# What drives emissions at an EDC and vinyl chloride plant?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/vinyl-chloride-monomer-plant-emissions

Ethylene and chlorine make EDC, which is cracked in fired furnaces to vinyl chloride. Furnace fuel is the largest direct source, with vent gas incineration and oxychlorination off-gas adding CO2. Chlorine's electricity sits upstream in Scope 3 unless made on site.

## Scope 1

- Fuel for the EDC cracking furnaces.
- Vent gas and liquid waste incinerators.
- CO2 from the oxychlorination step.

## Scope 2 and 3

- Electricity for compressors and utilities.
- Chlorine, from electrolysis, bought in or made in a chlor-alkali unit on site.
- Ethylene feedstock.

## Method

IPCC 2006 Volume 3 covers EDC and vinyl chloride under petrochemicals. If chlorine is made on site, its electricity becomes your Scope 2 and should be shown as its own line.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads bills, fuel invoices and production records into dated, fingerprinted records, so the figure you send a buyer can be traced to its documents.

- [Dahej PVC supplier data](https://senseible.earth/answers/dahej-pvc-supplier-carbon-data-for-buyers)
- [Chlor-alkali captive power](https://senseible.earth/answers/dahej-chlor-alkali-caustic-soda-captive-power-co2)
- [PVC pipe footprint](https://senseible.earth/answers/pvc-pipe-carbon-footprint-per-kg)

Sources: [IPCC 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/), [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 2026-10-22.