Purchased Goods and Services: FAQ

We recommend that you fill the Purchase Goods and Services "start date" and "end date" columns according to your bookkeeping format. This should also ease the process of entering a large number of rows of transactions. Keeping the same date format between the Plan A template and your bookkeeping will also make you able to come back to cross-reference both sources and keep consistency.

When using entering data into the Plan A templates:

In your spend data, there may be some negative figures, reflecting refunds. These should still be included in your data upload so that previously reported emissions relating to refunded goods can be deducted from your carbon balance accordingly. Negative spend data will be reflected as negative emissions values in the month the refund was given.

To calculate the emissions related to the use of tap water, use the Water consumption calculation method found in the Purchased goods and services category.

After entering this data, apply the filters on the Purchased goods and services dashboard by selecting 'Product' and then 'Water' to view the emissions associated with water consumption.

Regardless of the contract type, both freelancers and contractors contribute to your company’s emissions during their working hours. We recommend treating them as Full Time Equivalent employees (FTEs) and include them in your Organisational Data accordingly.

However, if they are responsible for one-off services or if you want to account for these under Scope 3, category 1 “Purchased goods and services”, the following categories might suit:

These are usually mapped using the category “Software Publishers”.

If your office rent includes utilities, we recommend asking your office provider for a breakdown of all the expenses. Net rent does not need to be accounted for, but electricity and heating consumption should be accounted for via your Scope 1 & 2 emission calculations. Other utilities like office service fees, insurance, and leased equipment should be accounted for in Scope 3 Category 1 using the Plan A category ‘Other real estate’.

If your leased equipment is a so-called "operating lease", its energy and fuel consumption will have mostly been accounted for in Scope 1 and 2 already. Your upstream emissions caused by your leased assets such as equipment manufacturing are what is accounted for in Scope 3, category 1 - we recommend calculating these emissions using “Commercial and industrial machinery and equipment rental and leasing”.

Similar to the scenario of facility rental services described above, some companies might hire a “construction service” that manages the construction for them entirely. For example, a construction manager that manages the entire construction process, including billing. The ideal scenario is to obtain the expense breakdown from the agency, however, if there’s no available data, you can include this bill under “Commercial structures, including farm structures”.

These are usually mapped using the category “Services to buildings and dwellings” or “Facilities support services”.

These are usually mapped using the category “Other educational services”.

Purchased Goods and Services relates to everything that is purchased by your company, even if it is bought with the intention to be resold. You should include products/services bought for resale and select the correct Plan A Category accordingly. You can use labels (tagging) if you want to identify the emissions related to resold products when reviewing your emissions.

There is often a mismatch between when your company pays for a good or service and when this good or service is actually provided. For these kinds of accrued expenses, we suggest to follow the standard financial accounting of your company. This means, it is up to you to decide which date (expense date or fulfilment of service date) your company prefers to use. Just be sure to choose one and take note of it to avoid double counting.

There should not be any expenses related to carbon offsets or credits uploaded in the Purchased Goods and Services category. Learn more about how to report on compensated emissions here.