UM Scope 3 Purchased Goods & Services Emissions Footprinting
University of Michigan
Description
This project was conducted to address recommendations from the University of Michigan’s President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality by footprinting the institution's Scope 3 purchased goods and services greenhouse gas emissions. The research goals were to 1) develop methods for Scope 3 purchased goods and services (PGS) emissions footprinting; 2) partition emissions by spending category to identify high-impact purchasing categories; and 3) identify and recommend procurement system modifications to reduce Scope 3 PGS emissions and streamline progress tracking at the University of Michigan (U-M). The scope of this analysis encompassed all spending for fiscal year (FY) 2020 across all U-M campuses and properties. Procurement data emissions were footprinted using sector-level supply chain emission factors (SEFs) from the 2019EPA Supply Chain Greenhouse Gas Emissions Factors for US Industries and Commodities environmentally-extended input-output model. U-M spending data were disaggregated into spending accounts and assigned SEFs based on the alignment of spending account and SEF industry category descriptions.