GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) and Product Life Cycle Standards

The GHG Protocol has launched the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) and Product Life Cycle Standards to enable businesses to account for emissions beyond their direct operations. The Corporate Value Chain Standard allows companies to assess 15 categories of upstream and downstream activities, which often constitute the majority of a firm's total emissions. The Product Life Cycle Standard focuses on emissions from raw materials through disposal to improve product design and efficiency. These standards were developed over three years with input from 2,300 participants across 55 countries.

• The Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard allows companies to account for emissions from 15 different categories of activities occurring both upstream and downstream of their operations, which often represent the bulk of a company's total emissions. For instance, Kraft Foods discovered that value chain emissions accounted for over 90 percent of its total emissions.
• The Product Life Cycle Standard enables companies to measure greenhouse gases across a product's entire life cycle, specifically covering raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, storage, use, and disposal, to identify the best opportunities for GHG reduction.
• The development of these standards involved a three-year multi-stakeholder process including 2,300 participants from 55 countries, 207 technical working group members, and 60 companies that road-tested the standards in 2010.
• The GHG Protocol standards are widely adopted; in 2010, more than 85 percent of the 2,487 respondents to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) survey utilized the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard for emissions measurement and reporting.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) and Product Life Cycle Standards. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/pdf/ghgp_launch_factsheet_2011.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) and Product Life Cycle Standards. n.d. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/pdf/ghgp_launch_factsheet_2011.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) and Product Life Cycle Standards |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/pdf/ghgp_launch_factsheet_2011.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendghg, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) and Product Life Cycle Standards}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/pdf/ghgp_launch_factsheet_2011.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }