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Supply chain sustainability: Top ways firms track Scope 3 emissions

Kristin Burnham

Oct 29, 2025

What you’ll learn:

80% of businesses surveyed believe that sustainability is important or extremely important to their long-term success.
More than 40% of companies track Scope 1 and 2 emissions, but far fewer are able to measure Scope 3 emissions.
Freight decarbonizing is an emerging area of focus for many companies.

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Sustainability remains one of the most important forces shaping how companies operate across industries and regions. But turning good intentions into measurable results is still a complex journey, according to the 2025 State of Supply Chain Sustainability Report released this month.

Some 80% of businesses believe that sustainability is important or extremely important to their long-term success, according to the report, which surveyed more than 1,200 professionals across 97 countries. Despite economic headwinds and shifting regulations, most organizations are maintaining or even increasing their sustainability efforts instead of pulling back.

The report, titled “Sustainability Still Matters,” was produced by the MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, in collaboration with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

The challenge of tracking Scope 3 emissions

Although companies are making progress, Scope 3 emissions remain the toughest to track. These indirect emissions — from suppliers, transportation, product use, and all other parts of the value chain — typically account for more than 75% of a company’s total emissions. Despite this, reporting on Scope 3 still lags behind Scope 1 (direct emissions) and Scope 2 (purchased energy) reporting.

Today, more than 40% of companies measure Scope 1 and 2 emissions, but far fewer are able to track Scope 3.

The main barrier, cited by about 70% of the survey respondents, is a lack of data from suppliers. Without access to activity-level or product-specific data, even the most motivated businesses struggle to calculate accurate emissions, the report noted.

Besides a lack of data, other challenges respondents experienced include:

A lack of standardized methodologies (53%).
The complexity of calculations (52%).
Limited internal expertise/resources (39%).
The high cost of measurement tools/software (32%).

Together, these issues make Scope 3 accounting fragmented and time-consuming, the report concluded.

Needed: Better tools to help track Scope 3 emissions

The survey asked respondents which tools their organizations are using to track Scope 3 emissions.

Spreadsheets remain the top tool of choice, with 66.1% of respondents using a spreadsheet in some form to track Scope 3 emissions. Specifically:

34.8% of companies use just spreadsheets.
11.3% use spreadsheets in combination with carbon software.
10.4% use spreadsheets alongside custom tools.
9.6% use spreadsheets, carbon software, and custom tools.

Heavy reliance on spreadsheets raises concerns about data accuracy and scalability, the report noted. To move forward, companies will need to adopt standardized models and integrated platforms that can automatically connect supplier and enterprise data, improving both consistency and transparency.

Of organizations that currently aren’t using spreadsheets to track Scope 3 emissions:

13.0% use carbon software.
4.3% use custom tools.
3.5% use both carbon software and custom tools.

The remaining 13.1% responded “other” or declined to answer.

Reducing Scope 3 emissions

Given that organizations are facing a variety of challenges in measuring Scope 3 emissions — and in implementing the proper tools and technologies to do so — reducing them remains a major hurdle, according to the report. In achieving that goal, organizations are most hampered by:

The lack of a clear return on investment for reduction efforts (56%).
Difficulty engaging stakeholders (53%).
The high costs of implementing reduction initiatives (50%).

On the radar: Policy and freight transportation

The report also shed light on two other areas of concern: policy and freight transportation.

On the policy front, the researchers found that 60% of European companies face pressure to strengthen supply chain sustainability, compared with 46% of North American companies. Europe’s stronger push is driven by new frameworks, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, which require companies to standardize disclosures and improve data governance. The ripple effects extend beyond the European Union because global companies that have operations or customers in Europe must now align with these requirements.

In contrast, sustainability motivation in the U.S. is more often driven by investors, boards, and customers rather than government mandates. The report emphasizes that policy will continue to act as a catalyst for change but, given its evolving nature, companies must plan for flexibility, not just compliance.
On the transportation side, freight decarbonizing is emerging as a major area of focus. As one of the largest sources of value chain emissions, freight offers significant opportunities for impact. Many companies are investing in biofuels, battery-electric fleets, and hydrogen technologies, though adoption varies widely. Most organizations are taking a practical approach, according to the report, choosing to optimize existing assets for efficiency while preparing for cleaner technologies in the future.

Looking forward: From commitment to capability

The 2025 State of Supply Chain Sustainability Report offers a clear takeaway: Companies remain committed despite economic, regulatory, and operational challenges. The next big step is turning commitment into capability, especially when managing Scope 3 emissions, with the help of better data, stronger supplier partnerships, and smarter tools. Organizations that make sustainability measurable and embed transparency into their operations will both report and perform better.

The MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics is a leading research and educational center with more than 50 years of supply chain expertise. Supply chain sustainability has been a key research area at the center for more than a decade. The center provides research, education, and outreach to address the continuing growth of supply chain sustainability as a business imperative fueled by the demands and requirements of consumers, governments, and investors.

The center’s MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab aims to help organizations improve logistics and supply chain operations by creating applied and innovative research aimed at fostering growth while considering environmental and social sustainability. Current research projects include electrification of the supply chain, circular supply chains, sustainable transportation, and consumer-faced logistics sustainability.

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ mission is advance the supply chain profession by connecting, educating, and developing the world’s supply chain management professionals throughout their careers. CSCMP concentrates on three broad goals that support the overall strategy: taking a leadership position in supply chain as a discipline, creating value for customers, and conducting business in a sustainable manner.