Supplier Engagement
Scope 3 emissions — those in your value chain — often represent the largest share of a company's carbon footprint. scoped provides a streamlined workflow for engaging suppliers, collecting their emissions data, and incorporating it into your inventory.
Supplier engagement is available for both companies and municipalities. It is particularly relevant for Scope 3 categories such as Purchased Goods & Services, Capital Goods, and Upstream Transportation.
Overview
The supplier engagement workflow in scoped follows four steps:
- Add — Register your suppliers with their contact details and Scope 3 category
- Request — Send data requests to suppliers via email
- Respond — Suppliers fill in their data through a secure, no-login link
- Review — Review, verify, and approve the responses
All supplier data and interactions are tracked in the Supply Chain section, accessible from the main navigation.
Adding Suppliers
Navigate to Supply Chain → Suppliers and click Add Supplier.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Supplier's company name |
| Contact email | Email address for data requests |
| Supplier type | Type of supplier (manufacturer, service provider, logistics, etc.) |
| Scope 3 category | Which GHG Protocol Scope 3 category this supplier falls into |
| Annual spend | Your annual spending with this supplier (EUR) |
| Notes | Any additional context |
Once added, the supplier appears in your supplier list with their engagement status.
Engagement Status
Each supplier has a status that reflects where they are in the engagement process:
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Not contacted | Supplier is registered but no request has been sent |
| Requested | A data request has been sent and is awaiting response |
| Responded | The supplier has submitted their data |
| Verified | The response has been reviewed and approved |
| Declined | The supplier declined to provide data |
Sending Data Requests
Outgoing Requests
Navigate to Supply Chain → Outgoing Requests to manage your data requests.
To send a new request:
- Select one or more suppliers
- Choose the reporting year you need data for
- Select the requested fields (e.g., Scope 1 & 2 emissions, methodology, targets)
- Send — each supplier receives an email with a unique, secure link
What Suppliers Receive
Suppliers receive an email with a link that allows them to respond without creating a scoped account. The response form asks for:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Scope 1 emissions | Direct emissions (tCO₂e) |
| Scope 2 emissions | Energy indirect emissions (tCO₂e) |
| Methodology | How emissions were calculated |
| Targets | Any reduction targets in place |
| Supporting evidence | Documents to verify the data |
The no-login approach removes friction for suppliers. They can respond in minutes without signing up for anything.
Bulk Engagement
For organizations with many suppliers, scoped supports bulk operations:
- Send requests to multiple suppliers at once
- Send reminders to suppliers who have not yet responded
- Track response rates across your supplier base
Reviewing Responses
When a supplier responds, their data appears in your Outgoing Requests list with a "Responded" status. To review:
- Open the response to see the submitted data
- Check the evidence and methodology
- Approve — The data is incorporated into your Scope 3 inventory
- Or Request clarification — Send a follow-up to the supplier
Approved supplier data improves the quality of your Scope 3 emissions. Primary data from suppliers scores higher than spend-based estimates in the data quality assessment.
Incoming Requests
If another organization using scoped sends your organization a data request, it appears under Supply Chain → Incoming Requests.
To respond to an incoming request:
- Review what data is being requested
- Fill in the requested fields
- Attach supporting evidence if available
- Submit your response
This two-way system enables data exchange between organizations across supply chains.
Supplier Data and Emissions
Supplier data contributes to your emissions inventory in the following ways:
| Data Source | Quality | Uncertainty |
|---|---|---|
| Primary data from supplier (verified) | High | ±5% |
| Primary data from supplier (unverified) | Medium | ±15% |
| Spend-based estimate (no supplier data) | Low | ±30% |
As you collect more primary data from suppliers, your overall Scope 3 data quality improves, and uncertainty decreases.
Coverage Tracking
scoped tracks your supplier coverage — the percentage of your Scope 3 spend or emissions covered by primary supplier data versus estimates. This metric is shown in:
- The Supply Chain overview
- Data quality reports
- Compliance readiness checklists
Higher coverage demonstrates due diligence in your value chain emissions reporting.
Supplier Scoring
Each supplier receives a composite score (0–100) based on multiple factors:
| Factor | Max Points | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Emissions data availability | 25 | Whether the supplier has provided emissions data |
| Verification status | 25 | Whether the data has been externally verified |
| Calculation method | 15 | Supplier-specific (15) > hybrid (10) > spend-based (5) |
| Engagement status | 15 | How actively the supplier participates |
| Data quality | 10 | Quality assessment of submitted data |
| Climate targets (SBTi) | 10 | Whether the supplier has science-based targets |
Scores are categorized as Excellent (80+), Good (60–79), Fair (40–59), or Poor (<40). Use the distribution view to identify suppliers that need improvement.
Supplier Network
When a supplier also uses scoped, they become a linked supplier. Linked suppliers unlock additional capabilities:
- Auto-share — Suppliers can share their verified inventory data with one click
- Consent tracking — All sharing is consent-based with full audit logging
- Verified badge — Auto-shared data receives a verified data badge
- Real-time updates — Shared data stays current as the supplier updates their inventory
Linked suppliers are detected automatically when a supplier's email address matches a scoped user. You'll see a link icon next to linked suppliers.
PACT v3 Compatibility
scoped supports the PACT v3 (Partnership for Carbon Transparency) data exchange format. You can:
- Export supplier responses as PACT v3 JSON for interoperability with other platforms
- Share carbon footprint data in a standardized format across supply chains
This ensures your supplier data is portable and compatible with the broader carbon transparency ecosystem.
Bulk Import
For organizations with large supplier bases, scoped supports bulk CSV/XLSX import:
- Prepare a CSV or XLSX file with supplier details
- Upload in Supply Chain → Suppliers → Import
- Preview the import with duplicate detection
- Confirm — scoped automatically detects linked suppliers
Auto-Renewal Requests
For ongoing supplier engagement, enable auto-renewal:
- When a supplier's response is accepted, scoped can automatically generate a new request for the next reporting year
- This keeps your supply chain data current without manual re-engagement
- Previous year's accepted data is used as reference
Next Steps
- Ben AI Assistant — Get AI-powered guidance on supplier engagement
- Data Entry — Learn about other data entry methods
- Reduction Actions — Plan actions that involve your supply chain
- Reporting & Exports — See how supplier data appears in reports