Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions explained: a guide for Indian companies
What Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions mean under the GHG Protocol, how location-based and market-based Scope 2 differ, the 15 Scope 3 categories, and what Indian companies and MSME suppliers are being asked for.
What is Scope 1?
Scope 1 is direct emissions from sources the company owns or controls. Common Indian examples:
- diesel burnt in DG sets and in company-owned trucks and cars
- coal, furnace oil, natural gas or biomass burnt in boilers and furnaces
- LPG used in a factory canteen
- process emissions, such as the CO2 released when limestone is heated to make cement
- fugitive emissions, such as refrigerant gases (HFCs) leaking from air conditioners and chillers
Whether a source counts as "yours" depends on the organisational boundary you choose: equity share, financial control or operational control. Our guide on how companies build a GHG inventory explains that choice.
Sources: GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (revised edition, 2004); GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance (2015); GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard (2011); GHG Protocol: public consultations page; GHG Protocol: release opening Scope 2 and electricity-sector consequential consultations; GHG Protocol: key standard development updates FAQ (29 July 2026); GHG Protocol: Scope 3 Standard Revisions Phase 1 Progress Update (March 2026, draft); SEBI: Format of BRSR Core, Annexure I (July 2023); SEBI circular SEBI/HO/CFD/CFD-PoD-1/P/CIR/2025/42 (28 March 2025); Central Electricity Authority, CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector, User Guide Version 22.0 (August 2026)
This article was prepared with AI assistance and checked by the GreenEye team against the sources shown in each section.
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