Classify freight emissions before asking for carrier data

Classify freight for the reporting company before asking a carrier for an emissions number. Record who owns or controls the assets, where each transport leg sits in the value chain and whether the reporting company purchases the transport service. The words inbound and outbound are useful logistics descriptions, but they are not sufficient accounting decisions.

This guide helps Canadian teams organise evidence for a GHG Protocol corporate inventory, including Canada–US supply chains. It does not establish that a business has a Canadian legal duty to report Scope 3 or that one inventory method satisfies every customer request. The classification below uses the published Category 4 and Category 9 technical guidance. 1 2

Start with the reporting entity and its consolidation approach. Map individual legs rather than assigning a whole supply chain from one invoice description. Purchased outbound transport can belong in Category 4. Keep classification uncertainty visible and resolve it before treating a carrier total as an inventory-ready figure.

Category 4 includes third-party transport of purchased products between tier-one suppliers and the reporting company, and third-party transport services purchased by that company, including outbound services. The guidance explains why purchased outbound logistics is treated as an upstream purchased service. Owned or controlled transport assets need the relevant Scope 1 or 2 treatment rather than automatic assignment to these freight categories. 1

Category 9 addresses transport and distribution of sold products downstream to the end consumer when the reporting company does not pay for those services, using assets it does not own or control. Check the full boundary for storage, retail and intermediate products. A customer-arranged leg should not be omitted merely because the reporting company has no carrier invoice. 2

Do not treat these two categories as an exhaustive answer for every movement. Fuel and energy transport, leased assets and transport embedded in earlier supplier production can need different treatment. Escalate those cases to the inventory owner rather than forcing them into a simplified two-box map. 1

Start with a small, important route and trace its actual documents. Use shipment records, purchase orders, contracts and invoices to distinguish the physical movement from the purchased service. A delivery term or invoice heading can help locate evidence, but the reviewer still needs to establish the actual arrangement.

Assign one person to approve the mapping and another to maintain the source references where practical. Keep uncertain legs in a clarification queue with an owner and due date. “Unknown” is a data gap to resolve; it is not a zero-emissions classification.

Assume an invented Ontario distributor buys third-party trucking for finished goods from its warehouse to a US customer. The distributor purchases that freight service and does not own or control the truck. Under the stated assumptions, the purchased outbound leg belongs in Category 4. The border crossing does not itself change the category. 1

Now assume a separate sale where a customer purchases the subsequent transport of the distributor’s sold products, using a third-party carrier, and the distributor does not pay for it. Assess that downstream leg under Category 9. These examples are hypothetical; confirm the service and asset arrangements rather than inferring them from the customer’s location. 2

Give the two legs different IDs. If a freight forwarder’s statement combines both movements, ask for the allocation and coverage needed to use the relevant portion. If the statement includes warehousing, decide whether that activity is already captured elsewhere. The mapping is not complete merely because the combined emissions number appears precise.

The following fictional mapping extends the two sales above. Assume the reporting company has no ownership or control of the third-party vehicles, and the movement records concern finished goods rather than fuel or another separately treated activity.

Now suppose a forwarder statement combines the first two legs. Link that statement to both movement records and ask for enough detail to establish coverage; do not add its total again to independently calculated estimates for the same legs. The customer-B movement remains a separate evidence request even though it has no invoice in the reporting company's accounts.

The deliverable is a complete population of mapped movements, including open questions, not a total of the carrier PDFs that happened to arrive. A zero in the data column should mean supported zero emissions only where justified; “not received” needs a distinct status and an estimation decision. This record is illustrative, not a real carrier inventory.

Send the carrier a request tied to the accepted legs and period. Ask what activity the figure represents, its units, calculation approach, allocation basis and exclusions. Check whether the total covers your shipments or the carrier’s whole business. Keep a record of missing legs and any estimation used so later improvements can be reconciled.

Do not mix an unqualified carrier total with separately calculated legs that it already includes. Compare the coverage against the shipment population and retain the mapping used. The questions in our supplier data quality review are useful for assessing evidence, but that article concerns Category 1 purchased goods and services; it is not the calculation method for this freight inventory.

GHG Protocol’s development plan dated 29 July 2026 includes consideration of changes or clarification to the payer-based distinction between Categories 4 and 9. A development topic is not an adopted replacement classification. Keep the method and source edition recorded, and review any final revision through the inventory’s change process when it becomes applicable. 3

If a customer asks for a different footprint boundary, retain that request separately and reconcile the difference. Avoid silently relabelling the corporate inventory to make two incompatible templates match. A competent review should address consequential reporting or contractual interpretations before release.

No. Establish the service-purchase and asset arrangements. The two hypothetical cases above show why the physical direction alone is insufficient.

No. You still need to know which legs, period and activity the figure covers and how it relates to the reporting company.

Absence of an invoice is not evidence of no activity. Investigate the transport arrangement and use an appropriate documented estimation approach where required by the chosen method.

Prepared with AI-assisted research and drafting. Suggested methods and hypothetical examples are editorial guidance, not reported client results. QSE Advisory is part of QSE Advisory. General information; obtain competent review for consequential use.

1. GHG Protocol Category 4 calculation guidance — 2013 technical guidance, printed pages 49–71; classification table and purchased freight boundary.

2. GHG Protocol Category 9 calculation guidance — 2013 technical guidance, printed pages 102–105; downstream boundary and calculation guidance.

3. GHG Protocol consolidated standard development plan — 29 July 2026 development plan, page 26; proposed work on classification is not an adopted replacement standard.

This article is general information. Verify current requirements and seek qualified advice for your specific circumstances.

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