← Business Metric: Operational (all topics)
Carbon intensity & Scope 1-2-3 emissions
What it is
Emissions per unit of output, split by scope - direct emissions from owned operations, indirect from purchased energy, and everything else across the value chain. Scope 3 is usually the largest and the hardest to measure
It is moving from voluntary disclosure to a priced liability under carbon markets and border adjustments
Impact on industries
- Under CBAM and domestic carbon trading it becomes a direct cost, so emission intensity now sits in the cost structure rather than the sustainability report
- Low-intensity producers gain a measurable commercial advantage as carbon is priced, turning past efficiency investment into current margin
- Scope 3 depends on supplier data that is often unavailable or unverified, so reported figures carry wide error
- Intensity can fall while absolute emissions rise if output grows faster, so the two measures answer different questions