# Should a first Scope 3 target cover Scope 1, 2 and 3 together, all of Scope 3, or single categories?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/scope-3-target-boundary-one-target-or-per-category

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Scope 3 Standard lists three target boundaries: one target for Scope 1, 2 and 3 together, one for all of Scope 3, or separate targets by category. Separate targets show more detail but risk looking like cherry picking of the categories that are easy to cut.

## The three options and their trade-offs

- One target for total Scope 1 + 2 + 3. For: manages emissions across the whole value chain, leaves room to choose where to cut, simple to explain, and needs no base year recalculation when activities shift between scopes, for example through outsourcing. Against: less transparency for each Scope 3 category, and it needs the same base year for all three scopes, which may be hard if Scope 1 and 2 base years are already set.
- One target for total Scope 3. For: manages all Scope 3 categories together, with flexibility, and is relatively simple to explain. Against: less transparency by category, and it may need a base year recalculation when activities shift between scopes, for example through outsourcing.
- Separate targets for individual categories. For: targets fitted to each category, more transparency, extra metrics to track progress, easier tracking of specific activities, and no base year recalculation when you add categories to the inventory. Against: less complete management of the value chain if several targets are not set, a risk of cherry picking, or the perception of it, by choosing only easy categories, harder to explain, and a possible recalculation for outsourcing or insourcing.

## What this means for a smaller company

If your Scope 1 and 2 base year is already fixed, a single combined target forces one base year on all three scopes, which the standard flags as difficult. If your Scope 3 inventory grows one category at a time, separate targets avoid a recalculation each time you add one, but set targets on several categories, not just the easy ones.

## The other choices to settle with it

- Type: absolute, intensity or both. A company using an intensity target should also report the absolute emissions from the sources it covers.
- Completion date: the standard says companies should in general set long-term targets, for example ten years, and may add shorter ones.
- Level: the standard says companies should in general set an ambitious target, below business as usual.
- Offsets: companies should strive to meet the target entirely from internal reductions, should state whether offsets were used and how much of the reduction they supplied, and should keep internal emissions in separate accounts from offsets, not as a net figure.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so a Scope 1 and 2 base year can be built from bills month by month. Senseible does not set targets.

- [Free calculators](https://senseible.earth/calculators)
- [Absolute or intensity reduction target](https://senseible.earth/answers/absolute-or-intensity-reduction-target)
- [When a Scope 3 base year is recalculated](https://senseible.earth/answers/scope-3-base-year-significance-threshold)
- [Target commitment period length](https://senseible.earth/answers/ghg-target-commitment-period-length)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard, chapter 9 (Table 9.2 and target decisions)](https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/standards/Corporate-Value-Chain-Accounting-Reporing-Standard_041613_2.pdf)

Last reviewed 2026-11-04. Wording is from the 2011 Scope 3 Standard. The GHG Protocol is revising its standards, so check for a newer edition.