Driving Product-Level Sustainability Data in Dell's Supply Chain

Increasingly stringent reporting requirements are placing new obligations on companies to report product-level emissions across their global supply chains. In the context of this growing body of regulations, Dell’s Social and Environmental Responsibility (SER) team partnered with the Columbia SIPA Capstone team to assess the emerging emissions reporting landscape for supply chain purchased goods and services (scope 3 category 1), and the trends in methodology frameworks for calculating and reporting scope 3 category 1 emissions. 

The report provided a detailed analysis of the regulatory landscape for scope 3 category 1 emissions, focusing on first-mover jurisdictions: the European Union, France, and the United States. For each of these jurisdictions, the team assessed the scope, disclosure requirements, timeline, status, and watchpoints of the respective regulation. The report also presented a comprehensive overview of existing frameworks, technologies, and tools for tracking, calculating, and reporting scope 3 category 1 emissions. The team’s analysis included an assessment of the general structure, scope and boundary, and methodological approaches across leading industry-specific, industry-agnostic, and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector-specific frameworks.

Based on the two-pronged assessment, the team identified key watchpoints and opportunities for Dell going forward. The information, insights, and recommendations in the report were designed to assist the SER team in its work with the company, its suppliers, and peer companies within the ICT sector to comply with the strictest reporting requirements, stay ahead of regulatory changes, and play a leadership role in the standardization of greenhouse gas emissions reporting.