Scope 1, 2 and 3 for a factory
Scope 1 is a plant's direct emissions, Scope 2 the emissions behind the electricity and steam it buys, and Scope 3 everything upstream and downstream in its value chain. A manufacturer's measured energy per unit of product is its own Scope 1 and 2 intensity, and it is the supplier-specific input its customers need for their Scope 3. It is measured data, which a spend-based estimate cannot replace.
The three scopes
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol divides an organisation's emissions into three scopes by where they occur. For a factory, Scope 1 is what it burns and leaks on site: boiler fuel, forklift diesel, process gas, refrigerant losses. Scope 2 is the emissions produced elsewhere to make the electricity, steam or heat the plant buys; for a South African plant that is mostly grid electricity, converted with the published grid emission factor. Scope 3 is everything else in the chain: the materials and packaging the plant buys (upstream), and what happens to its products after they leave the gate (downstream). The same tonne of CO2e appears in different scopes for different companies: a plant's Scope 2 electricity is its retailer customer's Scope 3.
Source: GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard; GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard
From kWh per unit to a footprint
A factory that measures its electricity, fuel, steam and water against its production, at the site mains and at half-hour resolution, has the activity data for its own Scope 1 and 2 expressed per unit of output. Multiply the kWh per unit by the grid emission factor, add the fuel per unit times its factor, state the boundary (which site, which meters, which period) and the allocation rule (how site totals were divided across products), and the result is a gate-to-gate product carbon footprint for the plant's own operations. Add the upstream footprints of the materials and packaging that came in, and it becomes a cradle-to-gate footprint of the kind the ISO 14067 and GHG Protocol Product standards describe and the PACT Pathfinder framework exchanges. Augos provides the first step: measured, half-hourly, per-unit activity data with its boundary stated. The factors and the upstream data are applied by the plant or its advisers.
Source: ISO 14067; GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Standard; WBCSD PACT Pathfinder framework; Augos method, Utility and Resource Intensity
Supplier-specific or spend-based
When a company calculates its Scope 3 Category 1 (purchased goods and services), the Scope 3 Standard allows four methods: supplier-specific, using the supplier's own product footprints; hybrid; average-data, using industry averages per unit; and spend-based, using emissions per rand spent. The standard describes supplier-specific as the most accurate and spend-based as the least. The practical difference for a manufacturer is this: under a spend-based or average-data method, nothing the plant does to its own energy use changes the customer's number, because the number comes from a price or an industry average. Under a supplier-specific method, a plant that cuts its measured kWh per unit cuts its customer's Scope 3. Measured per-unit data is therefore the kind of figure that rewards a plant for improving, and the kind a buyer can use to tell one supplier from another.
Source: GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard, Category 1 calculation methods; SBTi supplier engagement call to action (December 2023), citing CDP: Scope 3 emissions average 11.4 times direct emissions
The South African context
Three things set the local picture. First, the carbon tax entered its second phase on 1 January 2026, with the rate proposed at R308 per tonne for 2026 and the carbon-budget allowance ending; it taxes Scope 1 above thresholds and is the plant's own cost. Second, the Climate Change Act 22 of 2024 has been partly in force since 2025, with carbon budgets awaiting regulations, and the JSE's sustainability disclosure guidance follows IFRS S1 and S2 with first-year relief on Scope 3. Third, the pressure that reaches a factory from its customers is mostly anticipatory for now: large South African retailers publish Scope 3 figures that are estimated from spend, and multinational buyers run supplier climate programmes that ask for product-level footprints. The EU's carbon border adjustment mechanism began its definitive period in January 2026 for iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen and electricity; food, beverage and packaging are not in its scope. Where a customer has confirmed it asks for product-level data, this page will say so; until then the honest statement is that buyers are starting to ask, and that a plant with measured data is ready when they do.
Source: National Treasury carbon tax Phase 2 (2026); Climate Change Act 22 of 2024; JSE Sustainability Disclosure Guidance; Woolworths Holdings 2024 carbon footprint verification statement (Category 1 estimated from expenditure data); Unilever Supplier Climate Programme; European Commission, CBAM definitive period from 1 January 2026
What a per-unit figure is not
It is not Scope 3 reporting by the manufacturer; it is the manufacturer's Scope 1 and 2, expressed per unit, which becomes someone else's Scope 3. It is not a verified product carbon footprint until boundaries, allocation and emission factors have been set and assured. It does not make a plant compliant with any disclosure regime, and Augos does not describe it as CBAM-ready or CSRD-compliant. It is measured activity data at half-hour resolution with its boundary stated, which is the part of the chain most footprints currently estimate and the part a plant can actually improve.
Common questions
What is the difference between Scope 1, 2 and 3?
Scope 1 is what the plant emits directly, Scope 2 is the emissions behind the electricity and steam it buys, and Scope 3 is everything else in its value chain, upstream and downstream.
Is a factory's kWh per unit a Scope 3 figure?
For the factory it is Scope 1 and 2 intensity. For the factory's customer it is the supplier-specific input to Scope 3 Category 1. The same measurement, two scopes, depending on who is counting.
What emission factor applies to South African grid electricity?
The published Eskom grid emission factor for the year in question, applied to measured kWh. Augos reports the kWh and states the boundary; the factor is applied by the plant or its advisers so that the year and source are explicit.
Does Augos do carbon reporting?
Augos measures energy, water and other utilities against production and reports them per unit at half-hour resolution. It provides the measured activity data; the factors, boundaries and assurance belong to the plant's carbon accounting.
Does CBAM affect food, beverage or packaging exporters?
Not in its current scope. The definitive period that began in January 2026 covers iron and steel, aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen and electricity.