Bottom Line on Corporate GHG Inventories

Corporate GHG inventories are management tools used by companies to quantify emissions, identify sources, and track reductions. Following standards like the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, companies categorize emissions into Scope 1 (direct), Scope 2 (indirect from purchased energy), and Scope 3 (other indirect). These inventories differ from national or regional inventories, which use proxy data for entire sectors, but they feed into GHG registries such as The Climate Registry and the Carbon Disclosure Project.

• Corporate GHG inventories serve as critical management tools that allow companies across all sectors and sizes to quantify emissions, identify specific emission sources, and track changes over time to inform corporate strategies and prioritize reduction actions.
• Corporate GHG inventories are distinct from national, state, or municipal inventories; while corporate inventories are company-specific, regional inventories estimate total net emissions for entire industries or sectors using emissions proxy data, such as fossil fuel consumption.
• Under the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, emissions are classified into three categories: Scope 1 covers direct emissions from sources the company owns or controls; Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from purchased electricity, steam, or heat; and Scope 3 covers optional indirect emissions from sources not owned or controlled, such as business travel or waste disposal.
• The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard is the internationally accepted accounting standard and serves as the basis for the ISO 14064-1 standard, as well as various registries and voluntary programs including the California Climate Action Registry and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders program.
• The cost of developing a GHG inventory varies based on the scale of the inventory, the complexity of the methodology, and the ability to use existing data collection systems, though companies can create useful inventories on limited budgets using available tools.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Bottom Line on Corporate GHG Inventories. https://www.wri.org/research/bottom-line-corporate-ghg-inventories

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Bottom Line on Corporate GHG Inventories. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/bottom-line-corporate-ghg-inventories.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Bottom Line on Corporate GHG Inventories |url=https://www.wri.org/research/bottom-line-corporate-ghg-inventories |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendbottom, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Bottom Line on Corporate GHG Inventories}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/bottom-line-corporate-ghg-inventories}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }