New Scope 3 emissions reporting won’t have to be made public, industry told

Landmark new rules being developed for the food and drink sector to measure its supply chain carbon emissions looks set to omit the need for mandatory public reporting, it has emerged.

Last month Wrap launched a consultation on its plans for an industry-wide measurement and reporting protocol that would see retailers, suppliers and hospitality companies urged to apply a common set of rules, amid fears a confusing myriad different systems being used by companies has led to “inertia” in the war on climate change.

While the new protocols would be voluntary, it is intended to become an agreed standard of the food industry. Companies that fail to comply are likely to face huge scrutiny.

However, despite speculation that the government is drawing up plans to introduce mandatory reporting for Scope 3 emissions as part of its net zero agenda, stakeholders being consulted on the document have been told it is highly likely there will not be a requirement for public reporting under the protocols.

A document shown to food industry environmental chiefs this week said the consultation had thrown up “general agreement that the document should not be requiring public reporting”.

A source involved in the drawing up of the protocol said the “lack of consistent data”, particularly when it came to goods purchased, had led to major concerns that the industry was not ready to publicly report, despite Wrap having set out to increase “transparency”.

“This doesn’t close the door to public reporting, but there is a question mark over how meaningful public reporting can be, given where we are with the data,” said the source.

Instead of public reporting, Wrap looks set to leave this to the Science Based Targets – a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute and the World Wide Fund for Nature – currently including around 1,000 companies across the world who have signed up to climate reduction targets.