Energy Action helps Australian organisations simplify complex energy management and gain greater visibility over their energy position. By combining energy expertise, procurement support and technology-driven insights, Energy Action can help businesses understand their consumption, control costs and make more informed energy decisions.
Key takeaways:
Receiving a supply chain emissions request from a major customer can create an immediate challenge, particularly if your business has never formally calculated or reported greenhouse gas emissions.
The request might arrive as a questionnaire, supplier portal notification, tender requirement or direct email. Your customer may ask for organisational emissions, electricity consumption, renewable energy information, product-specific data or details about your emissions reduction initiatives.
Rather than treating the request as another compliance form, businesses can use it as an opportunity to improve their understanding of energy consumption and emissions.
However, accuracy matters. You need to understand exactly what the customer wants before collecting numbers or making environmental claims.
This guide explains how Australian businesses can approach a supply chain emissions request, organise their information and provide customers with a clear and credible response.
A supply chain emissions request is a request from a customer for information about greenhouse gas emissions connected with your organisation, products or services.
Large organisations increasingly examine emissions beyond their own facilities. Consequently, they may need information from suppliers to understand emissions associated with purchased goods and services and other parts of their value chain.
For the supplier, this can mean providing information covering areas such as:
The exact request can vary considerably. Therefore, the first task should be understanding the customer's requirements rather than immediately attempting to produce a carbon figure.
A customer's operational emissions represent only part of its overall environmental footprint. Activities throughout its value chain can also contribute significantly.
As a result, organisations may ask suppliers for information that helps them understand and manage their indirect emissions.
For suppliers, these requests can also become commercially significant. Emissions information may appear in tender processes, procurement questionnaires and supplier assessments. Therefore, having reliable information available can make responding easier and demonstrate that your organisation has established processes for managing its environmental data.
Importantly, a request does not necessarily mean that your business must already have a sophisticated carbon accounting system. It does mean, however, that you should respond carefully and distinguish verified information from estimates.
A structured process can prevent confusion and reduce the risk of providing inconsistent information.
| Step | Action | Purpose |
| 1 | Review the customer's request | Understand exactly what information is required |
| 2 | Define reporting boundaries | Determine which operations and period are included |
| 3 | Collect activity data | Establish the evidence behind calculations |
| 4 | Calculate relevant emissions | Convert activity data using an appropriate methodology |
| 5 | Document assumptions | Explain estimates and data limitations |
| 6 | Review the response | Check accuracy and consistency |
| 7 | Retain records | Make future requests easier to answer |
Do not assume that every customer wants the same information.
One customer might request your total organisational emissions, while another could want emissions associated specifically with the goods or services supplied to them.
Before calculating anything, identify:
Reporting period: Does the customer require calendar-year, financial-year or another reporting period?
Boundary: Does the request cover your entire organisation, an Australian operation, one facility or a specific product?
Emission scopes: Are Scope 1 and Scope 2 sufficient, or is Scope 3 information also required?
Methodology: Has the customer nominated a particular reporting or calculation framework?
Data format: Does the customer need total emissions, emissions intensity, activity data or another metric?
Clarifying these points early reduces unnecessary work and makes comparisons between reporting periods more meaningful.
Understanding the three emissions scopes provides a useful foundation for responding.
| Emissions category | General meaning | Business examples |
| Scope 1 | Direct emissions from sources controlled by the organisation | Fuel used in company-controlled equipment or vehicles |
| Scope 2 | Indirect emissions associated with purchased energy | Purchased electricity |
| Scope 3 | Other indirect emissions across the value chain | Purchased goods, transport, business travel and other relevant activities |
Your customer's Scope 3 emissions may include emissions associated with products or services purchased from your organisation. Consequently, information you provide can become an input into the customer's broader emissions calculations.
However, this does not mean you should automatically send every emissions figure available. Provide information that matches the defined request and clearly explain its boundary.
Good emissions reporting starts with good activity data.
Depending on your operations and the customer's requirements, useful records may include electricity invoices, meter data, gas bills, fuel purchases, fleet records, production volumes and other operational information.
Electricity data can be particularly important for many commercial organisations. Energy information is already valuable for understanding costs, procurement and consumption patterns and it can also support emissions reporting.
Energy Action's existing approach to business energy management emphasises understanding consumption patterns and using accurate energy information to support better decisions.
Where possible, use primary data rather than broad estimates. For example, actual electricity consumption for the reporting period usually provides a stronger foundation than estimating consumption from floor area.
After collecting activity data, businesses can convert relevant activities into emissions using the methodology appropriate to the request.
At a basic level, emissions calculations commonly combine an activity quantity with an applicable emissions factor.
For example, a calculation might use the quantity of electricity consumed during a defined reporting period together with the emissions factor required by the selected methodology.
The important principle is consistency.
If you change the reporting boundary, methodology or underlying assumptions from one year to another, comparisons can become misleading. Therefore, maintain documentation explaining:
This documentation also makes the next supply chain emissions request substantially easier to answer.
A customer may ask for information that your business cannot currently calculate precisely.
Do not invent a number simply to complete the questionnaire.
Instead, explain the limitation. If you use an estimate, identify it as an estimate and document how you calculated it. Additionally, explain whether you expect better primary data to become available in future reporting periods.
Consider the difference between these approaches:
| Weak approach | Better approach |
| Providing an unsupported figure | Providing a calculated figure with methodology |
| Hiding missing information | Clearly identifying data gaps |
| Mixing different reporting periods | Using a defined and consistent period |
| Presenting estimates as exact | Labelling estimates and assumptions |
| Making broad sustainability claims | Providing evidence for specific statements |
Transparency improves the usefulness of the response and reduces the risk of creating misleading impressions.
Your first supply chain emissions request may reveal that emissions data is spread across invoices, spreadsheets, facilities and departments.
Start with the information you can substantiate.
For example, a business may already have electricity consumption records because it uses them for billing and energy procurement. Fuel invoices and fleet information may also be readily accessible.
Next, identify what is missing and develop a process for collecting it.
Rather than trying to build an unnecessarily complex system immediately, establish a repeatable reporting process. Assign responsibility, decide where records will be stored and document how calculations will be performed.
Over time, the process can become more detailed as customer requirements and your sustainability strategy develop.
For many Australian businesses, electricity represents an important area where energy management and emissions reporting overlap.
Understanding consumption patterns already helps businesses evaluate electricity supply contracts and energy procurement opportunities. Energy Action's existing guidance similarly highlights the importance of analysing usage patterns, contract structures and renewable energy options when managing electricity supply.
Therefore, improving energy data can deliver benefits beyond answering customer questionnaires.
Better visibility can help businesses understand:
As a result, a customer request can become the catalyst for improving both sustainability information and energy management.
Customer emissions requests are unlikely to become easier if every response starts from scratch.
Create a central emissions information pack containing your latest reporting boundary, methodology, electricity and fuel data, calculated emissions, renewable energy information and relevant sustainability initiatives.
Then assign responsibility for maintaining it.
Finance teams may hold electricity invoices, facilities teams may understand site consumption, procurement teams may manage energy contracts, while sustainability personnel may oversee reporting. Bringing these information sources together can significantly reduce duplication.
Additionally, maintain version control. Record which data you provided, which reporting period it covered and when you sent it.
When another customer submits a supply chain emissions request, your business can then respond from an established evidence base.
Several mistakes can undermine an otherwise useful response.
First, avoid confusing different emissions scopes. Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 represent different sources of emissions, so clearly identify what each figure covers.
Second, avoid providing figures without reporting periods or boundaries. A number has limited meaning if the customer cannot determine what operations or timeframe it represents.
Third, do not overstate renewable energy or emissions reduction achievements. Environmental statements should reflect the evidence available.
Finally, avoid treating emissions reporting purely as a once-a-year administrative exercise. Consistent data collection throughout the year can make reporting more efficient and provide useful information for energy and operational decisions.
A customer request may initially feel like an additional reporting burden. Nevertheless, the information collected can reveal useful business insights.
For example, examining electricity consumption may identify unusual usage patterns. Reviewing fuel data may highlight operational inefficiencies. Meanwhile, analysing renewable energy procurement may reveal opportunities to reconsider your longer-term energy strategy.
Energy Action's existing energy guidance focuses on understanding consumption, comparing procurement approaches and regularly reviewing energy strategies rather than considering energy contracts in isolation.
Therefore, businesses can treat emissions reporting as part of a broader process of understanding energy costs, consumption and sustainability performance.
Responding effectively to a supply chain emissions request starts with understanding exactly what your customer needs. From there, establish clear boundaries, gather reliable activity data, apply a consistent methodology and disclose any assumptions or limitations.
More importantly, build a repeatable process. Customer expectations can evolve and organised energy and emissions information makes future reporting significantly easier.
Energy Action helps Australian businesses better understand and manage their energy requirements through energy procurement, energy management and renewable energy solutions. By improving visibility over energy consumption and developing a stronger energy strategy, businesses can make more informed decisions while supporting their wider sustainability objectives.
Visit Energy Action to explore how its energy expertise can support your business.
Start by following the customer's requested reporting boundary, timeframe and methodology. Depending on the request, information could include Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, relevant Scope 3 information, electricity and fuel consumption, renewable energy information and calculation methods. Clearly state any assumptions or estimates so the customer understands the quality and limitations of the information supplied.
Your customer's environmental footprint can include indirect emissions associated with its supply chain. Therefore, customers may need supplier information to understand emissions connected with purchased goods and services or to support broader sustainability reporting. Requests can also form part of procurement assessments and supplier engagement programs.
Provide the most reliable information available and clearly identify gaps rather than inventing data. Where estimates are necessary, document the assumptions and calculation method behind them. You can then establish better data collection processes so future responses become more complete and consistent.
Electricity and fuel consumption records can provide important activity data for emissions calculations. Accurate invoices, meter information and consumption records can therefore strengthen the reliability of your response. Better energy information can also help your business identify consumption patterns, evaluate procurement strategies and find efficiency opportunities.
Create a repeatable annual process for collecting activity data, calculating emissions and documenting methodologies. Assign clear internal responsibilities and keep supporting records in a central location so your organisation does not have to rebuild the response each time. As customer requirements evolve, you can progressively improve data quality and expand the information you report.
