Who reports downstream leased vehicle emissions — the leasing company or the customer using the vehicle?

Both may have a reporting obligation under their own boundaries: the leasing company reports the vehicle here as a downstream leased asset, while the lessee typically reports the same fuel or mileage under their own Scope 1 or Scope 3 upstream leased assets. These are separate organisational boundaries, not a double-count within one organisation's inventory.

What if I don't have mileage data from customers who lease my vehicles?

Use whatever usage data is available — fuel card data, average fleet mileage benchmarks you hold internally, or vehicle count — choosing the most granular option your records support rather than skipping the category entirely.

Can I use vehicle count instead of mileage or fuel data?

Yes, the Unit measure is available for exactly this situation, but it sits lower in the data hierarchy than distance, fuel or weight data, so treat it as an interim measure while better lessee data is sought.

How is this different from Scope 1 fuel data for vehicles my organisation drives itself?

Vehicles the organisation operates directly are reported as Scope 1 mobile combustion on the relevant vehicle fuel page; this page is only for vehicles owned by the organisation but driven and fuelled by someone else under a lease or hire arrangement.

Does spend-based reporting apply if I only have leasing revenue figures?

Yes — £ Spend is one of the available units here, intended as a fallback for exactly this situation. Use it while working towards more granular data such as vehicle count, mileage or fuel from your lessees.

Activity data·

How to measure emissions from Downstream leased assets: Vehicles

This page covers vehicles an organisation owns and leases to others — fleet leasing, plant hire or rental businesses — typically mapped to Scope 3 Category 13. It supports the platform's widest unit range (distance, fuel, weight, energy, vehicle count or leasing spend) because lessees hold varying levels of usage data, and should not be confused with fuel for vehicles the organisation drives itself, which is Scope 1.

Scope: Scope 3 Category 13
What activity data you need: litre

What counts as Downstream leased assets: Vehicles

Vehicles owned by the organisation and leased out to third parties — for example, through fleet leasing, vehicle rental or plant hire — where the organisation retains reporting responsibility under Scope 3 Category 13 rather than the lessee's own operational boundary.

This page applies to organisations whose business model includes leasing vehicles to others: leasing companies, rental firms, dealerships with hire fleets, and plant or equipment hire businesses. It is not for vehicles the organisation uses in its own operations, which are Scope 1 mobile combustion (or Scope 3 upstream leased assets if the organisation is itself the lessee of vehicles it operates) — keep those on separate activity data pages. Because lessees vary enormously in what usage data they share back, this page accepts distance, fuel, weight, energy, vehicle count or spend, ranked in that order of preference; use the most granular unit your lessee data supports rather than defaulting to spend or count.

How to collect the data

Where possible, request mileage or usage data from lessees directly — some leasing arrangements include telematics or fuel card data that can be aggregated across the fleet. Where lessees don't report usage, fall back to fleet-level records you already hold: vehicle count and average utilisation, or fuel drawn under any fuel cards the organisation still administers. As a last resort where no usage data is available, leasing revenue or spend can be used, in line with the data hierarchy's spend-based method, but should be replaced with usage data as soon as lessees are able to provide it.

What activity data you need

Collect the most specific physical unit available. Unit definitions are in Appendix I — Description of Units.

litre

Which emission scope it falls under

Downstream leased assets: Vehicles activity data typically maps to Scope 3 Category 13 under the GHG Protocol. Confirm organisational boundary and ownership before reporting.

Scope 3 Category 13

By emission scope

Scope 3 Category 13

Compliance frameworks

Compliance & reporting frameworks

Sub-types / categories covered

Car or vehicle: Owned by organisation
Diesel (average biofuel blend)
HGV -- All artics
HGV -- All HGVs
HGV -- All rigids
HGV -- Articulated (>3.5 - 33t)
HGV -- Articulated (>33t)
HGV -- Rigid (>17 tonnes)
HGV -- Rigid (>3.5 - 7.5 tonnes)
HGV -- Rigid (>7.5 tonnes-17 tonnes)
HGVs refrigerated -- All artics
HGVs refrigerated -- All HGVs
HGVs refrigerated -- All rigids
HGVs refrigerated -- Articulated (>3.5 - 33t)
HGVs refrigerated -- Articulated (>33t)
HGVs refrigerated -- Rigid (>17 tonnes)
HGVs refrigerated -- Rigid (>3.5 - 7.5 tonnes)
HGVs refrigerated -- Rigid (>7.5 tonnes-17 tonnes)
Managed Assets: Car
Managed Assets: HGV -- All artics
Managed Assets: HGV -- All HGVs
Managed Assets: HGV -- All rigids
Managed Assets: HGV -- Articulated (>3.5 - 33t)
Managed Assets: HGV -- Articulated (>33t)
Managed Assets: HGV -- Rigid (>17 tonnes)
Managed Assets: HGV -- Rigid (>3.5 - 7.5 tonnes)
Managed Assets: HGV -- Rigid (>7.5 tonnes-17 tonnes)
Managed Assets: HGVs refrigerated -- All artics
Managed Assets: HGVs refrigerated -- All HGVs
Managed Assets: HGVs refrigerated -- All rigids
Managed Assets: HGVs refrigerated -- Articulated (>3.5 - 33t)
Managed Assets: HGVs refrigerated -- Articulated (>33t)
Managed Assets: HGVs refrigerated -- Rigid (>17 tonnes)
Managed Assets: HGVs refrigerated -- Rigid (>3.5 - 7.5 tonnes)
Managed Assets: HGVs refrigerated -- Rigid (>7.5 tonnes-17 tonnes)
Managed Assets: Motorbike
Managed Assets: Van -- Average (up to 3.5 tonnes)
Managed Assets: Van Class I (up to 1.305 tonnes)
Managed Assets: Van Class II (1.305 to 1.74 tonnes)
Managed Assets: Van Class III (1.74 to 3.5 tonnes)
Motorbike: Owned by organisation
Petrol (average biofuel blend)
Van -- Average (up to 3.5 tonnes)
Van Class I (up to 1.305 tonnes)
Van Class II (1.305 to 1.74 tonnes)
Van Class III (1.74 to 3.5 tonnes)

Common questions

Who reports downstream leased vehicle emissions — the leasing company or the customer using the vehicle?: Both may have a reporting obligation under their own boundaries: the leasing company reports the vehicle here as a downstream leased asset, while the lessee typically reports the same fuel or mileage under their own Scope 1 or Scope 3 upstream leased assets. These are separate organisational boundaries, not a double-count within one organisation's inventory.
What if I don't have mileage data from customers who lease my vehicles?: Use whatever usage data is available — fuel card data, average fleet mileage benchmarks you hold internally, or vehicle count — choosing the most granular option your records support rather than skipping the category entirely.
Can I use vehicle count instead of mileage or fuel data?: Yes, the Unit measure is available for exactly this situation, but it sits lower in the data hierarchy than distance, fuel or weight data, so treat it as an interim measure while better lessee data is sought.
How is this different from Scope 1 fuel data for vehicles my organisation drives itself?: Vehicles the organisation operates directly are reported as Scope 1 mobile combustion on the relevant vehicle fuel page; this page is only for vehicles owned by the organisation but driven and fuelled by someone else under a lease or hire arrangement.
Does spend-based reporting apply if I only have leasing revenue figures?: Yes — £ Spend is one of the available units here, intended as a fallback for exactly this situation. Use it while working towards more granular data such as vehicle count, mileage or fuel from your lessees.

Next step

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