Session Overview

This training is designed to help Southwark’s small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) tackle the most challenging aspect of their Net Zero journey: Scope 3 emissions. These are all the indirect emissions that occur in your value chain, encompassing your supply chain, waste management, business travel, and digital services. Crucially, Scope 3 often represents the largest portion of a business’s total carbon footprint.

We will clarify that while you don’t have operational control over these sources, your business has significant power to influence and reduce them through smart procurement and policy choices. We will cut through the complexity of the GHG Protocol, providing a clear, practical, and non-technical roadmap for identifying, measuring, and most importantly, reducing your business’s Scope 3 footprint through achievable, actionable steps.

What You Will Learn

· Understanding Scope 3: Get a clear overview of the most relevant Scope 3 categories for small and medium-sized businesses. We show you how to identify the biggest emissions sources, like procurement and waste, regardless of your sector.

· The Power of Procurement (Upstream): Learn how to use your purchasing decisions—the Upstream part of your value chain—to implement achievable internal policies and strategic planning that lower the emissions tied to the goods and services you buy.

· Collaborating with Suppliers: Understand the fundamentals of engaging with your supply chain to gather essential information and collaboratively drive shared reduction goals.

· Managing Your Indirect Impact (Downstream): Learn how to strategically address emissions from business travel, waste management/circularity, and digital services—the Downstream activities you influence every day.

· Your Next Steps: Walk away with a priority checklist and a curated list of free resources for starting or advancing your Scope 3 measurement and reduction plan.

Who Should Attend

This session is ideal for SME owners, directors, and managers in Southwark who have begun measuring their Scope 1 & 2 emissions, or who are ready to take their first practical steps toward a comprehensive Net Zero strategy. No prior carbon accounting experience is required, as the session is designed for participants who may be at different stages along their decarbonisation journeys.

How to Register

Our training sessions are open to all London-based SMEs with fewer than 250 employees. Up to three employees per business are invited to register for each session. In order to join this training, please ensure your organisation has completed the Southwark Climate Collective Registration Form.