Reducing your Scope 3 emissions

Before you can reduce your Scope 3 emissions and your carbon footprint, it helps to understand how emissions are categorised. The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol — the global standard for carbon reporting breaks emissions into 3 scopes.

Scope 1: Direct emissions from your own operations

These are emissions that come directly from sources that you own or control. Typical examples include:

• Fuel burned in company vehicles
• Gas used for heating your premises
• On‑site manufacturing or processing emissions

If it happens within your four walls or from your own fleet, it’s Scope 1.

Scope 2: Indirect emissions from purchased energy

Scope 2 covers the emissions created to generate the electricity, heat, steam, or cooling you use. Even though you don’t produce these emissions yourself, you have a choice over who you purchase them from.

For most businesses, Scope 2 is dominated by electricity consumption, and switching to renewable energy is one of the fastest ways to cut these emissions.

Scope 3: Other indirect emissions across your business

Scope 3 is where things get big — and complicated. These emissions occur outside your direct control but are linked to your business activities. They include:

• Emissions from suppliers and purchased goods
• Transportation and distribution
• Employee commuting and business travel
• Waste disposal
• Use and end‑of‑life of your products

For most businesses, Scope 3 contributes to 70%-90% of total emissions, which is why reducing them is essential for any meaningful climate action.

5 practical ways to reduce your Scope 3 emissions

1) Map your supply chain and prioritise hotspots

Identify the suppliers, materials, or activities that contribute most to your footprint. Even a simple high‑medium‑low impact assessment will help you focus your efforts where they’ll have the biggest effect.

Examples:

Hospitality businesses will need to consider food and drink suppliers, entertainment suppliers, waste management providers, and security providers.

Professional service organisations will need to focus on software suppliers, office supplies providers, or the company that cleans the offices.

Each organisation will have a completely different makeup of suppliers, and will score each supplier differently, depending on business needs.

2) Work with suppliers to lower emissions collaboratively

Once you’ve identified the key suppliers to work with, engage with them early. Share your goals, ask about their sustainability plans, and explore opportunities to reduce emissions together. Many suppliers are already working on decarbonisation and welcome the chance to align with customer expectations.

Examples:

Can your software provider give you the carbon cost of an on-site vs a hosted software system, so that you can make a decision based on your sustainability requirements?

Do your suppliers use local people and local resources so that carbon emissions from transport are lower?

3) Rethink packaging and materials

Packaging is often a quick win for many businesses. Consider:

• Using recycled or certified materials
• Reducing unnecessary packaging layers
• Switching to lighter materials
• Designing packaging that’s easier to reuse or recycle

These changes not only cut emissions but also strengthen your brand’s sustainability credentials.

Examples:

For businesses that sell and ship physical products, this is quite literal. However, other businesses will have to think about this in a completely different way:

Hospitality businesses should rethink how they package takeaway food and drinks containers.

Professional service organisations should consider how they can reduce unnecessary paperwork and make their products more digital.

4) Reduce travel and encourage low‑carbon commuting

Practical steps to reducing business travel and employee commuting include:

• Replacing routine travel with video meetings
• Encouraging train travel over flights
• Offering cycle‑to‑work schemes
• Supporting hybrid working
• Providing incentives for public transport

These measures reduce an organisation’s Scope 3 emissions (through travel) and improve employee well-being.

5) Reduce your waste and increase recycling

Waste management is a significant part of Scope 3 emissions — but it’s also an area where businesses can make rapid progress. Focus on:

• Conducting a waste audit to identify reduction opportunities
• Minimising single‑use materials
• Setting up clear recycling stations across your workplace
• Partnering with waste contractors who offer low‑carbon or circular solutions
• Educating and training staff on proper waste segregation
• Reusing materials wherever possible

General waste costs more to dispose of than recycling does, so reducing waste not only cuts emissions but also lowers disposal costs.

Bristol Waste Company provides waste management, security, cleaning, and IT asset disposal services for businesses in Bristol and beyond – using local people and reinvesting profits back into the City of Bristol.

For information on how Bristol Waste can support you in reducing your Scope 3 emissions, get in contact below.