Categories
Purchases
This feature helps you calculate the supply chain emissions for the goods and services you purchase, including capital goods and production-related purchases.
Updated: October 2024
Table of contents
Supplier identifier linking (Coming soon)
Supplier mapping (Coming soon)
Commodity mapping (Coming soon)
Overview
This feature helps you calculate the supply chain emissions for the goods and services you purchase, including capital goods and production-related purchases. Capital goods consist of the factories, tools, and equipment used to produce your finished goods or services while production-related goods include materials, components, or ingredients that go into your products.
As a category, purchased goods and services (PGS) is often one of the largest emissions sources for organizations. To calculate these emissions, Workiva Carbon uses data from models that estimate the flow of goods and services throughout the economy—also known as environmentally-extended input output (EEIO) models. These models estimate the emissions per revenue for a range of commodities and industries by multiplying your spend to calculate emissions (Emissions factor x $ spent = MT CO2e). A critical step is mapping your spend data to the commodities/industries in these models. This process is manual and can be time-consuming at first, but Workiva Carbon saves your selections for future data uploads. When you return to calculate next year’s emissions, the process will be much faster, if not automatic.
Once you're familiar with your internal accounting categories, you can break out the mapping task over several days. We'll save your progress.
How-to guide
Preparing your file for bulk upload
Most accounting platforms allow you to export transaction data into a .csv or .xlsx file—this is the easiest way to generate the file you’ll need to upload to your Workiva Carbon account. 1. Specify a date range (e.g., your fiscal year) before you export. 2. Identify the required columns and rename them (if needed) to Date, Category, Amount, Vendor, and Emissions (MT CO2e) for Workiva Carbon to recognize them. 3. Include additional columns that can help you identify transactions (e.g., department, notes, etc.), but note, these will not impact your emissions calculations.
Using the template
If you would rather use our template, click “Download a template” on the upload screen. Add data manually or copy and paste into the template from another source.
https://strapi-service.prod.nurtur.life/uploads/Pruchases_1_a1575ea279.pngDefine the columns
- Date: Transaction date
- Category: Internal category name as set in your accounting platform. Pick the most granular one to increase the accuracy of your results in Workiva Carbon.
- Amount: Monetary amount of transaction
- Vendor: Name of vendor associated with transaction. May also be called "Supplier" in your accounting system. Mark as "Unknown" if you don't have access to vendor name.
- Currency: Currency code. Currently supported currencies are listed here.
- Emissions (MT CO2e): Use this optional column to upload known emissions data associated with a spend transaction. This will override any backend emissions calculations.
Formatting guidelines
- File type: .xlsx only
- File size: 100 MB max
- Date format: Ex. 2021-01-01, 1/1/2021
- Amount format: Decimal
- Category format: String
- Vendor format: String
- Currency format: String (see here for options)
- Emissions (MT CO2e): Decimal, Optional
File upload
Upload a spreadsheet with the required column headers. Next, you’ll get a preview of your data to confirm it has been imported correctly. Review your upload and if everything matches your expectations, click Complete upload to proceed.
Depending on the size of your file, processing can take several minutes to complete. You can navigate away from the page and you will receive an email notifying you when the upload is complete.
Upload history
Once your upload(s) is complete, you can see previously uploaded files under your Upload history. From here, you can click “Add groups” to tag files with group labels you’ve already created in the platform, like business units. This way, you’ll be able to filter by those groups in your emissions ledger.
Supplier identifier linking (Coming soon)
When your upload finishes, you’ll be brought over to the mapping tab. First, assess if your transaction data has different names for the same supplier. On the identifiers tab, you can merge multiple identifiers to a single supplier. Hover over the “Other identifiers” column and click the edit icon.
From the right panel, you can select the supplier you want to become the default name, then search for additional identifiers/aliases that represent that same supplier. Click “+” if you want to consolidate the resulting identifier into the default supplier, then click Apply. You should then see the other identifier listed in the table.
NOTE: Once you have added a supplier to the supplier engagement module, you will not be able to further consolidate with additional identifiers.
Supplier mapping (Coming soon)
Then, under the suppliers tab, you’ll see we have auto-generated suggested matches to our supplier database where we have publicly reported emissions. Suggestions are indicated in italicized and aqua text.
Review and confirm where the suggestions are correct, and clear them where they are not. If they neither confirm nor clear, the mappings are not confirmed and will not be used. You can also override any suggestion and select your own supplier match.
You do not need to map every supplier. Only map those that you confirm are a match for the ones in our database.
Once you’ve finished mapping, click SAVE. You will be prompted to select which reporting years you want to recalculate for, using these new mappings. 2023 is selected by default, but you can select additional if needed.
Commodity mapping
Lastly, under Commodities, you’ll map your internal accounting categories to our standard list of commodities. We’ll use these commodity mappings to calculate spend-based emissions estimates using EEIO models in the absence of supplier-specific data.
Again, we provide auto-generated suggested matches, indicated in italicized aqua text. You can confirm, clear, or choose your own match. At any point, if you want to revisit our suggestions, scroll to the top of the commodities dropdown.
If you have categorized a commodity as a Good, you will also need to select whether the type is general/unspecified (the default), capital goods, or production-related. This will affect the emission factor used and the allocation to GHGP category, whether category 1 (Purchased goods and services) or category 2 (Capital goods).
If you’ve selected a commodity that does not belong in Purchased goods and services, you will see a warning message and you can exclude that category by toggling the exclude flag on.
Included:
Excluded:
NOTE: The exclude flag removes the spend from your Purchased goods and services inventory, but does not automatically recategorize it to another GHGP category. You will need to explicitly add the data elsewhere in the application under the relevant category.
Once you’ve finished mapping, click SAVE. You will be prompted to select which reporting years you want to recalculate for, using these new mappings. 2023 is selected by default, but you can select additional if needed.
How to choose the best commodity match
The data you provide Workiva Carbon should include your spend categories that often come from an accounting system (and may even be your chart of accounts, if granular enough) and should define what you purchased since Workiva Carbon’s factors are based on the commodity purchased. You can also classify your data by vendor to receive vendor-specific emissions at the end of the process, but this is optional. Your spending categories should be as granular as possible.
However, we understand that they often will not represent a single, discrete commodity (e.g., IT may include both computer products and IT services). In such cases, categorize by the predominant good or service in the category.
Additionally, you should specify if a category is for capital goods or production-related purchases that are not capital goods (e.g., materials, ingredients, components). This allows us to track them correctly and apply the appropriate emission factors: for general and capital goods, we use emission factors that have been adjusted to include retail margins, for production-related purchases we assume these are made at wholesale prices and, therefore, do not include margin adjustments in the emission factor.
If you’re not a producer, but a reseller of finished goods, categorize them as production-related purchases, too. Any purchases that factor into the cost of goods sold (COGS) should be categorized as production-related purchases. Proceed row by row and fill out the requested information until at least 75% of your spend has been mapped. To see what the % of your spend you have mapped, click save and recalculate. Upon clicking save, your mapping screen will reflect the latest %. Going beyond 75% will give you a more accurate emissions output. If you complete less than 100%, we will extrapolate the remaining spending based on the categories you mapped.
If you have known spend-based emission factors for certain purchase categories, you can add a custom source in the Purchases configurations. You will map purchases to your custom sources during the mapping phase, and the custom emission factor will be applied in the calculations.
Overrides
If you already have supplier-specific data available to you, you can enter it under the Overrides tab. Select the applicable date range, vendor, and category, and override the emissions value. Indicate whether the emissions were provided to you by revenue (spend over total revenue) or physical allocation (items bought over items produced by the supplier). Click Apply override.
If there are any conflicts with existing overrides, you will see an error message. Otherwise, your override has been saved and applied automatically, and will be visible in the ledger within the next 15 minutes. The override amount will replace any spend-based estimate that would have been calculated for this supplier/category combination.
From this page, you can also view your override history and delete any overrides that are no longer applicable.
If you want to add multiple overrides at once, click "Add multiple overrides" in order to download a template. Follow the instructions on the screen to fill out the template with required and optional data, then upload your data.
Emissions ledger
Once you save your mappings or add/remove overrides, your resulting calculations will be available in the Emissions ledger tab within the next 15 minutes. Here, you’ll see your high level spend, emissions, emissions intensity, and data source breakdown for the last two years.
When you hover over the data sources pie chart, you can see the various sources of your emissions calculations, indicating whether they are driven by primary data or estimated using proxies or spend-based emissions.
You can also drill down into specific suppliers and commodities – click in to view more details on spend and emissions amounts, along with the emissions source.
Coming soon: Where you’ve added a supplier database match, we leverage publicly available sources of reported emissions data to automatically calculate emissions allocated to you, based on your spend with them, and their total revenue. This gives you supplier-specific data without having to survey each and every one of them, increasing the accuracy of your inventory and reducing time spent.
Glossary of terms
General area
Goods – a physical good or material that you purchased
Services – acts performed for your organization. Many services may also incorporate physical goods, for example, a photographer may provide physical prints, or an HVAC repair company may provide parts. These should still be categorized as services.
Emissions category - Depending on whether you select good or service, you will receive a different list of commodities. Select the commodity that most closely resembles your spending category. See our list of examples and definitions below.
Type
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General/unspecified – Purchases that are neither capital goods nor production-related
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Capital good – Capital-intensive goods that have an extended life and are used to manufacture products, provide services, or sell, store, or deliver merchandise. You can often align this with your accounting team’s definition of a capital good.
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Production-related – Materials and supplies used in the production of your final goods (e.g., ingredients, components, packaging) or finished goods you purchase for resale.
Finally, the right-hand column has a toggle switch for categories you may want to exclude. For example, the following types of spending should be excluded because they are included in other emissions categories in Workiva Carbon:
-
Business travel – Transportation for business needs. This includes flights, train rides, and car rentals. It does not include accommodation, parking fees or meals, which should be included in PGS.
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Energy utilities – Purchases of fuel, electricity, heating, steam and cooling. Purchases of renewable energy products like RECs should also be excluded.
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Transportation & distribution – Shipping and warehousing services
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Waste – Waste hauling services Workiva Carbon’s categories align with the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’ industry groupings. The table below provides definitions and examples for each category. Categories marked with an asterisk have the potential to overlap with other emissions categories (e.g. purchased electricity) and should be excluded from Purchased goods & services if so.
| Commodity | Examples |
|---|---|
| Administrative support | HR, office administration, facilities maintenance, security, travel arrangement |
| Air transportation* | Passenger or freight transport |
| Apparel and leather products | Clothing |
| Appliances, electrical equipment and components | Light bulbs, motors, batteries |
| Broadcasting and telecommunications | Cable and internet services, wireless or satellite phone and internet services, radio and TV broadcasting |
| Chemicals and pharmaceuticals | Ink and toner, paint, fertilizer, industrial gases, pharmaceutical goods |
| Computer- and design-related services | Computer programming services, network system design, IT management |
| Computers and electronics | Laptops, mobile phones, industrial instruments |
| Construction | Construction, renovation, and maintenance of buildings or structures |
| Data processing and internet publishing | Cloud subscriptions, data hosting |
| Educational services | Professional development courses |
| Fabricated metal products | Metal hardware, piping, fittings |
| Farms | Agricultural commodities including plant and animal products |
| Federal Reserve banks, credit intermediation, related activities | |
| Forestry and fishing | Raw timber, wild-caught fish |
| Funds, trusts, and other financial vehicles * | |
| Furniture | Office furniture, shelving |
| General merchandise and goods | |
| Healthcare – Hospital services | Inpatient medical care |
| Healthcare – Nursing and residential healthcare | Nursing homes, mental health facilities |
| Healthcare – Outpatient | Outpatient services from physicians, dentists, or other healtcare practitioners |
| Hotels and business accommodations | Hotels |
| Insurance | Insurance carriers, agencies, and brokers |
| Legal | |
| Machinery | HVAC equipment, pumps, printers, material handling equipment, power tools |
| Management support | Real estate management, third-party operation of company-owned enterprises |
| Mineral products (non-metallic) | Cement, concrete, clay, mineral wool, glass |
| Mining – Support activitiesrt | Well drilling |
| Mining (except oil and gas) | Coal, sand, gravel, iron, stone |
| Motor vehicles, trailers, and parts | |
| Oil and gas extraction * | |
| Other – Manufactured goods | Medical equipment and supplies, toys, sporting goods, signs, non-paper office supplies |
| Other – professional, scientific, and technical | Architectural, accounting, engineering, research, marketing, advertising services |
| Other – transportation and support * | Couriers and messengers |
| Other – Transportation equipment | Aircraft, boats, bicycles and associated parts |
| Paper products | Cardboard, office paper |
| Petroleum and coal * | Asphalt |
| Pipeline transportation | |
| Plastics and rubber | Plastic bags, films, tires |
| Primary metals | Raw metal material for manufacturing, such as metal sheeting |
| Printing | Book or marketing material printing |
| Publishing (except internet, but includes software) | Software publishing, magazines, and newspapers |
| Real estate – Commercial, industrial | Leased commercial or industrial properties |
| Real estate – Housing | Residential rental payments |
| Recreation – Performing arts, sports, museums | |
| Recreation– Arts, amusements, gambling | Theme parks, casinos |
| Rental and leasing services | Equipment rental, electronics rental |
| Restaurants and bars | Restaurants, bars |
| Retail – Other | Hardware stores, personal care, etc. |
| Securities, commodity contracts, investments | Portfolio management |
| Social assistance | Child day care |
| Stores – Food and beverage (e.g., supermarkets) | Supermarkets |
| Textiles | Fabric, carpet, yarn |
| Transportation – Boat, water * | Passenger or freight transport |
| Transportation – Passenger transit and ground * | Passenger or freight transport |
| Transportation – Rail * | Passenger or freight air transport |
| Transportation – Truck * | Passenger or freight transport |
| Utilities * | Utilities not already accounted for under Scope 1 or 2 |
| Video, audio, and film | Video and audio production, acting services |
| Warehousing and storage * | |
| Waste management * | Hazardous waste cleanup |
| Wholesale – Food, beverage, and tobacco | Wholesale food from a distributor or manufacturer |
| Wood products | Lumber, plywood, wooden windows and doors |
FAQs
How often should I upload PGS data?
Typically, spend-based purchased goods and services emissions are calculated annually and align with your fiscal year.
Why does Workiva Carbon use EPA spend-based emission factors and why is it acceptable in other regions?
We leverage the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Environmentally-Extended Input-Output (EEIO) supply chain model to estimate spend-based GHG emissions. The EEIO model combines massive economic data tables detailing industry transactions with environmental data like emissions per dollar of production. By simulating the flow of money through this network, EEIO factors estimate the total environmental footprint of your purchases, considering all the upstream processes – from raw materials to factories and transportation. While the accuracy relies on data quality and uses industry averages, they offer a powerful and standardized way to understand the hidden environmental impact embedded within your supply chain.
We use the EEIO supply chain emission factors for two key reasons:
- Standardized Approach: EEIO factors provide a consistent methodology for calculating emissions based on spending patterns. This ensures transparency and comparability across your global supply chain, regardless of regional variations.
- Data Availability: Detailed emissions data for every supplier worldwide can be challenging to obtain. EEIO factors offer a reliable alternative, especially for initial assessments.
While EEIO factors are based on the US economy, their core principle – linking spending to environmental impact – holds true globally. They provide valuable insights, particularly when supplier-specific data is limited.
The EPA EEIO factors are a powerful tool, but it uses modeling techniques. It provides a great starting point, and for the most precise results, consider gathering supplier-specific data using the Supplier Assessment tool regardless of region.
Is there a way to calculate these emissions without using spend data?
Yes, there is. Use the Supplier Assessment to engage with your suppliers and obtain emissions figures for the goods or services you purchased from them. This is one of the most accurate ways to build a PGS inventory, but it can be time-consuming, and suppliers often don’t have the data readily available.
To make this process easier, coming soon, Workiva Carbon will also automatatically provide supplier-specific emissions data where available from public disclosures, preventing the need to issue supplier surveys to collect the data.
If I have already calculated my emissions, but need to update either raw transaction data or category mappings, how do I do that?
To update raw transaction data, you will need to go the Upload history page, delete the upload in question and re-upload it.To update category mappings, go to the commodity mapping screen, update your mappings and click save. You will then choose which reporting years' data you want to recalculate, and will see your updated emissions outputs in the ledger within 15 minutes.
If I change the category mapping, will it update previous entries?
After you change the category mappings and click save, you will have the option to recalculate entries for a given reporting year(s). If you do not select a reporting year, your data will remain the same as before. If you do include a reporting year in your calculation, your data will be updated with your latest mappings.
For consultants: If I map categories for one client, will those mappings apply to my other clients?
No, the categories you’ve mapped will apply only to the current client. In order to apply those mappings to all clients, import data and select those mappings for each individual client.
How do I categorize finished goods purchased for resale?
Categorize them as production-related purchases. Any purchases of goods and services that normally factor into your cost of goods sold (COGS) should be categorized this way. This also applies to drop-shipped product purchases.
What type of data should we be asking our finance department for when we're looking to gather the data for an import?
You can ask for the Profit & Loss (P&L) expenses, and specifically the cash figures rather than accrual. For most companies, this would be on your general ledger expense account. Separately, you should ask for all capital expenditures which will be grouped under a separate category within the app. They can exclude categories such as payroll and depreciation, or this can be excluded directly in the product.
Should I enter purchases data if a supplier or vendor is carbon neutral or has a carbon neutral product?
Yes, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP) guides companies to include all purchases in scope 3, category 1 Purchased Goods and Services calculations regardless of any offsetting or neutrality specific to purchases. Workiva Carbon also incorporates guidance from SBTi's Corporate Net-Zero Standard, which prohibits the use of carbon credits as an inventory reduction measure. Companies may not claim emissions reductions from offsets employed by suppliers.
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