How to measure emissions from Chemicals

What counts as Chemicals

Chemicals covers purchased chemical products used in operations — cleaning products, industrial chemicals, inks, adhesives, pesticides and agrochemicals, fertilisers, and specialist chemicals such as anaesthetic gases used in healthcare. Most chemical purchases sit under Scope 3 Category 1 as embodied emissions of the product itself, but a small number — notably anaesthetic gases that are vented after use — are reported under Scope 1, since the emission happens directly on-site rather than only in the supply chain.

Chemicals is one of the few purchased-goods categories that spans two scopes, because most items here are Scope 3 embodied-emissions purchases, while a specific subset — anaesthetic gases such as desflurane, isoflurane and sevoflurane used in healthcare settings — are vented to atmosphere directly during use, making that portion a direct Scope 1 emission rather than a supply-chain one. This is distinct from Refrigerant, which is specifically about fugitive losses from cooling equipment; Chemicals covers a much broader range of purchased products, most of which don't leak or vent at all. Cleaning products, inks and adhesives, pesticides and fertilisers, and industrial gases used in manufacturing are all tracked as separate subtypes, since their production processes and volumes purchased differ substantially. Where your organisation holds a COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) inventory for safety compliance, it's often the fastest route to a chemical-by-chemical purchase list you can map directly to activity data.

What activity data you need

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

• tonne
• Unit
• kg
• litre
• $ Spend
• £ Spend

Which emission scope it falls under

Chemicals activity data typically maps to Scope 1 and Scope 3 Category 1 under the GHG Protocol. Confirm organisational boundary and ownership before reporting.

Sub-types / categories covered

• Industrial chemicals
• Cleaning chemicals
• Other chemicals

Common questions

Why are anaesthetic gases treated differently from other chemicals?

Because they're vented directly to atmosphere during clinical use rather than remaining embodied in a product, which makes that portion a direct Scope 1 emission. Most other chemicals here are Scope 3, since their emissions occur upstream during manufacture rather than on your site.

How is this different from the Refrigerant category?

Refrigerant is specifically about fugitive losses from cooling equipment you own. Chemicals is a much broader purchased-goods category covering cleaning agents, industrial chemicals, pesticides and more, most of which don't leak or vent during normal use.

Do cleaning products used by a contracted cleaning company count as our purchase?

If your organisation pays for the cleaning contract and the contractor purchases products on your behalf, ask them for volume or spend data — it's still your organisation's activity even though you didn't buy the chemicals directly yourself.

We use pesticides and fertilisers on-site grounds — is that the same category as industrial chemicals?

Yes, agrochemicals sit within the Chemicals category alongside industrial and cleaning chemicals, though they're tracked as their own subtype since application volumes and products are usually recorded separately by grounds or facilities teams.

What unit should I use if my invoices show cost, not volume?

Spend is an acceptable fallback and is tracked in the taxonomy for this category, but it sits below volume, weight or unit count in the data hierarchy — ask suppliers for physical quantities where the additional accuracy is worth the effort.