Scope 1 Emissions: What Forests Can and Cannot Do

Scope 1 emissions are the direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources a company owns or controls, such as its boilers, vehicles and refrigeration equipment. They can only be lowered at the source. Funding tree planting does not offset them: it is a separate climate contribution with a modelled CO2 estimate, reported separately and never deducted.

Many companies ask whether reforestation can cancel out the fuel burned by their fleet or the gas that heats their buildings. It cannot, but forests still have a real role, and knowing the difference keeps climate claims accurate.

What are Scope 1 emissions?

The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, the widely used basis for corporate carbon accounting, splits a company's emissions into three scopes. Scope 1 covers direct emissions from sources the company owns or controls, usually expressed in tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e): a unit that converts gases such as methane or refrigerants into the amount of carbon dioxide with the same warming effect.

Scope 1 typically falls into four groups:

• Stationary combustion: gas, oil or diesel burned in boilers, furnaces and on-site generators.
• Mobile combustion: fuel used by company-controlled cars, vans, lorries and forklifts.
• Process emissions: gases released by industrial processes, such as cement or steel production.
• Fugitive emissions: leaks of refrigerants from cooling equipment, or of methane from gas systems.

Why must Scope 1 emissions be reduced first?

Scope 1 is the part of a footprint a company controls most directly: it buys the fuel, owns the equipment and makes the decisions. That makes it the most practical place to start cutting.

There is also a question of certainty. Diesel burned today releases its CO2 immediately, and the emission is calculated from fuel records using established emission factors. Carbon stored by a young forest builds up over decades and is estimated, not metered. Swapping a known, immediate emission for a future, modelled one is not a like-for-like exchange.

This is why net-zero frameworks, including the corporate targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), put deep cuts to a company's own emissions at the centre. Common Scope 1 levers include:

• Moving fleets to electric vehicles and optimising routes.
• Replacing gas boilers with heat pumps or other low-carbon heating.
• Switching process fuels and improving equipment efficiency.
• Repairing refrigerant leaks and moving to lower-impact refrigerants.

Can tree planting offset Scope 1 emissions?

No. Funding trees is a worthwhile nature-based climate contribution, but it does not offset, cancel or reduce Scope 1 emissions, for several reasons:

• The CO2 figure is a model. It estimates what a tree may store over its whole lifetime; it is not a measured tonne removed today.
• Timing. Trees funded through Evertreen are planted with local partners when the local season allows, typically one to six months after funding, and then grow for many years.
• Permanence. Carbon stored in trees can be released again through fire, drought, pests or felling.
• It is not a carbon credit. A tree sponsorship is not issued, verified or retired as a certified credit on a public registry.
• Accounting rules. Under the GHG Protocol, even certified credits are reported separately and not deducted from Scope 1, 2 or 3.

A defensible sustainability-report wording is along these lines: "In [year] we funded [number] trees with local planting partners. Their modelled lifetime CO2 estimate is reported as a contribution outside our value chain and is not deducted from our Scope 1, 2 or 3 emissions."

What are certified removal credits and how are they reported?

A carbon credit typically represents one tonne of CO2e avoided, reduced or removed by a specific project. Credits are issued under independent standards such as Verra, Gold Standard, the American Carbon Registry (ACR) and Plan Vivo after third-party verification. Each carries a serial number on a public registry and is retired once used for a claim, so it cannot be sold again.

Removal credits come from activities that take CO2 out of the atmosphere, such as certain reforestation projects or direct air capture. Avoidance credits come from preventing emissions, for example by protecting a forest at risk of clearance.

Even certified credits sit outside the inventory: a company reports its gross Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in full and lists retired credits separately. Evertreen offers certified carbon credits from third-party projects as a separate service from tree planting, acting as an intermediary that does not own or operate those projects; more than 46,000 certified carbon credits have been retired through it.

Where do forests genuinely help?

Being clear about what trees cannot do makes it easier to value what they can:

• Biodiversity. In Madagascar, Evertreen's partner Tsiryparma plants trees and also guards 8,021 hectares of eastern highland forest at Vohidahy for the lemurs, the rosewood and the village. In Kenya, a mangrove reforestation project aims to restore forests and enhance biodiversity.
• Communities. Planting creates paid work for local partners and farmers: more than 460,000 working hours for local communities (estimated).
• Soil and water. Tree cover can help hold soil in place and reduce erosion in degraded landscapes.
• Beyond-value-chain contribution. The SBTi uses the term beyond value chain mitigation (BVCM) for climate action a company funds outside its own operations and supply chain. Forest restoration can be presented this way, alongside reductions rather than instead of them.

More than 3,680,000 trees have been funded through Evertreen, with tree planting funded in 29 countries, and more than 2.9 million tonnes of CO2 estimated over the lifetime of those trees. Sponsors follow their trees online through the project location, photos and project updates. Companies can browse Evertreen's tree-planting projects.

Frequently asked questions

Are refrigerant leaks part of Scope 1 emissions?

Yes. Refrigerant leaking from air conditioning or refrigeration equipment a company owns or controls is a fugitive Scope 1 emission. Many refrigerants warm the climate far more strongly than CO2, so they are converted to CO2e using their global warming potential (GWP), a multiplier comparing each gas with CO2.

Is electricity counted in Scope 1 or Scope 2?

Grid electricity is Scope 2, while electricity generated on site by burning fuel, such as in a diesel generator, is Scope 1. Renewable energy certificates (RECs) and Guarantees of Origin are energy certificates used in Scope 2 reporting; they are not carbon offsets.

Do certified removal credits lower a company's Scope 1 total?

No. Under the GHG Protocol, carbon credits, including removal credits, are reported separately and are not deducted from Scope 1, 2 or 3. Only real cuts in fuel use, leaks or process emissions change the figure.

How does a company calculate its Scope 1 emissions?

Collect a year of activity data, such as litres of fuel, units of gas burned and kilograms of refrigerant topped up, and multiply each by a published emission factor. Evertreen's guide to calculating a business carbon footprint walks through the steps.

To see how the modelled CO2 figure for each tree is worked out, read how Evertreen estimates tree CO2.