Our new Emission Factors for New Zealand can help businesses speed up their Scope 3 reporting. They build on the financial data businesses already have and link that data to the emissions from a good or service per dollar spent.
There is a growing need for businesses, finance institutions, investors and individuals to measure the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by the products and services they buy, finance and consume.
This might be because stakeholders expect it, or organisations want to set a science-based target or are required to disclose their scope 3 emissions as part of their mandatory reporting.
To date, New Zealand businesses tackling their scope 3 emission reporting had to choose between detailed material-based assessments or spend-based analysis using old or international emission factors.
‘This report is a first step to enable New Zealand businesses, investors and individuals to use up-to-date, spend-based emission factors,’ says thinkstep-anz Technical Director Jeff Vickers. ‘We will be updating the factors annually as new data become available.’
Thinkstep-anz’s Head of Strategy and Disclosures Martin Fryer adds, 'The main aim of climate standards like the Aotearoa New Zealand Climate Standards issued by the External Reporting Board (XRB) is for organisations to create "comparable disclosures". Spend-based emission factors that are specific to New Zealand support that.'
What are spend-based emission factors?
While scope 1 (direct) emissions and scope 2 emissions (indirect, from the energy used) are relatively tangible, scope 3 emissions (from your value chain) are different. Determining the emissions of a product or service without detailed data can be difficult and time-consuming. Emissions factors (per dollar spent) use financial data that is usually already available and are an easy way to get started with carbon footprinting.
What these emission factors are suitable for:
→ Scope 3 corporate carbon footprints, particularly for purchased goods and services. Examples include companies reporting using the GHG Protocol and/or disclosing their emissions under the CDP.
→ Calculating the carbon footprint of an investment portfolio (financed emissions). Examples include companies disclosing emissions via the XRB or TCFD.
→ Researchers trying to understand the carbon footprint of a demand-side sector.
When to use spend-based emission factors:
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→ Calculating the carbon footprint of a basket of products and services |
→ Choosing between two businesses or products in the same industry |
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→ Understanding your supply chain emissions better |
→ Planning a decarbonisation strategy (as the only ways to decarbonise using these EFs are to spend less money or spend money in a different category) |
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→ Learning about the carbon footprint of your supply chain and/or financed emissions in a fast and cost-effective way |
→ Getting a detailed breakdown of emissions for a specific product or service |
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→ Using data you already have or that is publicly available |
→ Getting data for a specific product |
Our report provides emission factors for the calendar years 2018 and 2021.
The 2018 year is an update to our original consultation paper from January 2022. The 2021 factors are a new release as of May 2024. We provide inflation factors so that you can adjust them to the reporting period you need.
Terms of use: free and commercial licences
The emissions factors are freely available for businesses, organisations and researchers. However, if you wish to use or integrate them into a carbon/sustainability software tool, we ask that you purchase a commercial license.
Download the free report and learn more about our commercial licence here.