Quantis was mandated by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) to analyse indirect greenhouse gas emissions reporting, also known as Scope 3, by Swiss publicly traded companies. The study divided Scope 3 measurement and reporting in 15 different categories.
The authors found that no Swiss company reports on all the categories in indirect emissions and that potentially relevant categories are omitted, according to the executive summary. And although many companies report on upstream processes, a large number of companies failed to report on downstream emissions, which are triggered by investments in other companies, for example.
Full reporting of all direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions would actually prove beneficial to the companies, says co-author Rainer Zah from Quantis. “It would help companies make fact-based decisions to use their resources more efficiently and to reduce climate impacts in their supply chains.”