The Use of GWP* in Corporate Greenhouse Gas Accounting
The Use of GWP* in Corporate Greenhouse Gas Accounting
According to CDP (previously known as the Carbon Disclosure Project), in 2024, 9 out of 10 food and beverage reporting companies disclosed their Scope 3 (upstream and downstream) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (CarbonCloud, 2024). This represents a 38% increase in Scope 3 reporting from 2021 and a 90% increase from 2020. Not only are food companies volunteering to disclose their Scope 3 emissions, but with increasing compliance regulations, such as the European Union Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and SB 253 in California, many food companies will soon be required to report their Scope 3 emissions. With increased scrutiny of corporate GHG inventories, companies will need to continue to evolve GHG accounting and incorporate the best available science into their inventories. This is particularly true for food companies where over 90% of their emissions are Scope 3 (CarbonCloud, 2014; Thompson et al., 2025). Only with improvements in corporate reporting and accurate depictions of GHG impact on warming will companies be able to holistically understand their supply chains’ impact on climate, enabling them to effectively distribute climate change mitigation resources.
