Shell's Scope 3 and Sustainable Procurement: How the Supplier Carbon Data Gate Decides Who Sells to Big Oil
Around 95 percent of Shell's carbon footprint sits in Scope 3, and roughly 119 million tonnes of that is purchased goods and services, the supply chain itself. This dossier looks at how Shell acquires Scope 3 data from suppliers, what its sustainable procurement requirements really ask for, and why supplier carbon data has quietly become a commercial qualification gate for anyone selling into the majors.
What is Shell's Scope 3 and sustainable procurement approach, and why does it matter to suppliers? Shell's Scope 3 emissions were about 1,084 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2024, roughly 95 percent of its total reported footprint, and about 119 million tonnes of that sits in Category 1, purchased goods and services, which is Shell's own supply chain. To cut that number, Shell uses its Supplier Principles and supply chain engagement to ask suppliers for primary carbon data, set emission ambitions and share performance, and it is building decarbonisation roadmaps with its largest supply chain emitters. For B2B vendors, the practical effect is that credible Scope 3 data and sustainable procurement readiness are becoming a condition of qualifying to sell, not a nice to have, and regulation under CSRD is hardening that expectation into a reporting requirement.
- Shell's 2024 Scope 3 emissions were about 1,084 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, roughly 95 percent of its total reported carbon footprint, so Shell's climate progress depends overwhelmingly on others, customers and suppliers.
- Purchased goods and services, Category 1, was about 119 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2024, the part of Scope 3 that Shell can influence through procurement, which is why suppliers are now in scope.
- Shell's Supplier Principles and supply chain engagement ask suppliers to comply with environmental standards, use energy efficiently, minimise emissions, set ambitions, track performance and exchange emissions data.
- Shell is building decarbonisation roadmaps with its largest supply chain emitters and had signed non-binding memoranda of understanding with eight companies by the end of 2023, a signal of where procurement is heading.
- Under CSRD and ESRS E1, in-scope companies must disclose how much of their Scope 3 is primary versus secondary data, which pushes demand for real supplier carbon data down the chain to vendors of every size.
The 95 percent problem, and the slice procurement actually controls
Shell's total reported greenhouse gas footprint in 2024 was around 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, and the overwhelming majority of it, about 1,084 million tonnes, was Scope 3, the indirect emissions across Shell's value chain. That is roughly 95 percent of the total. In plain commercial terms, Shell's own operations are a small fraction of the problem it has committed to solve, which means its climate targets are really targets for other people's emissions, its customers and its suppliers.
The largest single category is the use of sold products, Category 11, at about 845 million tonnes, the emissions from customers burning the fuels Shell sells. That category is hard for procurement to touch. The category that procurement does control is Category 1, purchased goods and services, at about 119 million tonnes in 2024. This is the supply chain itself, every contractor, equipment vendor, logistics provider and service firm that Shell buys from. When Shell looks for Scope 3 reductions it can actually influence through commercial levers, this is where it looks, and this is why suppliers are now part of the climate conversation whether they expected to be or not.
Scope 3 dominates: About 1,084 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2024, roughly 95 percent of Shell's reported footprint, sits outside Shell's direct operations.
Suppliers are Category 1: Purchased goods and services, about 119 million tonnes, is the slice Shell can move through procurement, which puts vendors in scope.
Targets need others: Shell's net carbon intensity goals, 9 to 12 percent by 2024 and 15 to 20 percent by 2030, cannot be met without value chain action.
Scope 3 data acquisition: from Supplier Principles to primary data
Shell's first lever is contractual. Its standard contract terms require suppliers to adhere to the Shell Supplier Principles, or equivalent principles, which include complying with environmental laws, using energy and natural resources efficiently, and minimising waste, emissions and discharges. That sets a floor. Above the floor, Shell asks suppliers to go further: to set their own emission ambitions, track and report performance, share best practice, and exchange emissions data with their own supply chains. The direction of travel is from generic commitments toward specific, comparable numbers.
The reason the phrase Scope 3 data acquisition matters is that secondary, spend-based estimates are no longer enough. A spend-based estimate multiplies what Shell pays a supplier by an industry average emissions factor, which is easy but crude. Primary data, a supplier's own measured Scope 1, 2 and increasingly Scope 3 figures, a verified product carbon footprint, or a life cycle assessment, is far more accurate and far more useful for setting and proving reduction targets. Shell, like its peers, is increasingly using digital tools to bring transparency to supply chain emissions, and is concentrating effort on the suppliers that represent the most emissions, where better data changes the picture most.
Sustainable procurement applications, what the questions really are
Sustainable procurement is the practice of building environmental and social criteria into purchasing decisions, and the applications, the questionnaires, portals and assessments a supplier has to complete, are where it becomes real. In practice a supplier is asked for environmental data such as energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and water use at the facilities that serve the buyer, alongside social data on labour practices, working conditions and human rights due diligence. Top and strategic suppliers are typically asked for entity-level Scope 1, 2 and 3 figures or certified product carbon footprints; mid-tier suppliers are asked for activity data such as material weights, transport distances and energy volumes.
Shell is also moving beyond questionnaires toward collaboration with the suppliers that matter most. It has been developing plans to work with its 50 largest supply chain emitters to build a shared decarbonisation roadmap, and by the end of 2023 it had signed non-binding memoranda of understanding with eight companies to identify and potentially provide decarbonisation solutions. For a vendor, the lesson is that the relationship is shifting from a one-off compliance form to an ongoing data and improvement partnership, and the suppliers who can engage on that basis are the ones who stay on the list.
Adherence to Supplier Principles — All suppliers — The contractual floor, non-compliance can disqualify
Entity Scope 1, 2 and 3 data — Top and strategic suppliers — Primary data Shell can allocate and report under CSRD
Product carbon footprint or LCA — Product and equipment vendors — Lets buyers compare offers on embedded carbon
Activity data, weights and distances — Mid-tier suppliers — Feeds buyer calculations where full data is absent
Emission ambitions and progress — Largest emitters — Basis for joint decarbonisation roadmaps and retention
The regulation that turns a request into a requirement
Two forces are converging. The first is target pressure: Shell has committed to reduce the net carbon intensity of the energy it sells by 9 to 12 percent by 2024, which it met against a 2016 baseline, and by 15 to 20 percent by 2030, on the way to net zero by 2050. A metric that includes suppliers' emissions cannot be hit without supplier action, so procurement becomes a climate instrument. The second force is regulation. Under the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, Scope 3 reporting is mandatory for in-scope companies wherever value chain emissions are material, with large companies reporting for financial year 2025 onward.
The detail that should focus every supplier's attention sits in the European Sustainability Reporting Standard for climate, ESRS E1, which requires companies to disclose how much of their Scope 3 inventory is based on primary data versus secondary estimates. Buyers do not have to reach 100 percent primary data, but they do have to report the proportion, and a higher proportion of real, supplier-provided data makes for a more credible disclosure. That single requirement pushes demand for primary carbon data all the way down the chain, to suppliers of every size, because the buyer's reported number now depends on what its suppliers can hand over.
The supplier playbook: turn a carbon gate into an advantage
The commercial read is straightforward. Supplier carbon data has become a qualification gate, and like every gate it separates the vendors who get through from the vendors who do not. The vendors who measure and can share credible Scope 1 and 2 figures, who are starting on Scope 3, and who can produce a product carbon footprint on request, are easier to buy from and easier to report. They reduce the buyer's data risk, and in a procurement process that increasingly scores sustainability, that is a differentiator, not just a hurdle.
Project 54's view is that this is an engineered advantage rather than a compliance cost. Get the measurement house in order before the questionnaire arrives. Treat the sustainable procurement application as a sales document, not an admin task, and answer it with specifics rather than statements of intent. Position early against the buyer's own targets and timelines, because the supplier who shows up with data the buyer needs for its CSRD disclosure is solving the buyer's problem, and that is the supplier who stays on the rationalised vendor list when it is cut.
Measure first: Have credible Scope 1 and 2 numbers and a Scope 3 starting position before a buyer asks, so the questionnaire is a confirmation, not a scramble.
Productise the data: A product carbon footprint or LCA on request lets buyers compare you on embedded carbon and makes you the low-risk choice.
Sell to the disclosure: Frame your data against the buyer's CSRD and net carbon intensity targets, you are solving their reporting problem, not just passing a check.
