The unavoidable greenwashing of Scope 4 emissions

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By Trey Thoelcke Updated Published
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The unavoidable greenwashing of Scope 4 emissions

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(Mark Hulbert, an author and longtime investment columnist, is the founder of the Hulbert Financial Digest; his Hulbert Ratings audits investment newsletter returns.)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Callaway Climate Insights) — If you thought the accounting of Scopes 1, 2 and 3 CO2 emissions is complicated and mysterious, leaving enormous room for greenwashing, brace yourself for Scope 4.

Scope 4 emissions reflect the difference between the carbon footprint of a company’s customers when using its goods and services, relative to what their footprint would have been if they had instead used another company’s products or services. Scope 4’s accounting requires numerous assumptions about what other products and services consumers would have used instead and how they would have otherwise behaved.

Scopes 1, 2, and 3, in contrast, focus on the direct and indirect emissions of a company’s activities and its products.

Though most have never heard of Scope 4 before, the category has actually been around at least since 2013; that’s when the concept was introduced by the World Resources Institute. Given the difficulties in accounting for Scopes 1, 2 and 3, relatively little attention has been paid to Scope 4 — so far. This appears to be changing…

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Photo of Trey Thoelcke
About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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