 2,430 kg
- Total: 33,480 kg, about 33.5 tonnes of CO2, scope 3 category 1

The Andhra Pradesh averages are for ammonia block ice plants in one cluster; your supplier may differ. Our arithmetic, an estimate.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records. Ice bought by the tonne is not a fuel or power bill, so the estimate stays your own labelled note beside them.

- [Supplier evidence for category 1 purchases](https://senseible.earth/scope-3-supplier-evidence)
- [Ice plant electricity per tonne of ice](https://senseible.earth/answers/ice-plant-electricity-per-tonne-of-ice)
- [Bhimavaram ice plants: electricity per tonne](https://senseible.earth/answers/bhimavaram-ice-plants-electricity-per-tonne)
- [Thane chemical batches: what each draws on](https://senseible.earth/answers/thane-chemical-processes-heat-cooling-and-vacuum)

Sources: [GHG Protocol, Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard, categories 1 and 4](https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/standards/Corporate-Value-Chain-Accounting-Reporing-Standard_041613_2.pdf), [Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) programme, Manual on energy conservation measures in ice making cluster, Bhimavaram (SAMEEEKSHA)](https://sameeeksha.org/pdf/clusterprofile/Bhimavaram_Ice_Making.pdf), [The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Cluster profile report: Ahmedabad chemical cluster (SAMEEEKSHA)](https://sameeeksha.org/pdf/clusterprofile/Ahmedabad%20chemical%20cluster.pdf), [TERI, Cluster profile report: Thane chemical cluster (SAMEEEKSHA)](https://sameeeksha.org/pdf/clusterprofile/Thane%20chemical%20cluster.pdf), [Central Electricity Authority (CEA), CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector (grid factor 0.675 kg CO2 per kWh, financial year (FY) 2025-26)](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-view?mappingId=234&lang=en)

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. The category choice is our reading of the Scope 3 standard; confirm it with your buyer's or auditor's method. The ice plant figures are one cluster's averages, so replace them with your supplier's data when you can.