How DitchCarbon Handles Restatements, Rebaselining, and Methodology Changes

As companies refine their sustainability processes, it’s increasingly common to see restated emissions baselines, updated methodologies, and revised historical data. These changes can be confusing for downstream users, especially when you rely on supplier data to build Scope 3 inventories or track decarbonization progress.Here’s a clear look at how DitchCarbon handles these updates today, and where we’re headed next.---## Using the Most Up to Date Data, AlwaysAt DitchCarbon, our guiding principle is simple: we always use the most recent version of any emissions figure available.When a supplier publishes new reporting, whether it’s an annual sustainability report, a CDP disclosure, or regulatory filing, we update our dataset accordingly.### How this works in practice- If a company restates its 2019 baseline in a newly released report, we overwrite the old 2019 value with the updated one.- If the company does not update intermediate years (e.g., 2020–2024), those values remain as they were previously captured.- The result? You always get the freshest available data for restated years, but inconsistencies can remain for intermediate years that were not restated.This mirrors real world reporting: companies rarely restate full time series unless required, so partial inconsistencies are common.---## Coming Soon: Detecting and Flagging Rebaselining EventsA common request from users is the ability to _see_ when a rebaselining or methodology change has occurred, so they can judge whether a supplier’s historic data is still comparable or whether modelled data is a better choice.While this feature isn’t live yet, it’s straightforward for us to add, because we already scan documents for assurance and methodology language.### What we’d captureOur document-processing pipeline could automatically detect:- Rebaselining or restatement announcements- Changes to organizational or operational boundaries- Methodology shifts (e.g., new emissions factors, new inventory guidance)### What you’d be able to doOnce implemented, this enhancement would allow you to:1. See exactly which suppliers and years were rebaselined.2. Decide when to trust historic values, and when to replace them with modelled estimates.This creates far more transparency around supplier data and helps avoid silently mixing incompatible methodologies.---## Handling Outdated Data After RestatementsOne challenge with supplier reporting is that companies don’t typically _delete_ or retract earlier emissions values. If they published it, even if it’s now outdated, it still exists in the record somewhere.For this reason:### DitchCarbon cannot remove data that a company still publishes.We only reflect what is present in the supplier’s documents.But we _can_ help you interpret it correctly.### What DitchCarbon does instead- Always prioritize restated figures for any year where updated numbers have been released.- Flag years affected by rebaselining (once implemented), so you know where historic values may no longer be reliable.- Support comparisons between old and new values, helping you quantify the impact of methodological changes and decide whether to remodel those years.This provides clarity without overwriting history, and ensures your datasets remain both traceable and consistent.---## Why This MattersRebaselining and methodology changes introduce real complexity into emissions tracking. Without transparency:- Trends can appear artificially steep or flat.- Supplier improvements may be overstated or understated.- Decarbonization targets may look off track or ahead of schedule.DitchCarbon’s goal is to make these transitions as clear and traceable as possible, so your Scope 3 analysis stays accurate, defensible, and easy to audit.