CORPORATE ACTION → MEASUREMENT
Measurement & Baselines
You can't manage what you don't measure. Establishing your baseline is where sustainability gets real.
Corporate Sustainability Journey
In 30 Seconds
Measurement is the unglamorous foundation of corporate sustainability. Before you can set meaningful targets, create transition plans, or credibly report progress, you need to know where you stand today.
The challenge: Measurement is harder than it looks. GHG inventories require data from across your operations and supply chain. Nature assessments need new methodologies and data sources. The gap between “we've done an inventory” and “we have decision-useful data” is significant.
The opportunity: Robust baselines create credibility. They enable science-based targets, identify reduction opportunities, and provide the foundation for authentic disclosure.
GHG Inventory: The Foundation
The GHG Protocol provides the globally accepted framework for measuring emissions. Understanding the three scopes is essential – and Scope 3 is where most of the challenge (and opportunity) lies.
Scope 1
Direct emissions
Emissions from sources you own or control. Combustion in boilers, furnaces, vehicles. Process emissions. Fugitive emissions.
Data source: Fuel consumption records, direct measurement
Scope 2
Indirect energy emissions
Emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heating, cooling. These occur at the power plant, not your facility, but result from your energy use.
Data source: Energy bills, supplier data
Scope 3
Value chain emissions
All other indirect emissions. 15 categories covering everything from purchased goods to employee commuting to product end-of-life.
Data source: Supplier data, spend-based estimates, modelling
The Scope 3 reality: For most companies, Scope 3 represents 70-90% of total emissions. Yet it's the hardest to measure accurately. This is where measurement capability determines credibility.
Scope 3: The 15 Categories
Not all categories will be material for every company. Screening identifies which categories warrant detailed measurement.
Upstream (Categories 1-8)
1. Purchased goods & services
2. Capital goods
3. Fuel & energy activities
4. Upstream transportation
5. Waste generated
6. Business travel
7. Employee commuting
8. Upstream leased assets
Downstream (Categories 9-15)
9. Downstream transportation
10. Processing of sold products
11. Use of sold products
12. End-of-life treatment
13. Downstream leased assets
14. Franchises
15. Investments
The data hierarchy
Scope 3 data quality varies significantly. Understanding the hierarchy helps you improve over time:
1. Supplier-specific data – Primary data from your actual suppliers (most accurate)
2. Hybrid method – Activity data with specific emission factors
3. Average-data method – Activity data with industry-average emission factors
4. Spend-based method – Financial data with economic emission factors (least accurate)
Beyond Carbon: Nature Measurement
Climate is not the only material environmental issue. Nature – biodiversity, water, land use – is emerging as equally important. The frameworks are newer, but the direction is clear.
TNFD Approach
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures provides a framework for identifying and assessing nature-related dependencies and impacts.
- • LEAP approach: Locate, Evaluate, Assess, Prepare
- • Nature dependencies and impacts assessment
- • Priority location identification
- • Scenario analysis for nature-related risks
SBTN Metrics
Science Based Targets Network provides target-setting guidance with associated measurement requirements.
- • Freshwater: water use by basin, quality metrics
- • Land: area converted, ecosystem condition
- • Biodiversity: species impact, habitat quality
- • Ocean: plastic pollution, marine impact
The measurement challenge
Nature measurement is less mature than GHG accounting. Methodologies are evolving, data availability is limited, and location-specific assessment is complex. But waiting for perfection isn't an option – start with what's available and improve over time.
The Measurement Process
Building robust measurement capability is a multi-year journey. Here's a practical approach to getting started and improving over time.
Year 1: Foundation
- •Complete Scope 1 & 2 inventory using standard emission factors
- •Screen Scope 3 categories for materiality
- •Calculate top 3-5 material Scope 3 categories (spend-based)
- •Identify nature hotspots using TNFD LEAP approach
- •Establish baseline year
Year 2: Improvement
- •Improve Scope 3 data quality for priority categories
- •Begin supplier engagement for primary data
- •Conduct location-specific nature assessments
- •Implement data management systems
- •Get third-party verification for key metrics
Year 3+: Excellence
- •Primary data from key suppliers
- •Automated data collection where possible
- •Full value chain visibility
- •Real-time monitoring for key metrics
- •Integrated management systems
Measurement vs Reporting
These are related but distinct activities. Understanding the difference helps you sequence your sustainability journey correctly.
Measurement
Internal baseline establishment for decision-making
- • Purpose: Know where you stand
- • Audience: Internal management
- • Timing: Before targets, before strategy
- • Standards: GHG Protocol, TNFD LEAP
- • Output: Baseline inventory, impact assessment
Reporting
External disclosure for stakeholder communication
- • Purpose: Inform stakeholders, meet compliance
- • Audience: Investors, regulators, public
- • Timing: After measurement, ongoing
- • Standards: CSRD, UK SRS, CDP, TCFD
- • Output: Published reports, disclosures
The sequence matters: Measurement comes before reporting in the corporate sustainability journey. You need to know your baseline before you can credibly disclose it. Rushing to report without robust measurement leads to restated data and credibility problems.
Where This Fits
Measurement is Stage 3 – establishing your baseline after governance creates the mandate and materiality reveals what matters. It provides the foundation for strategy, targets, and everything that follows.
Enables target-setting
You can't set science-based targets without a robust baseline. SBTi and SBTN both require verified baseline data before targets can be submitted.
Informs strategy
Measurement reveals where your impacts are. This shapes strategic priorities – you can't strategise effectively without knowing where the opportunities lie.
The Pandion View
Measurement is where sustainability moves from aspiration to accountability. It's technical, detail-oriented work that doesn't generate headlines – but everything else depends on getting it right.
We've seen organisations announce ambitious targets without understanding their baseline. The targets become meaningless because there's no way to track progress. Start with measurement. Do it properly. Then talk about targets.
As a hybrid professional, we help clients build measurement capability that works – not just compliance-grade inventories, but decision-useful data that identifies opportunities and tracks real progress.