Additional Inventory

This section includes reporting and accounting of indirect emissions Scope 3 categories that are not a part of the baseline inventory. More information about the categories can be found in What are Scope 3 emissions? Some categories are accounted for each year, and some have only been accounted for once.

Upstream Purchased Goods and Services

The chart shows the composition of the 10 top emitting categories from Cornell’s Procurement System, according to a study by Lu Sun et al., 2022 - COVID-19 impact on an academic Institution's greenhouse gas inventory: The case of Cornell University. The data is from 2019, and thus, not impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. The percentage stated on the chart for each category is percentage emissions of the total emissions from the purchasing system. An economic input-output life-cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) model was used to investigate the emissions using the procurement data. The total emissions from the procurement system were 295,207.7 metric tons CO2e.

If you need access to the full report or further information, please reach out to the Campus Sustainability Office.

Upstream Fuel- and Energy Related Activities (FERA)

The upstream FERA category covers upstream methane emissions related to produced and transported natural gas to Cornell’s combined heat and power plant (CEP). 

Emissions related to waste and wastewater treatment¹. 

¹A substantial increase of emissions from waste handling in FY2024 is due to a change to a more reliable emissions factor. The actual increase in quantity handled waste was 3 weight-% from FY2023 to FY2024. Learn more about Notable Changes in Reported Greenhouse Gas Emissions