A Guide to Scope 2 Emissions
Understanding Scope 2 Emissions
What are ‘Scope 2 Emissions’?
Scope 2 emissions are emissions that come from using electricity, steam, heat, or cooling. Scope 2 represents one of the largest sources of GHG emissions globally, with the generation of electricity and heat now accounting for at least a third of global GHG emissions.
Learn more about Scope 2 Emissions in The 101💡 below.
What data do you need to calculate scope 2 emissions?
Good news, it’s pretty easy!
For most businesses you just need to know the kWh of electricity your company uses across all the meters it has.
Category | Data | Data Sourcse |
Purchased electricity, steam, heat, and cooling | Amount purchased (e.g. kWh) | Invoices / Utility bills
Metre reading records
Contracts such as PPA (Power Purchase Agreements). |
Calculating Scope 2 Emissions in Sumday 🧮
- Go to Assessments in the left hand menu.
- Go to Accounting
- Go to Scope 2
- Create sites in worksheets (for each meter) and add assets within the relevant categories
- Copy and paste your consumption data into the table
- Go to Dashboards and take the total number of Scope 2 emissions.
Benefits of understanding Scope 2 Emissions
✅ Meet Stakeholder expectations and respond with confidence!
✅ Identify the assets contributing the most to your scope 2 emissions
✅ Build a compelling business case for reducing emissions (and potentially $)
Reducing Scope 2 Emissions 📉
Quick Tips 💡
✅ Use 100% renewable energy or have a clear plan to get there
✅ Consider operational changes to use less electricity where possible
You have access to:
- An excel template for preparing a business case for reducing scope 2 emissions
- A tutorial on how to use that template
- An shiny example presentation to explain the business case to your own stakeholders
- Support from the help desk on how to prepare this case, just reach out here.
Simply go to the Academy and click on Business Case Templates to find it.
The 101 💡
Four types of purchased energy (collectively referred to as “Electricity”) are tracked in Scope 2:
Electricity
Almost all companies use electricity. It's used to operate machines, lighting, electric vehicle charging, and certain types of heat and cooling systems.
Steam
Formed when water boils, steam is a valuable energy source for industrial processes. It is used for mechanical work, heat or directly as a process medium. Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facilities (also called cogeneration or trigeneration) may produce multiple energy outputs from a single combustion process. Reporting companies purchasing either electricity or heat/steam from a CHP plant should check with the CHP supplier to ensure that the allocation of emissions across energy outputs follows best practices, such as the GHG Protocol Allocation of GHG Emissions from a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Plant (2006).
Heat
Most commercial or industrial buildings require heat to control interior climates and heat water. Many industrial processes also require heat for specific equipment. That heat may either be produced from electricity or through a non-electrical process such as solar thermal heat or thermal combustion processes (as with a boiler or a thermal power plant) outside the business's operational control.
Cooling
Similar to heat, cooling may be produced from electricity or through the distribution of cooled air or water.
Learn More - For Accountants, Finance and Sustainability Teams
Course Modules 🎓
Check out the Sumday Academy courses for learning modules on Scope 2 emissions:
🧐 Carbon Accounting for Business Course: Chapter 5
🌱 Introduction to Carbon Accounting Course: Chapter 4 & 9
Standards Guidance 📑
Read GHG Protocol’s Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard:
- Pages 25 and 27
- Appendix D (page 94) for common emission sources across industry sectors.
Read GHG Protocol’s GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance
