# Are emissions from a tractor I hire with its driver Scope 1 or Scope 3?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/hired-tractor-emissions-which-scope

Scope 3. A tractor hired with its operator from a custom hiring centre or a neighbour is run by them, so its diesel is in their Scope 1 and your Scope 3, Category 1, as a purchased service. Only tractors you own, or lease and operate yourself, are Scope 1.

## The test

Under operational control, a source is Scope 1 if you run it day to day: you drive it or employ the driver, and you maintain it. A hired tractor with its operator fails that test for the farmer.

## Case by case

- Own tractor, own driver: Scope 1.
- Tractor hired with operator: Scope 3, Category 1.
- Tractor rented without operator, driven by you: Scope 1 under operational control.
- Combine harvester hired per acre: Scope 3, Category 1.

## Data to ask for

Hours or acres worked and the diesel used, from the hiring centre's log. Without litres, estimate from hours and label it an estimate.

## Worked example: hired ploughing (illustrative inputs)

- Ploughing hired from a custom hiring centre: 8 hours
- Diesel used, from the centre's log: 40 litres
- 40 x 2.68 = 107.2 kg CO2, reported in Scope 3, Category 1 (purchased service)

Hours and litres are illustrative; 2.68 kg CO2 per litre is the IPCC 2006 diesel default.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads the invoices behind each line and files them as Scope 1, Scope 2 or Scope 3 evidence; the scope choice for contracted services follows the control test you record in your method note.

- [Tractor diesel emissions per acre](https://senseible.earth/answers/tractor-diesel-emissions-per-acre)
- [Hired trucks: Scope 1 or 3?](https://senseible.earth/answers/hired-trucks-scope-1-or-scope-3)
- [Contractor diesel on my site](https://senseible.earth/answers/contractor-diesel-on-my-site-which-scope)

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), [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel defaults)](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html)

Last reviewed 2026-10-21.