How to measure emissions from Freight: Upstream: Third party

What counts as Freight: Upstream: Third party

Freight: Upstream: Third party covers the inbound transportation and distribution of goods you've purchased, before they arrive at your site, where the movement is carried out by a carrier neither owned nor controlled by your organisation. It falls under Scope 3 Category 4 (Upstream Transportation and Distribution). This includes freight paid for by you directly and, where it's material and available, freight your suppliers pay for and pass through as an embedded cost — the boundary depends on your organisation's chosen reporting approach.

Upstream freight is easy to confuse with procurement spend on the goods themselves, but the two are reported separately: this category captures only the transport leg, not the embodied emissions of the product being moved, which sit under the relevant purchased goods category such as Materials or Packaging. It's also the mirror image of Freight: Downstream — inbound rather than outbound — sharing the same "not your vehicle" boundary rule that keeps it out of Scope 1 and Scope 2. Many organisations only see transport cost bundled into a supplier's unit price, in which case spend-based estimation is the practical starting point until better data is available. Where you use multiple modes for the same delivery — sea freight into port followed by a road leg — record each mode separately, since land, rail and sea travel are tracked as distinct average factors.

What activity data you need

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

• kg
• km
• kWh
• litre
• tCO2e
• tonne
• tonne.km
• £ Spend
• $ Spend
• Unit

Which emission scope it falls under

Freight: Upstream: Third party activity data typically maps to Scope 3 Category 4 under the GHG Protocol. Confirm organisational boundary and ownership before reporting.

Common sub-types

• Land travel: Average: UK
• Post and courier: Average: UK
• Rail travel: Average: UK
• Sea travel: Average: UK
• Diesel (average biofuel blend)
• Freight: Van -- Average (up to 3.5 tonnes)
• Petrol (average biofuel blend)
• Biodiesel / HVO

Data entry options

• fuel type

  Select fuel type when entering freight: upstream: third party activity data in the platform.

• load type

  Select load type when entering freight: upstream: third party activity data in the platform.

Full list of data entry options

Common questions

My supplier includes delivery in the unit price — do I still need to report this separately?

Yes, if the transport is material to your footprint. Ask the supplier to break out the freight cost or, if they can't, estimate it using average freight spend or distance for that product category rather than omitting it.

Does this include international shipping and customs handling?

The transport leg itself — sea, air, rail or road — belongs here. Customs clearance and warehousing are usually reported separately if material, since they're a different activity with a different emissions profile.

How do I avoid double counting with my suppliers' own Scope 3 Category 9?

Your Category 4 (upstream) and a supplier's Category 9 (downstream) describe the same physical shipment from two different vantage points in the value chain. This is expected under the GHG Protocol's boundary-setting rules and isn't a reporting error, provided each party measures their own inventory correctly.

What if I only know the country of origin, not the exact route?

Use an average factor for that mode and region — for example an average sea or road distance for that trade lane — and note the assumption. Refining this with actual routing data is a reasonable improvement to flag for next year.

Do post and courier deliveries for smaller purchases count?

Yes — post and courier services for incoming goods, from small parcels to pallet deliveries, are tracked separately from HGV and sea freight, since their emissions intensity per unit moved is different.