Choose the Boundary Before You Count
Explain why boundary setting comes before emissions data collection in a GHG inventory.
Boundary first, counting second. A greenhouse gas inventory is not just a sum of activity data. It is the result of deliberate choices about which entities and sources belong in the total. The GHG Protocol makes those choices explicit through organizational boundaries and operational boundaries. Organizational boundaries tell you whose emissions you are counting according to a consolidation approach such as equity share or control. Operational boundaries then tell you how to classify sources into Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3. Without those decisions, two teams can both be "accurate" and still produce numbers that cannot be compared. This…
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