Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Scope 1/2/3 Accounting (Aquaculture)

The GHG Protocol's scope framework divides a company's emissions into Scope 1, direct emissions from sources it owns or controls (fuel burned in farm vehicles and vessels, on-site generators, in some pond systems methane released from sediment), Scope 2, indirect emissions from purchased electricity and heat, and Scope 3, everything else in the value chain, feed production and transport, packaging materials, downstream processing and distribution, employee travel, that occurs outside the company's direct operational control but as a consequence of its business activity. For most aquaculture operations, Scope 3 dwarfs Scopes 1 and 2 combined, since feed production, particularly for carnivorous species relying on fishmeal, fish oil, or land-based protein crops with their own land-use and processing emissions, typically accounts for the large majority of a farmed product's total carbon footprint, meaning a company reporting only its own direct Scope 1 and 2 emissions while omitting Scope 3 is presenting a figure that excludes the dominant actual climate impact of its product. Accurate Scope 3 accounting for feed specifically requires reliable, ideally supplier-specific emissions data for each major ingredient rather than generic industry-average factors, since actual emissions intensity varies substantially between, for example, different fishmeal sourcing regions or different soy production practices, and generic averages can materially misstate a specific supply chain's true footprint in either direction. Scope-based accounting is the foundational data structure underlying most subsequent climate reporting obligations, science-based target setting, and climate risk disclosure, meaning an aquaculture company's ability to credibly engage with any of those frameworks depends on first having built reasonably accurate scope-segmented emissions accounting.