Sustainability Dashboard Methodology

The World Resources Institute (WRI) employs a comprehensive greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting methodology covering Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. The inventory uses an operational control consolidation approach and has established 2019 as its base year for 2030 reduction targets. Scope 1 includes direct emissions from diesel generators and office refrigerators. Scope 2 utilizes both location-based and market-based methods for purchased electricity, incorporating renewable energy certificates for US operations. Scope 3 is the most extensive, covering purchased goods and services (Category 1) via a spend-based USEEIO model, fuel- and energy-related activities (Category 3), waste (Category 5), business travel (Category 6), employee commuting (Category 7), and endowment investments (Category 15). The methodology emphasizes the use of regional emission factors and annual staff surveys to estimate impacts across WRI's global network.

• WRI uses an 'Operational control' consolidation approach to define its organizational boundary, including all material offices within its global network. The organization updated its base year to 2019 to better reflect its international offices and to set new reduction targets for 2030.
• Scope 2 emissions are calculated using two methods: a location-based method using grid average emission factors and a market-based method that accounts for contractual purchases, such as Green-e energy-certified wind power for US operations.
• Scope 3, Category 1 (Purchased Goods and Services) represents the majority of WRI's total emissions and is estimated using a spend-based approach via the US EPA's Environmentally Extended Input-Output (USEEIO) model.
• For business travel (Scope 3, Category 6), WRI applies a 1.9x multiplier for radiative forcing to air travel emissions to capture the increased warming impact in the upper atmosphere, which approximately doubled the magnitude of these emissions.
• Employee commuting (Scope 3, Category 7) is calculated using a pattern-based survey format introduced in 2016 to capture multi-modal trips, applying a scaling factor (ranging from 0.61 to 0.92) to account for non-respondents.
• WRI accounts for emissions from its US-based endowment portfolio (Scope 3, Category 15) using a combination of GHG Protocol guidance and PCAF methodology, applying a materiality threshold of 80% to the activity data.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Sustainability Dashboard Methodology. https://www.wri.org/sustainability-wri/dashboard/methodology

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Sustainability Dashboard Methodology. n.d. https://www.wri.org/sustainability-wri/dashboard/methodology.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Sustainability Dashboard Methodology |url=https://www.wri.org/sustainability-wri/dashboard/methodology |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendsustainability, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Sustainability Dashboard Methodology}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/sustainability-wri/dashboard/methodology}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }