What's behind your customer's emissions request

Why is my customer asking about my emissions?

Because a large part of your customer's own carbon footprint is you. Under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the standard most companies report against, a company's footprint includes the emissions of the goods and services it buys. That part is called Scope 3, and for a company that buys or makes physical goods it is usually larger than everything the company does itself. The GHG Protocol's Scope 3 Standard sets this out in full. Your customer cannot reduce that part without knowing what its suppliers emit, and cannot know that without asking.

Three things have turned this from an occasional question into a standing request.

Public targets. Many large companies have set reduction targets through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Those targets have to cover Scope 3, and the SBTi expects companies to engage their suppliers or to measure supplier emissions directly. A target your customer announced two years ago is now an obligation that lands in your inbox.

Reporting rules. Reporting requirements in the EU, the UK, California and elsewhere ask large companies to disclose Scope 3 emissions and, in some cases, to have them checked by a third party. The figures they publish about their supply chain have to stand up to that check, which is why customers increasingly ask for evidence rather than an estimate. The same is happening well beyond Europe and North America: Türkiye's Sustainability Reporting Standards (TSRS) are why large Turkish customers now ask suppliers for data, and the Asian Development Bank's Greening Value Chains for ASEAN describes the same pressure on exporters in Southeast Asia.

Buying decisions. Procurement teams are being asked to weigh carbon alongside price, quality and delivery. Some customers now include emissions questions in tenders, supplier scorecards and contract reviews. A supplier with no answer is not disqualified, but a supplier with a clear one is easier to choose.

What does my customer actually want from me?

Less than the request usually implies. Most customers are asking for four things, in roughly this order.

1. Your company's emissions figures, at least for Scope 1 (fuel you burn) and Scope 2 (electricity you buy), and Scope 3 if you have it. A first estimate is acceptable to almost every customer; a measured figure is better; a figure checked by a third party is better still. If you have never measured, the SME Climate Hub's free calculators are built for exactly this.
2. A reduction target, or at least a commitment to set one. Customers care about direction as much as the current number.
3. Evidence of action, most often whether you have switched, or plan to switch, to renewable electricity.
4. Product-level data, if you supply physical goods: a carbon footprint for the specific items they buy. This is asked for less often and comes later.

Your customer will accept: a first estimate, a written commitment to set a target, and a date by which you will have a measured figure. None of these needs a consultant.

If you have none of these yet, the customer still wants a reply. The guide on replying when you have little or no data covers what that reply contains.

What will they do with my answer?

Your figures go into your customer's own Scope 3 calculation. Before you answer, your customer is probably using an industry average for your sector applied to what they spend with you. That number cannot tell you apart from any other supplier in your industry and does not change when you reduce your emissions. Once you provide your own figure, it replaces the average, and from then on your reductions show up in their numbers. That is the practical reason the request matters to you as well as to them: a supplier with its own figure gets credit for the work it does.

Your answer may also feed a supplier score or rating that your customer uses across its supplier base, and it may be read by more than one customer if you publish it. Answering once and publishing is usually less work than answering each customer separately.

How will the request arrive?

Most often as an email from procurement or sustainability, sometimes with a questionnaire or a link to a portal. Some customers ask through a rating scheme. Some use a platform that has already built a profile of your company from what you have published and from industry data, and ask you to check and correct it rather than fill in a form; a DitchCarbon request works this way. Whichever route it takes, the underlying questions are the same four listed above, so the work you do to answer one request is the work you need for the next.

Does this apply to a company my size?

Yes, and the customer knows you are not a corporation. Requests to small and mid-sized suppliers are usually written with that in mind: a first estimate counts, a commitment counts, and progress counts. What customers find difficult is silence, because a supplier with no answer stays on an industry average and cannot be told apart from one that is doing nothing.

Do this week: reply to the request, name who owns it on your side, and read the next two guides. That is a better first week than a perfect answer in three months.

What should I do next?

Read the order customers ask things in, so you can see which of the four items you can already provide. Then read the guide on replying when you have little or no data, which gives you a response you can send this week. If your customer uses DitchCarbon, claim your profile; it is free and is where your answer will be read from.