Development of a Concept for the Use of Digital Technologies in Scope 3 Carbon Accounting
Due to climate change, politics, society, and the market environment are increasing the pressure on companies to track their emissions. This is having an increasing impact on the profitability of SMEs, as large corporations are passing on their requirements to them. Accordingly, SMEs are particularly challenged to account for their emissions (Scope 1 and 2). However, emissions along the upstream and downstream value chain (Scope 3) usually have a higher climate relevance for companies. In practice, these are often not taken into account.
This is because scope 3 carbon accounting is associated with several challenges, including the collection and preparation of data from various emission sources. The associated activities often exceed the available resources and competencies of SMEs. In addition, the available solution approaches are far behind the current technological possibilities and thus require a high proportion of human input.
Accordingly, new solution approaches must be made available in the context of digitalization so that SMEs can record and calculate Scope 3 emissions automatically, precisely, and cost-effectively. The Institute of Business Logistics and General Management at the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), under the scientific leadership of Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Wolfgang Kersten has been working since July 2021 on the project “Development of a Concept for the Use of Digital Technologies in Scope 3 Carbon Accounting,” which is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
The project aims to develop a concept for SMEs that supports the use of digital technologies in scope 3 carbon accounting in logistics-intensive industries. The requirements of SMEs for scope 3 carbon accounting are to be derived, possible applications of digital technologies in scope 3 carbon accounting are to be identified and evaluated, and guidelines for implementation are to be developed. A web-based demonstrator for SMEs will then provide decision support for the target-oriented integration of digital technologies in Scope 3 carbon accounting.
For more information, please contact:
Hannah-Deborah Harbich
Email: hannah-deborah.harbich@tuhh.de
Phone: +49 40 42878 3767
