Does Trace Use Basic Price or Purchaser Price for Spend-Based Emissions Factors?

In practice, we apply a mix of basic price and purchaser price emissions factors depending on the nature of the spend and the emissions factor available. This approach is guided by the default emissions factor recommended by FootprintLab for each category of good or service.

Important Note for UK Emissions:
For UK emissions, Trace applies basic price emissions factors only. This reflects the structure of the UK data sources, which are aligned to basic prices by default.

What’s the Difference?

- Basic Price: The price received by the producer. Excludes taxes, transport, and retail margins.
- Purchaser Price: The total price paid by the buyer. Includes taxes, delivery, and retail margins.

Why Trace Uses a Mix
Trace primarily leans on the methodology established by FootprintLab, our primary emissions factor provider. FootprintLab assigns default emissions factors to hundreds of economic activity categories, and each is linked to either a basic price or purchaser price depending on what best reflects emissions intensity for that specific product or service.

Examples:

- For raw materials or manufacturing inputs (e.g. steel, cement, electricity), the emissions factor may be based on basic price, since emissions are concentrated at the point of production.

- For consumer goods or services (e.g. office supplies, consulting services), the factor is typically based on purchaser price, to reflect emissions embedded across the entire value chain, including distribution and retail.

What This Means for You

As a user of Trace:

- You don’t need to adjust your financial data to basic or purchaser prices manually

- Our platform handles this automatically by applying the appropriate factor based on the category of spend

- The result is a more accurate and user-friendly approach to estimating Scope 3 emissions