Every data item that feeds an organisation footprint, who usually holds it, the form it arrives in, and which items are worth chasing before the rest.
You do not need everything here to start. A first pass built mostly on spend is a legitimate footprint, and it tells you where to aim next. The items you cover with real activity data are the ones your number will hold up on.Each table below gives the item, who usually holds it, and what it looks like when it arrives. Work down each table in order: they are sorted by how much accuracy each item buys you.
Scope 1: what you burn and leak
Data
Usually held by
Arrives as
Fuel for company vehicles
Fleet manager, finance
Fuel card statement, litres or dollars per transaction
Natural gas or LPG for buildings
Facilities, finance
Utility bill per site and period
Diesel for generators or equipment
Site managers
Fuel purchase records or delivery dockets
Refrigerant top-ups
Maintenance contractor
Service report, quantity in kg by gas type
Process emissions
Operations
Production records, if you run an industrial process
Refrigerants are the item most often missed. HFC leakage is Scope 1 and is often material for retail, hospitality, and cold chain, but it never appears in your accounts because you are billed for a service call rather than for the gas. Ask your maintenance contractor for top-up quantities by gas type.
Scope 2: the energy you buy
Data
Usually held by
Arrives as
Electricity per site
Facilities, finance
Bill or retailer portal export, kWh per site per period
GreenPower or renewable contracts
Finance, procurement
Contract or certificate, percentage or volume
Purchased steam, heat, or cooling
Facilities
Supplier invoice, where you buy these from a district system
Both electricity figures matter. Your consumption drives the location-based number, and your contracts drive the market-based one. Both are required for a compliant inventory, so collect the contract alongside the bill.
Scope 3: everything your activity causes
These are the categories worth collecting directly, because they are usually material.
Data
Usually held by
Arrives as
Flights
Travel manager, agent
Itinerary report with route, class, and whether return
Hotel nights
Travel or expenses
Nights by city, from bookings
Employee commuting
HR or People
Staff survey: postcode and usual mode is enough
Waste
Facilities, office manager
Contractor report, tonnes or bin lifts by stream
Freight
Logistics, finance
Carrier report, weight and distance, or courier spend
Capital goods
Finance
Fixed asset additions for the period
Leased assets
Property
Outgoings statements from the landlord
Home and remote working
HR
Headcount and days worked from home
Water
Facilities
Utility bill, kilolitres per site
Not all of these apply to you. Capital goods matter if you bought vehicles, plant, or fitted out a building. Leased assets matter if you occupy space where the landlord holds the meter. Home working matters if a meaningful share of your team is remote.
Filling the rest with spend
Nobody collects activity data for every supplier, and no standard expects it. For the long tail of professional services, software, marketing, and office supplies, your accounting ledger covers it.Connecting your accounting platform reaches all of it at once, which is why it is worth doing early even though it is not your most accurate input. Finance can usually authorise it in minutes.
Screening the categories you decide to skip
The GHG Protocol splits Scope 3 into fifteen categories. Most organisations have material emissions in three or four, and skipping the rest is legitimate.What is not legitimate is skipping one you never looked at. A category you assessed and found immaterial is a finding you can defend. A category you never considered is a gap. Run your eye down all fifteen once, note which do not apply and why, and keep that note.
