Should organizations which enable third parties to conduct polluting activities (i.e., building managers) include the emissions from these activities in their inventory under Scope 3?
The answer depends on a number of factors: the relative size of the emissions, whether the organization has the ability to reduce the emissions, and any liability or policy concerns associated with including the emissions/reductions of a third party. In many cases, the emissions will be a small portion of the organization’s inventory. However, if emissions data is available and there is a compelling reason to include them in the inventory (relatively large source of emissions, use them to influence third party activities), they may be reported under Scope 3. Note that it is especially important to transparently report the source of the emissions.
