One footprint, read two ways

When a hotel hosts a corporate conference, the venue's electricity, catering and waste numbers are just another line in its own operational reporting. Routine, internal, Scope 1 and Scope 2. For the corporate that booked the event, that exact same data is something else entirely: part of their Scope 3 footprint, emissions they're responsible for even though they don't control them directly. Same numbers, two different meanings, depending on who's asking.

The accounting quirk, explained plainly

Under the GHG Protocol, a client's spend on an event, venue hire, catering, the works, typically sits under Scope 3, Category 1: purchased goods and services. That's usually the largest single slice of a company's Scope 3 footprint.

Hotel stays specifically get slightly different treatment. They're only an optional line within Scope 3, Category 6 (business travel). That's starting to change: in the EU, a rule called ESRS E1 requires large companies to report this data once it's material, closing off the option to leave it out. Similar tightening is happening in other regions too, at different speeds, so "optional" is becoming a shrinking category rather than a safe default.

There's a real trap hiding here too. A hotel's own Scope 2 electricity accounting and a guest company's Category 6 accounting are separate calculations, covering separate reporting boundaries. Count both as if they're the same thing, and the numbers double up. None of this is obscure detail. It's exactly what determines whether a venue's answer holds up, or starts to look shaky under closer questions.

An answer that works for the venue too

This doesn't have to be just about ticking a compliance box. Framed as a transparent, itemised line in the event quote, a contribution becomes proof a client can use in their own reporting, not just a good-faith gesture. It also gives a venue's sales team something concrete to point to in a competitive pitch, rather than a vague claim buried in a brochure.

Precision over vague claims

A credible answer is specific, not sweeping: transparent, itemised, and independently certified. It's never a blanket claim like "carbon neutral" without the numbers to back it up. Precision is what makes the answer hold up in the first place.

Get in touch

CarbonClick partners with hotels and venues to help answer corporate clients' emissions questions clearly and confidently. Whether your team is already fielding this question or wants to be ready before it comes up, get in touch. We'd like to help.