China supplier carbon data for Scope 3 reporting
Use a shared questionnaire and portfolio register, with agreed boundaries, reporting periods, units and product allocation. Check responses against source records, track gaps and obtain sustainability approval before using estimates in reporting. Agree the China-side collection brief with Cambridge China Bridge.
Agree the collection brief before contacting suppliers
Ask sustainability staff to approve the collection boundary, reporting period, calculation methods and acceptable evidence. Define whether the requested product footprint covers raw materials through factory dispatch, and identify where freight is recorded separately. This is a proposed procurement workflow, to be adapted to your organisation’s reporting framework.
Build a portfolio register linking each supplier, actual production site and purchased product to your procurement records. Assign a buyer contact, factory data owner, response deadline and review status. Prioritise collection using purchasing exposure and your existing emissions screening. Keep reporting applicability separate from collection design: see SECR and China purchases. For setting up product records, see the import product data ERP checklist.
Send a common supplier questionnaire
Send the same bilingual template to every supplier, with definitions and permitted units. Ask suppliers to label each entry as measured, calculated, estimated, unavailable or outside the agreed boundary. A blank field needs an explanation; it should never silently become zero.
Use the fields below as the questionnaire core. Allow suppliers to attach existing calculations, but require them to map those calculations to your fields and explain differences in coverage.
| Field | Ask the supplier to provide |
|---|---|
| Identity and boundary | Reporting entity, production site, products covered, included processes, subcontractors and exclusions. |
| Reporting period | Start and end dates for activity records and calculations; explain any mismatch with the buyer’s period. |
| Activity data | Electricity, fuels, purchased heat, relevant process emissions, material inputs, packaging and production output, with original units and data sources. |
| Calculation coverage | Whether the result covers factory operations only or also upstream materials and processing; identify missing stages and separately recorded freight. |
| Factors and method | Factor publisher, dataset version, geography, applicable period, units, calculation formula and assumptions; identify electricity accounting methods. |
| Product allocation | Product reference, reporting unit, shared activity or emissions pool, allocation basis, total output denominator and allocation calculation. |
| Supporting evidence | Bills, meter records, fuel and material records, production logs and calculation files; document references and any assurance statement with its coverage. |
| Gaps and responsibility | Estimated fields, reasons, proposed replacements, named preparer and supplier approval. |
Check records and product allocation
Match bills and meter records to the named site and period. Reconcile production totals with the allocation denominator and your purchased product references. Ask how shared meters, outsourced processing, scrap and co-products were treated. Keep original values alongside normalised units, with conversion notes. For factor selection, use electricity factors for Chinese factories.
Do not treat a whole-company emissions total as a product footprint. Ask for the shared emissions pool and the reason for allocating it by mass, production time, value or another basis. Sustainability staff should approve that basis and check for omitted upstream stages or duplicated freight. Use factory verification to brief checks of site identity and available records; approve carbon methods separately.
Resolve gaps before releasing the reporting dataset
Keep an exception log for missing evidence, mismatched periods, unclear boundaries and unsupported allocation. Record the affected products, reporting consequence, owner and next action. Keep unanswered suppliers visible in the portfolio. Where an estimate is needed, follow estimating purchased-goods emissions without supplier data and record which gap it fills.
UK government conversion-factor guidance says users should report their emissions-accounting methods. Have sustainability staff approve calculation methods, factor choices, allocations and unresolved estimates before release. Record the decision, rationale, limitations and replacement plan. Procurement should manage collection and follow-up, with sustainability staff owning methodological acceptance.
Repeat the process and preserve comparability
Maintain the original submission, evidence index, calculation version, review comments and approved reporting extract together. Restrict access to commercially sensitive source records while preserving reviewer access. Track collection coverage by supplier and purchased product, distinguishing accepted supplier data, approved estimates and unresolved gaps.
For the next reporting cycle, request updated records using the same template and ask suppliers to declare changes in sites, processes, boundaries, factors and allocation. Explain whether apparent emissions changes reflect operations, purchasing mix or revised methods. Agree any baseline recalculation with sustainability staff rather than overwriting the previous approved dataset.
Frequently asked questions
What carbon data should I ask Chinese suppliers for?
Ask for site and product boundaries, reporting dates, activity records, factors, product allocation and supporting files. Require suppliers to identify estimates, exclusions and missing data.
Can I use a supplier’s company carbon footprint?
Use it as supporting information. Before assigning emissions to purchases, check coverage and obtain a documented product allocation approved by sustainability staff.
What if a Chinese factory cannot provide carbon data?
Keep the supplier in the register, record the gap and use a sustainability-approved estimate where appropriate. Assign an owner to obtain better records for the next reporting cycle.
Who should approve supplier carbon estimates?
Sustainability staff should approve methods, factors, allocations and unresolved estimates. Procurement should collect records, chase responses and maintain the decision trail.