The Fast Track to SB 253 Compliance
Move from generic emissions estimates to audit-ready Scope 1, 2, and 3 reporting using IMPLAN’s economic and environmental data through the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Guide.
A guided workflow that helps sustainability, finance, and compliance teams meet California’s reporting requirements without starting from scratch.
Support ESG & Emissions Disclosure Compliance with IMPLAN - Scope 1, 2, and 3
From Generic Estimates to Audit Ready Accuracy
IMPLAN helps you move from incomplete data to defensible reporting in three stages:
Start fast with complete coverage
Generate Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions estimates immediately using a seamless guided workflow.
Refine with your business inputs
Customize results using your actual spend, operations, geography, and energy usage.
Deliver audit-ready outputs
Produce transparent, documented emissions calculations aligned with GHG Protocol standards and ready for third-party assurance.
What Are Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions?
To meet evolving sustainability regulations and stakeholder expectations, organizations must track and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across Scope 1, 2, and 3 categories as outlined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Here’s how the scopes break down:
- Scope 1: Direct emissions from owned or controlled sources-such as factory equipment, company vehicles, or on-site fuel combustion.
- Scope 2: Indirect emissions from purchased energy-typically electricity, steam, or cooling used to power operations.
- Scope 3: All other indirect emissions in the value chain-including supplier operations, distribution, employee commuting, and product end-of-life.
Scope 3 is the largest and most complex category, often account for over 70% of total emissions. IMPLAN’s trusted 120+ data sources are vital to accurately modeling these emissions and ensuring transparency, target-setting, and compliance.
IMPLAN delivers Scope 1, 2, and 3 totals across all industries, measured in CO₂e over 20-, 100-, and 1000-year horizons. For deeper environmental benchmarking, industry-level data is available over a 100-year time span, aligning with EPA’s recommended reporting standard.
Why SB 253 Changes Reporting Requirements
SB 253 requires large companies doing business in California to disclose their full carbon footprint across Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions.
Key Deadlines:
- Scope 1 & 2: Reporting begins in 2026 using 2025 data.
- Scope 3: Reporting begins in 2027.
Scope 3 often represents the majority of emissions but is the hardest to measure due to complex global supply chains.
IMPLAN helps companies address this challenge by delivering full-value-chain emissions modeling without requiring supplier-level data, reducing both the time burden and the expense associated with traditional consultant-led approaches.
Scope 1 Direct Emissions You Can Defend
Assess emissions from owned operations, including fuel use, manufacturing, and company vehicles.
IMPLAN connects these emissions to economic activity, helping you quantify and explain operational impact with transparency.
Scope 2 Energy Decisions with Reporting Impact
Evaluate emissions from purchased electricity, heating, and cooling.
Model how energy sourcing decisions influence your reported emissions and overall footprint.
Scope 3 Full Value Chain Visibility
Capture emissions across your entire supply chain, including purchased goods, services, transportation, and product use.
IMPLAN’s spend-based modeling allows you to estimate emissions even when supplier data is unavailable, ensuring full coverage of your value chain.
Built-In GHG Emissions Guide
The IMPLAN GHG Emissions Guide provides a step-by-step workflow inside the application to support emissions reporting from start to finish.
What you can do:
- Set up Scope 1, 2, and 3 calculations quickly
- Use recommended inputs and assumptions
- Validate results with transparent methodology
- Export outputs for reporting and compliance
This transforms emissions reporting from a complex manual process into a structured and repeatable workflow.
Why IMPLAN:
- Complete Scope 3 coverage – Estimate emissions across your full supply chain using spend-based modeling, giving you confidence that no part of your value chain is left unreported for audit-ready compliance.
- Transparent methodology – No black box calculations. Every result can be traced and validated for audit readiness.
- Economic and environmental insight – Report emissions alongside economic contributions such as jobs and GDP to tell a complete impact story.
- Granular geographic data – Analyze impacts from zip code to global levels to support both local and enterprise reporting needs.
Who is impacted by scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions regulations?
As governments and regulatory bodies around the world strengthen their climate reporting rules, more companies are being required, or strongly incentivized, to disclose their full emissions profile. Here’s who should be paying close attention:
- Public companies in the US: Under the US SEC climate disclosure rule, publicly traded companies must report Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and in some cases Scope 3 if material or included in public climate targets. Additionally, US and global companies crossing size or revenue thresholds must comply with detailed Scope 1-3 emissions reporting.
- Companies doing business in the EU: The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) mandates climate-related disclosures for both EU-based and non-EU companies with significant operations in Europe.
- Suppliers to regulated companies: Even if your company is privately held or mid-sized, you may be required to provide emissions data to enterprise buyers that are subject to Scope 3 reporting rules.
- Federal contractors & grant recipients: The US federal government is tightening sustainability requirements for contractors and grantees. The Federal Supplier Climate Risks and Resilience Rule proposes that major contractors disclose Scope 1-3 emissions and climate targets.
Why it matters: Compliance, Reputation, and Resilience
ESG Strategy is more than a box to check- with new climate disclosure regulations on the horizon, companies that proactively track emissions and model their economic impacts gain several advantages:
- Risk mitigation: identify carbon-intensive suppliers and operations before regulators or investors do.
- Investor confidence: strengthen ESG scoring, sustainability ratings, and annual disclosures.
- Incentive access: qualify for grants, tax credits, and public-private partnerships related to clean energy and sustainability.
- Community relations: show local governments and stakeholders how your company delivers both economic and environmental value.
Interested in learning more? View our latest Scope 123 blog post now.
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In today’s fast-paced economic landscape, making informed decisions requires more than just raw data—it’s about having the right tools to transform that data into actionable insights. IMPLAN offers a robust, user-friendly solution for data aggregation, empowering businesses, researchers, and policymakers to seamlessly collect, analyze, and interpret complex economic data.
