# We paid for fuel in advance. Which year do the emissions go in?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/fuel-paid-in-advance-which-year-to-count

Count fuel in the year you burn it, not the year you pay. An advance is a payment, not consumption. Use delivery dates and your stock register to place each lot, and carry unburned stock into the next year.

## The rule

The GHG Protocol counts emissions when combustion happens. Payment timing never moves emissions between years.

## What to keep

- The advance receipt or contract.
- Each delivery challan with its date and quantity.
- A year-end stock count of fuel still in the tank.

## Splitting it

- Paid in March for 12,000 L, delivered April to September
- Opening stock 0, closing stock 1,500 L
- Burned in the year: 10,500 L x 2.68 kg = 28,140 kg CO2

## What Senseible does here

Senseible keeps each figure tied to its invoice, factor and method version, so a verifier can trace any number back to the document it came from.

- [Fuel stock: bought or burned](https://senseible.earth/answers/fuel-stock-count-when-bought-or-burned)
- [Year-end invoice cut-off](https://senseible.earth/answers/verifier-checks-year-end-invoice-cut-off)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard), [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2: Energy](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html)

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.