Templates and records · ISO 14064 · Clause 5.2.3
ISO 14064-1 significance assessment of indirect emissions
The reasoned decision on which value-chain emissions —contracted transport, purchases, use of products— are quantified and which are excluded.
In one sentence
The significance assessment of indirect emissions applies criteria set in advance —magnitude, influence, risk, stakeholder interest— to each indirect emission category and records which ones are quantified and why the rest are excluded, because ISO 14064-1 requires those criteria to be defined and documented within the reporting boundaries (5.2).
- Where the standard requires it
- ISO 14064 · Clause 5.2.3 Clauses are cited using the numbering of ISO 14064-1:2018, the current edition for organisation-level inventories. Verification is governed by ISO 14064-3:2019.
- Type of information
- Mandatory document Documented information to be maintained (5.2.1 and 5.2.3)
- Who fills it in
- Footprint lead With purchasing, logistics and sales, who know the value chain
- When
- In every inventory cycle And whenever the business or supply chain changes significantly
- How long it is kept
- Set by the organisation The standard requires procedures for retaining documents and records (8.2) but sets no period. Keep everything from the base year onwards, since a recalculation may mean going back to the original data.
What the standard requires
What ISO 14064 demands and what it leaves to your judgement
The 2018 edition requires the reporting boundaries to be established and documented, identifying direct and indirect emissions. For indirect emissions, the organisation must apply a process with predefined criteria to decide which are significant and quantify them; those excluded are justified.
The company chooses the criteria. Annex H of the standard gives guidance on the process but imposes no thresholds. What is assessed is that the criteria exist before the evaluation and are applied the same way every year.
For those who also report under the GHG Protocol, categories 3 to 6 of the standard cover much of scope 3, and category 2 corresponds to scope 2.
Structure
Fields the template should include
- Significance criteria and their weighting
- Indirect emission category (2 to 6) and subcategory
- Preliminary estimate of magnitude
- Score or rating against each criterion
- Outcome: quantified or excluded
- Justification for exclusions
- Date and person responsible for the assessment
Example
Example: the logistics operator’s assessment (fictitious company)
Company, people and figures are fictitious: the example only shows what a properly completed record looks like.
| Field | Content |
|---|---|
| Criteria | Estimated magnitude, ability to influence, customer requirements and data availability · significant if the score is 7 or more out of 12 |
| Subcontracted transport (category 3) | Estimate 1,800 t CO₂e · score 11 · quantified |
| Employee commuting (category 3) | Estimate 210 t CO₂e · score 6 · excluded, to be reassessed in 2027 |
| Purchased goods: packaging (category 4) | Estimate 140 t CO₂e · score 7 · quantified at the request of two customers |
| Use of sold products (category 5) | Not applicable: the company provides services |
| Assessment | Sustainability manager · 3 March 2026 |
At the audit
Mistakes auditors commonly flag
- Criteria are decided after seeing which categories are easy to calculate.
- Large categories are excluded without written justification.
- Criteria change every year and the inventory stops being comparable.
- ISO 14064-1 categories are confused with scopes and emissions are counted twice.
In Kimobox
How this record is kept in Kimobox
- 1The emission sources in each category are kept as a versioned record.
- 2The calculation methodology used for the inventory is documented.
- 3Each exclusion is justified in the same record, with date and owner.
Frequently asked questions
What people ask us before getting started
Do we have to calculate all of scope 3?
No. ISO 14064-1 asks you to quantify indirect emissions that are significant according to the organisation’s own criteria and to justify any exclusions. In Spain, Royal Decree 214/2025 makes scope 3 voluntary for the footprint entered in the official register.
Which criteria are acceptable?
Magnitude, level of influence, risks or opportunities, sector or customer requirements and access to data are the most common. What matters is that they are defined beforehand and applied the same way every year.
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Sources
Where each figure comes from
References to the official text in force. If a standard is revised, this page is updated and the review date says so.
- ISO 14064-1:2018 — Greenhouse gases. Part 1: Specification with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals ISO · 2018 ed.
- Greenhouse Gas Protocol — Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard WRI and WBCSD · Revised edition
- Real Decreto 214/2025, de 18 de marzo (Royal Decree creating the register of carbon footprint, offsetting and carbon dioxide removal projects, and making carbon footprint calculation and reduction plans mandatory) BOE-A-2025-7439 · 12 April 2025