Are emissions factors based on the country of origin or country of procurement?

Traces emissions factors are based on the country of procurement, not the country of origin. There are multiple reasons for this:

• Procurement location is usually known, while the country of origin is often unknown or difficult to determine—especially for complex goods with global supply chains (e.g., laptops, office furniture).

• Trace relies on spend data from financial systems, which typically includes the supplier’s location, not the origin of raw materials or manufacturing.

• Trying to track the true country of origin for every good/service introduces complexity and potential for error.

• Using procurement location offers a standardised and auditable approach aligned with GHG Protocol best practices for spend-based screening.

When we don't have an emissions factor for the true country of procurement, we revert to the home country of the organisation. Where this still can't be covered, our Australian-based emissions factors are applied as they represent our largest and most comprehensive database of emissions factors, allowing for an estimation in the absence of more geographically accurate emissions factors.

If you or one of your operating entities are outside of Australia, New Zealand or the UK and you'd like to know if we can cover your country specifically, please reach out to the team.