Scope 1 emissions are your direct emissions — the greenhouse gases released from sources you own or control: boilers, furnaces, kilns, vehicles, process reactions. Together, Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions make up the full GHG Protocol inventory — but Scope 1 is the one regulators price first: in the EU every Scope-1 tonne from large industry now costs up to €77.4.
| Scope | What it covers | Industrial examples | Regulatory status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope 1 | Direct — fuel you burn, processes you run, your vehicles | Gas boiler, cement kiln calcination, diesel fleet | EU ETS / carbon taxes price THIS |
| Scope 2 | Indirect — purchased electricity, steam, heat | Grid power for motors and compressors | priced via your utility's Scope 1 |
| Scope 3 | Value chain — suppliers, product use, logistics | Purchased steel, business travel, product end-of-life | CSRD/ISSB disclosure, not (yet) priced |
Canonical definitions: the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard (the «greenhouse gas protocol») — the accounting basis used by CSRD, ISSB, CDP and the EU ETS MRV rules. Scope 1 and 2 are mandatory in every major reporting regime; Scope 3 where material (see the regime comparison).
Scope 1 examples by industry: a brewery's gas-fired wort kettles and boiler house; a cement plant's kiln fuel AND the calcination chemistry; a steel mill's blast-furnace coke; a refinery's process heaters and flares; a utility's gas turbines; refrigerant leaks from any cold store (fugitive); the diesel in your forklifts and trucks (mobile).
For contrast, Scope 3 spans 15 defined categories — purchased goods, capital goods, fuel-and-energy-related activities, upstream transport, waste, business travel, commuting, leased assets, processing and use of sold products, end-of-life, downstream leasing, franchises and investments. The practical link: your Scope 1 is your customer's Scope 3 — which is why suppliers now receive emissions questionnaires even when no regulation captures them directly.
Boilers, kilns, heat exchangers, valves and steam lines lose energy continuously. Inzonex makes patented (UK GB2508992.1) removable modular insulation — snap-fastened covers engineered per temperature tier, not generic off-the-shelf jackets:
Scope 1 = Σ (activity data × emission factor) over every fuel and process source. Activity data = fuel burned (from meters/invoices); emission factors come from IPCC/national inventories.
| Source | Typical emission factor | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Natural gas | 2.03 t CO2 per 1,000 m³ | ≈0.184 kg/kWh HHV |
| Diesel / gasoil | 2.68 t CO2 per 1,000 L | |
| Heavy fuel oil | 3.11 t CO2 per t | |
| Hard coal | 2.42 t CO2 per t | varies by grade |
| Cement process (calcination) | ≈0.52 t CO2 per t clinker | chemistry, fuel excluded |
Factors: IPCC 2006 Guidelines / national inventory values — verify against your jurisdiction's MRV tables. A 20 MW gas boiler at 7,000 h/yr ≈ 25,800 t CO2/yr Scope 1.
At €77.4/t, the 25,800 t/yr boiler above carries a full-price exposure of ≈€2.0M/yr — billed at 2.5% now, ~half by 2030, all of it by 2034. See the country-by-country prices.
Published abatement-cost ranges (IEA, industry marginal-abatement studies) — site-specific numbers vary; the ranking is robust: stop wasting heat first. Uninsulated valves, flanges and hot equipment typically waste 2–5% of fuel — removable insulation cuts those tonnes at negative net cost.
