Carbon accounting
Fuel- and Energy-Related Activities (Scope 3 Category 3)
The GHG Protocol Scope 3 category covering upstream emissions of purchased fuels and energy — extraction, production, transport, and grid losses — not already counted in Scope 1 or 2.
Definition
Fuel- and energy-related activities (Category 3 of the GHG Protocol's Corporate Value Chain Standard) covers emissions from the extraction, production, and transportation of fuels and energy purchased by the reporting company — including the upstream emissions of purchased fuels and electricity, transmission and distribution losses, and generation of purchased electricity sold to end users — excluding combustion emissions already reported in Scope 1 and Scope 2.
References
category definition and boundary
acronym and usage
Overview
What it means
This category captures the "well-to-tank" and grid-loss part of an organisation's energy footprint: what it took to produce and deliver the fuel and electricity it consumes, rather than the act of burning or using them. For energy-intensive companies and utilities it can be a material share of the value-chain inventory.
How it is used
Companies quantifying Scope 3 inventories calculate Category 3 using average-data or supplier-specific methods; it feeds SBTi targets, CDP disclosures, and CSRD/ISSB reporting.
Why it matters
Omitting Category 3 understates the true footprint of purchased energy, and the category connects corporate accounting to the decarbonisation of upstream fuel supply and electricity grids.
Review
Public comments appear only after editor acceptance. Draft comments stay in the review queue.
Reviewers choose the definition or an overview paragraph, leave a comment or replacement, and attach evidence or a source link.
Editors compare reviewer cards side by side. AI may help find agreement, conflicts, unsupported claims and possible source issues.
Only an editor-accepted synthesis changes the public page. Reviewer identities are shown only with consent and an editorial decision to attribute them.
Submitted reviews stay private until an editor decides whether to accept and attribute them.
Contribute to this entry
Help improve this definition
Your contribution is private while it is checked. Nothing changes on this page unless an editor accepts it.
Loading verified endorsements… Endorsements are not votes and never determine publication.
Endorse this definition
Endorse the exact version shown here. This is not a vote, and publication remains an editorial decision.
Review board
Comment on a specific line. Each reviewer stays separate until an editor accepts a merged draft.
Each person comments on the definition or overview in their own draft card, with role, evidence and suggested wording kept together.
AI can compare comments against the current text, flag conflicting claims, surface missing evidence and identify where reviewers agree.
An editor merges compatible suggestions into a draft change, checks sources, records disagreements and decides what can be published.