Why Scope 3 matters
Moderator Tania Smith, Executive Director, Sustainable Finance and ESG at CommBank, began the session by framing the issue. “Scope three emissions, which span the entire chain, are often complex, opaque, and deeply interconnected. And…they’re also where collaboration can unlock some of the greatest impact”.
Smith’s words set the tone for a discussion that explored sectors from health and wellness to heavy industry, agriculture, and indigenous enterprise, illustrating how supply chain transformation drives environmental outcomes.
Mapping the challenge
Sally Townsend, Head of Sustainability at Blackmores, explained the complexity of Scope 3 within the company's global supply chain, which involves sourcing raw materials from Ayurvedic, Native American, and traditional Chinese medicines for use in its natural health products.
“We source 900 odd materials from across about 36 different countries from hundreds of suppliers. So, we might purchase from a distributor who purchases from 20 different farms,” she said.
According to Blackmores, early pilot value chain emissions modelling for their business showed there is no link between traditional procurement data and emissions factors. Recognising that it would be a difficult task to work with every supplier and model each ingredient, Blackmores sought a broader solution. “The most effective way for us to do this at scale was as a sector,” she said.
Blackmores leveraged government and industry support to develop shared resources, including a decarbonisation guide and a questionnaire for collecting emissions data.
“Imagine being one of our suppliers, and you’re dealing with a whole bunch of different customers, and we’ve all got our different approaches for collecting information…that’s actually going to be a really frustrating way to do business,” she said. “What we’re trying to do is see whether or not we can unite and have a low-carbon sector by building capacity, building capability and sharing tools and resources”.
Building relationships
Kane Salisbury, CEO of Hallett Group, shared his views from the building and construction materials manufacturing sector, where cement and concrete production contribute to 8% of global emissions. “That presents an opportunity as well as a challenge,” he said.
As a producer of green cement, Salisbury emphasised the importance of building relationships with suppliers and customers centred on decarbonisation. “That just brings the elevation of what your expectations are from the supply chain and also demonstrates to your end user what you’re about as a business,” he said.
He highlighted the need for transparency and independent reporting. “It’s one thing to talk about…in a supplier meeting or a customer meeting, but it’s another thing to be able to demonstrate you’re doing it,” he said. “Seeking independent reporting is certainly a key way that we’ve driven and engaged with our supply chain”.
Harnessing deep connections to country
Indigenous enterprise is playing an increasingly vital role in corporate supply chains. Sean Gordon, Managing Director of Gidgee Group, describes himself as a relationship broker, working between corporates, governments, and communities to build partnerships. He discussed the role of traditional knowledge in reducing emissions.
“What we have in our communities is 60,000 plus years of knowledge of people who know how to sustain and manage and preserve land. The challenge is how do you connect those communities up to corporates?” he said.
Gordon advocates investing in building capability and capacity among indigenous businesses, likening it to support for the agriculture sector. “The industry goes out and develops the farming sector and supports them,” he said. “What we don’t have at the moment is the same type of investment into indigenous communities that want to enter into this carbon opportunity space,” he said. “That’s where the opportunity lies”.
He also shared examples of successful partnerships, such as CommBank’s early investment in the Aboriginal Indigenous Carbon Fund in Cape York, which helped reduce carbon emissions while enabling the Indigenous community to carry out traditional practices, including cultural burning for land management.
“What we have in our communities is 60,000 plus years of knowledge of people who know how to sustain and manage and preserve land. The challenge is how do you connect those communities up to corporates?” — Sean Gordon, Managing Director of Gidgee Group
Data, collaboration and recognition
Michael Anderson, Head of Sustainability at GrainCorp, demonstrated the agricultural sector’s approach and how his organisation assists growers in understanding and lowering their emissions.
GrainCorp’s east Australian logistics network includes around 180 grain-handling sites, where it receives grain from farms for supply to domestic and international customers. According to Anderson, this means approximately 99% of its emissions occur outside direct operations.
“When we talk about how we engage with growers on understanding and reducing emissions…there’s a lot of confusion around the different calculators that you can use to measure emissions, particularly in an agricultural context. But if you think about it…the inputs that you need to calculate your emissions are the same inputs you use to understand the performance of your farm business,” he said.
Anderson highlighted the importance of recognising existing good practice among Australian farmers and the need for reliable data. “The adoption rate of [conservation agriculture practices] in Europe is 6% and in Australia is 76%,” he said. Anderson says this is based on European Conservation Agriculture Federation data, though he believes that number is probably closer to 85%.
“So… a lot of these practices are already built into the system, and having an emissions profile to demonstrate the impact of those compared to international peers is really important,” he said.
“Sustainability is a license for innovation, but you do need to understand the full value chain to understand where those opportunities are." — Sally Townsend, Head of Sustainability at Blackmores
Lessons for business leaders
The discussion clarified that addressing Scope 3 is not a solo effort. It calls for sector-wide collaboration, transparency, investment, and a willingness to share. As Townsend said, “Sustainability is a license for innovation, but you do need to understand the full value chain to understand where those opportunities are”. The journey may be complex, but it is both achievable and vital for a low-carbon future.
