On this page
- What a corporate carbon footprint covers
- ISO 14064-1 categories and GHG Protocol scopes
- Organisational and reporting boundaries
- Base year and recalculation policy
- Uncertainty and data quality
- What goes into the GHG report
- Preparing for ISO 14064-3 verification
- Our GHG inventory services step by step
- What you receive
We prepare corporate carbon footprints and GHG inventories to ISO 14064-1:2018 and the GHG Protocol for companies with operations in Turkey. Our ISO 14064-1 consultancy covers boundary setting, data collection at your sites, calculation, the GHG report and preparation for third-party verification. The same inventory can be reported in ISO categories and in Scopes 1, 2 and 3, so one dataset serves your verifier, your EU customers and your sustainability report.
What a corporate carbon footprint covers
A corporate carbon footprint, or GHG inventory, is the quantified total of greenhouse gas emissions and removals of an organisation over a reporting year, usually a calendar year. It covers the seven greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6 and NF3) converted to tonnes of CO2 equivalent and includes direct emissions from owned sources, emissions from purchased energy and the significant indirect emissions in the value chain.
ISO 14064-1 is the international standard that sets the requirements for designing, quantifying and reporting such an inventory. It is the standard verification bodies audit against when they issue an ISO 14064-3 verification statement. The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and Scope 3 Standard cover the same ground with a different structure, and most EU buyers ask for results in GHG Protocol scopes.
ISO 14064-1 categories and GHG Protocol scopes
ISO 14064-1:2018 splits emissions into six categories. Category 1 is direct emissions, which matches Scope 1. Category 2 is indirect emissions from imported energy, close to Scope 2. Categories 3 to 6 split the value chain by type of activity and together correspond to Scope 3.
| ISO 14064-1 category | Typical GHG Protocol equivalent |
|---|---|
| 1. Direct GHG emissions and removals | Scope 1 |
| 2. Indirect emissions from imported energy | Scope 2 |
| 3. Indirect emissions from transportation | Scope 3 categories 4, 6, 7 and 9 |
| 4. Indirect emissions from products used by the organisation | Scope 3 categories 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8 |
| 5. Indirect emissions associated with the use of products from the organisation | Scope 3 categories 10 to 13, often 14 and 15 |
| 6. Indirect emissions from other sources | Anything not covered above |
The full line-by-line crosswalk, including the grey areas, is in our article on Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions mapped to ISO 14064-1.
Organisational and reporting boundaries
Organisational boundary
The organisational boundary decides which facilities and legal entities are in the inventory. ISO 14064-1 and the GHG Protocol both allow consolidation by control (financial or operational) or by equity share. Most industrial groups in Turkey choose operational control, because it matches who runs the boilers and signs the energy contracts.
Turkish structures bring a few recurring questions. Plants in organised industrial zones (OSB) often buy steam, water treatment or electricity through the zone management. Group companies may share a site with separate tax numbers. Warehouses are frequently leased. We document each decision with the reason, because a verifier will ask why a site is in or out.
Reporting boundary and significant indirect emissions
ISO 14064-1 requires you to quantify categories 1 and 2 in full. For categories 3 to 6, you define criteria for significance, such as magnitude, level of influence, access to information and accuracy, then quantify the indirect sources that pass those criteria and justify the exclusions. The GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard asks for all relevant categories with justified exclusions.
In practice we start with a screening of all 15 Scope 3 categories using spend and mass data, then move the large ones to activity-based or supplier-specific data. For a typical manufacturer, purchased goods, upstream transport and the use or end of life of sold products are the categories that decide the total.
Base year and recalculation policy
The base year is the reference you measure progress against. ISO 14064-1 asks you to select it, explain why, and recalculate it when the boundary, methods or data change in a way that matters. The GHG Protocol uses the same logic and lets you set a significance threshold for recalculation.
We write a recalculation policy into the inventory management procedure. It usually covers acquisitions and divestments, insourcing or outsourcing of emitting activities, changes to emission factors or GWP values, and discovered errors, with a threshold such as 5% of base year emissions. If you plan an SBTi target, the base year must also meet the initiative's rules on recency and Scope 3 coverage.
Uncertainty and data quality
ISO 14064-1 requires an assessment of uncertainty in the inventory. We assess it at source level, combining the uncertainty of activity data (meter class, invoice estimates, extrapolated months) with that of emission factors, and aggregate the result using the error propagation approach in the IPCC Guidelines. Where data is weak, we say so in the report rather than hide it in a single figure.
The useful output is not the percentage itself but the list of sources that drive it. That list becomes your data improvement plan, for example adding a sub-meter on a furnace or asking a key supplier for a PCF instead of using an average database value.
What goes into the GHG report
ISO 14064-1 Clause 9 lists the content of a GHG report. When the report is intended for public disclosure or verification against the standard, the required elements include the following.
- Description of the reporting organisation, the person responsible and the reporting period.
- Organisational boundary and consolidation approach.
- Reporting boundary, with the significance criteria and excluded sources.
- Emissions by category in tCO2e, by gas where required, and biogenic CO2 reported separately.
- Base year, its emissions and any recalculation.
- Quantification methods, emission factors, GWP values and their sources.
- Uncertainty assessment and a statement of whether the report has been verified.
We deliver the report in English, with a Turkish version on request, together with the calculation workbook and an evidence index.
Preparing for ISO 14064-3 verification
Verification is done by an independent body accredited to ISO 14065, following ISO 14064-3:2019. In Turkey the accreditation body is TÜRKAK, and many international verifiers have Turkish offices. Ekol Çevre is not a verification body. Our role is to make the inventory verifiable and to support you during the audit.
- Agree the level of assurance (limited or reasonable) and the materiality threshold with your verifier before the audit starts.
- Run a pre-verification check, sampling inputs from the workbook back to invoices and meter readings, the same way a verifier will.
- Prepare the evidence folder by source, with a reference in the workbook to each document.
- Attend the site visit and answer technical questions on method and factors.
- Draft corrections and responses to findings until the verification statement is issued.
Installations under the Turkish emissions trading system also have a regulatory monitoring and verification duty under Climate Law No. 7552 and the ETS Regulation of 27 August 2026, with verified reports due by 30 April each year. That covers direct installation emissions under the Climate Change Presidency's rules. We reconcile it with your ISO 14064-1 inventory so the two never show different fuel figures.
Our GHG inventory services step by step
- Kick-off and boundary workshop (1 week). Group structure, sites, consolidation approach and intended use of the inventory.
- Data request and site visits (2 to 4 weeks). Fuels, electricity, refrigerants, process inputs, purchases, logistics, waste and travel.
- Scope 3 screening (1 to 2 weeks, in parallel). Spend and mass-based screening of all 15 categories to find what is significant.
- Calculation and quality checks (2 to 3 weeks). Source-level calculation, intensity checks and uncertainty assessment.
- GHG report and procedure (1 to 2 weeks). Report to ISO 14064-1 Clause 9, GHG Protocol scope summary and inventory management procedure.
- Verification support (typically 4 to 8 weeks). Depends on the verifier's schedule and the level of assurance.
What you receive
- GHG report to ISO 14064-1, with a GHG Protocol scope summary.
- Calculation workbook with every activity datum, factor and source visible.
- Evidence index linking each input to its document.
- Inventory management procedure and recalculation policy.
- Hotspot analysis and a short list of reduction options with estimated impact.
The inventory is the climate core of TSRS and ISSB reporting and of CSRD and ESRS E1 disclosures. For product-level figures, see our product carbon footprint assessment. The wider picture is on our carbon footprint consulting page.