Category 4: Upstream Transportation and Distribution
Emissions from transportation and distribution of products purchased by your company in vehicles and facilities not owned or controlled by your company.
In brief
Scope 3 Category 4 covers emissions from the transportation and distribution of products a company purchases, occurring in vehicles and facilities it does not own or control, including both inbound and outbound logistics. The boundary includes the Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions of transportation and distribution providers across modes such as air, rail, road, and marine transport, as well as warehouse storage.
GHG Protocol Reference
The following content is extracted from the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard.
View original GHG Protocol Standard (PDF)Selko Emissions
Category 4 includes emissions from transportation and distribution of purchased products in vehicles not owned or controlled by your company, as well as third-party warehousing.
Emission Factor Methods
Carrier-specific
Actual emissions data from logistics providers
Spend-based
Based on logistics spend and EEIO factors when carrier data unavailable
Methods range from primary data (left) to modeled estimates (right)
Related content
Scope 3 cat. 9: Downstream transportation
Emissions from transporting and distributing sold products in vehicles and facilities your company does not own or control.
Read moreScope 3 cat. 1: Purchased goods and services
Upstream emissions from the production of goods and services your company purchases. For most companies, the largest Scope 3 category.
Read moreWhat are Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions?
The GHG Protocol splits corporate greenhouse gas emissions into three scopes. We explain what each covers and why the split matters.
Read moreReady to make progress?
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