Landscape of Research on Accounting Scope 3 Emissions: A Review of Methodologies and Data

Scope 3 emissions have been proposed as a critical metric for evaluating corporate carbon footprint, identifying emission sources, and developing mitigation solutions. Yet, widespread corporate reporting of Scope 3 emissions remains limited, highlighting a critical gap in both research and practice. This review examines current Scope 3 accounting methods and data availability. Findings show accounting accuracy suffers from inconsistent methodologies and insufficient data transparency. Existing research has predominantly examined firms in the Energy and Information Technology sectors, with limited attention to Real Estate, Health Care, and Utilities. A lack of standardized system boundaries and assessment frameworks hinders comparability, while missing inter-enterprise trade data leads to emissions underestimation. Additionally, supply chain network topology and production processes introduce double-counting errors. Proposed solutions include firm-level input–output tables, transparent accounting categorizations, and redistribution of emission responsibility via network reconstruction. The potential of advanced information technologies in improving data curation is also discussed.