Is freight scope 1 or scope 3?

Scope 1 if it moves in the company's own vehicles, burning its own fuel. Scope 3 — category 4 or 9 — if a carrier moves it: the carrier's scope 1 and 2 emissions become the shipper's scope 3.

What is the difference between category 4 and category 9?

Category 4 covers transport the company buys and transport of goods it purchases. Category 9 covers moving sold goods to the end consumer when the company doesn't pay for it, plus retail and storage.

Do companies have to report scope 3 transport emissions?

It depends where they report. EU reporting asks for each significant scope 3 category; California's SB 253 brings scope 3 from 2027, with transport proposed as voluntary; India's BRSR treats scope 3 as a voluntary leadership indicator.

Term

Scope 3 transport emissions

Scope 3 transport emissions are the greenhouse gases from moving a company's goods in vehicles it does not own or operate. Under the GHG Protocol, transport the company buys sits in category 4, upstream transportation and distribution; transport of sold goods it doesn't pay for sits in category 9. A carrier's scope 1 is its customer's scope 3.

Also called scope 3 logistics emissions, category 4 emissions, upstream transportation and distribution, category 9 emissions, freight scope 3Updated 13 October 2026

Which category

Transport	Where it is reported
Products bought, moved from suppliers in vehicles the company doesn't own or operate	Category 4
Freight services the company buys, including outbound deliveries	Category 4
Products sold, moved to the end consumer, not paid for by the company	Category 9, which also covers retail and storage
The company's own trucks	Scope 1 for fuel; scope 2 for electricity

GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard

The standard is explicit that a reporting company's upstream transport emissions include the scope 1 and scope 2 emissions of third-party transport companies — the carrier's diesel is the shipper's scope 3. That is why shippers ask carriers for fuel and distance data, and why one load appears in two companies' inventories without being double counted within either.

Worked example: the distance-based method

Σ tonnes × km × factor · lane A: 18 t × 450 km = 8,100 t-km × 0.07926 (artic) = 642 kg · lane B: 6 t × 120 km = 720 t-km × 0.19947 (rigid) = 144 kg · lane C: 40 t × 1,200 km = 48,000 t-km × 0.02583 (rail) = 1,240 kg → 2,025 kg CO2e

The formula is the GHG Protocol's distance-based method; the factors are UK government 2026 averages, tank-to-wheel, in kg CO2e per tonne-km. The lanes are illustrative.

Who has to report it

In California, SB 253 requires US entities with more than $1 billion in revenue doing business in the state to report scope 1 and 2 from 2026 and scope 3 from 2027, CARB said in February 2026; its July 2026 workshop proposed making categories 4 and 9 voluntary, which is still a proposal. The EU's ESRS E1 requires gross scope 3 from each significant category, and the Commission adopted revised standards on 3 July 2026 that cut mandatory datapoints by over 60%. India's BRSR asks for scope 3 among leadership indicators, which may be disclosed voluntarily.

The mistake people make

Filing paid-for outbound delivery under category 9. The GHG Protocol excludes outbound transport services the reporting company purchases from category 9 and puts them in category 4, because the company buys the service. Category 9 is for the legs a customer pays for.

FAQ