SustainCERT launches Scope 3 Impact Modeling

SustainCERT has been offering innovative Value Chain verification services since 2018, enabling companies to receive Impact Units allowing them to share the costs and benefits of interventions across the value chain and be recognized for the impact generated. Impact Units can be incorporated into company reports and co-claimed between value chain partners.

We are now expanding our suite of Value Chain services to Scope 3 impact modeling, which allows companies to model and evaluate the impact of their value chain interventions. It provides insights into how these impacts can be monetized, allocated among stakeholders, and integrated into their Scope 3 inventory. We also allow companies to generate simulated Impact Units before deciding whether to proceed with verification. The impact modeling service can help your company model the potential value of value chain interventions, allowing you to maximize impact, help you define the ROI from interventions, and secure stakeholders’ support.

Impact modeling takes data collected or modelled by your company and simulates the Impact Units that you – and your partners – can claim if you choose to pursue the process of intervention verification. This early-stage modeling allows companies to see what Impact Units would look like and how to use them, and it functions as a concrete case to show internal decision-makers and potential buyers. Furthermore, because the impact modeling is based on real or realistic data, later issuing verified Impact Units comes at a lower cost because the groundwork has already been completed.

• Model and quantify Impact Units early in the process

• Gain insight into monetization opportunities

• Get clarity on impact allocation and inventory integration before verification

• Demonstrate the return of interventions to internal and external stakeholders

• Reduce Impact Unit issuance costs

1. Companies new to Scope 3 accounting

Does your company want to claim Scope 3 emission reductions or report them in your company’s greenhouse gas inventory? Impact modeling can help you test whether issuing Impact Units is a suitable solution for your company by showcasing concrete calculations that let you explore the potential of value chain investments. It helps you assess the potential returns, align internal stakeholders, and understand how to implement interventions effectively. This can feed into building an effective Scope 3 strategy based on what Impact Units would look like in your specific value chain.

2. Companies looking for off-takers for their Impact Units

For companies or project developers that plan to undergo a verification process for Impact Units, impact modeling helps understand how impacts can be allocated among downstream partners. You can see early projections of your interventions' results, refine financing strategies, and unlock co-investment opportunities. You will be able to show concrete data when looking for buyers for your Impact Units, even before they have been officially verified and issued. This makes the process faster and helps secure buy-in from partners across the value chain, maximizing value across stakeholders.

Due to the complexity of value chains, implementing interventions to reduce Scope 3 emissions and reporting those emission reductions in line with climate targets continues to be a challenge for companies. 80% of most companies’ emissions take place in the value chain, but only 15% of companies have set upstream emission reduction targets as part of their climate strategy. At the same time, there is only 5 years left to achieve 2030 climate targets. This highlights the need for companies to accelerate and scale action to reduce these crucial emissions.

Impact Units mitigate common challenges affiliated with Scope 3 emission accounting, such as free riding, double counting and over-claiming, by ensuring fair allocation of impacts across investing value chain partners. Impact Units are allocated based on SustainCERT’s integrated Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework. In addition, the dual factor verification process ensures that GHG outcomes are claimed credibly by all actors. Ultimately this can incentivize companies to collectively tackle Scope 3 emissions and scale action across the value chain.

Learn more about how impact modeling can help your company demonstrate Scope 3 emission reductions and map out the opportunities for allocating them along the value chain.