Scope 3 Category 13 Downstream Leased Assets Calculator — Lessor Emissions from Buildings, Equipment & Vehicles You Lease Out (GHG Protocol)
Compute Scope 3 Category 13 emissions for assets you own and lease to others — the electricity, fuel, and fleet your lessees operate — in CO2e, with the operated share auto-reclassified to Scope 1/2 and upstream energy fenced as a separate Category 3 line.
Your asset, your lessee’s operation. This calculator computes Scope 3 Category 13 — the emissions from operating assets you own but lease out to other entities. You enter each leased asset as a line, choose one of the three GHG Protocol methods, and the engine applies the relevant DEFRA, Ember, or building-benchmark factor, scores the data quality, and rolls the lines into a Category 13 total.
The control test decides where each line lands, and the engine does it for you. Whether a leased-out asset belongs in your Category 13 or back in your own Scope 1 and 2 turns on your consolidation approach and whether you operate the asset. You answer the consolidation question once and a lease-type question per asset; the engine routes each line automatically — to Category 13, or to a reclassified Scope 1/2 block it quantifies separately. The portion you operate or owner-occupy never sits in Category 13.
Three methods, one per asset. Where you meter the asset, use asset-specific — actual activity times the emission factor. Where the lessee reports its own footprint, use lessee-specific — the lessee’s Scope 1 and 2 times your allocation share. Where you have neither, use average-data — floor area or dwelling count times a building energy-use intensity and the grid and gas factors. Each asset carries its own method and its own data-quality score.
Upstream energy is fenced, not folded in. The headline is the direct operation of the leased asset only. Well-to-tank emissions for the fuel and grid electricity are computed but held as a separate Category 3 companion line, never summed into the Category 13 total. Transmission and distribution losses are not pulled at all — electricity is location-based generation only. The boundary between Category 13 and Category 3 is kept clean by construction.
Category 13 covers assets you own and lease to others, operated in the reporting year, that are not already in your Scope 1 or Scope 2.
Audit mode exposes the per-line calculation chain for verification.
Vehicle and on-site fuel factors are UK DEFRA 2025; electricity supports 213 countries (location-based); average-data uses CIBSE TM46 (commercial) and UK NEED (residential) benchmarks. Report Category 13 separately from your operational inventory.
Applies to electricity lines only; vehicle and fuel emissions are unchanged.
Add a leased-out asset above and click Calculate
Each asset is classified as Category 13 or Scope 1/2, split across tenants where multi-let, scored for data quality, and given a Scope 3 Cat 3 (WTT) companion, scenario analysis, and a full per-line audit trail.
Results are indicative, intended for GHG Protocol Scope 3 Category 13 (downstream leased assets) screening. Category 13 applies to assets your organisation owns and leases to others (as lessor), operated in the reporting year, that are not already counted in your Scope 1 or Scope 2 — the consolidation approach you select drives this boundary (note it is the inverse of Category 8 on the financial-control branch), and you remain responsible for confirming each asset’s treatment. Any owner-occupied portion of a let asset belongs in your own Scope 1/2. Vehicle and on-site fuel factors are UK DEFRA 2025 conversion factors; non-UK leased-out vehicles should be entered via the asset-specific fuel path. Electricity uses location-based grid factors (Ember 2025 / EPA eGRID); average-data uses CIBSE TM46 and UK NEED benchmarks. Report downstream leased-asset emissions separately from your operational inventory, disclose the data-quality basis per asset, and validate activity data against lessee statements and metered records before assurance under ISO 14064-3.
A property company owns a tower and leases every floor to tenants. It runs none of the offices, flips none of the light switches, and yet the electricity those tenants burn is its emission to report. The asset is the landlord’s; the operation is the tenant’s; the carbon belongs to whoever owns the thing being operated.
Category 13 is the emission you account for not because you burned anything, but because someone else burned it inside an asset you own and lease to them.
Category 13 is the emissions from operating assets you own and lease to others — the electricity, fuel, and vehicles your lessees run, where those emissions are not already in your Scope 1 or 2. The portion you operate yourself is reclassified to Scope 1/2; upstream fuel and grid losses are reported separately as Category 3.
What the Downstream Leased Assets calculator covers
This calculator computes Scope 3 Category 13: the emissions from operating assets that the reporting company owns and leases out to other entities, where those emissions are not already captured in the company’s Scope 1 or 2. You describe each leased asset, choose a method, and the engine applies the lessor’s own electricity, fuel, and fleet factors, decides whether the line belongs in Category 13 or back in Scope 1/2, fences the upstream-energy portion, scores the data, and sums the lines into a Category 13 total.
Why a leased-out asset is the lessor’s downstream emission
When a company owns an asset and leases it to a tenant or operator, the GHG Protocol places the operation of that asset in the owner’s downstream value chain — even though the owner runs none of it. Category 13 is the account of that step: the building energy, the fleet fuel, the data-centre power that the lessee consumes inside an asset the lessor owns. It is material for property companies, equipment-leasing firms, and vehicle-fleet lessors; for companies that lease out little, it is small or absent. The defining feature is ownership without operation.
Category 13 is about assets you own and lease out, not products you sell. A leased building or fleet whose operation you do not control is Category 13; a product you sold and the buyer now owns is Category 11 (its use) or Category 12 (its disposal). The dividing line is whether you still own the asset.
The asset classes the calculator handles
The calculator treats each leased asset as its own line, tagged by class. Buildings — offices, retail, warehouses — carry electricity and on-site fuel. Equipment and data centres carry electricity, with a power-usage-effectiveness multiplier for data-centre overhead. Vehicles and fleet carry per-kilometre fuel emissions. Each line declares its asset class, its occupancy mode (single- or multi-tenant), the control basis that decides its scope placement, and a method that decides how its emissions are computed.
What’s in, what’s a separate category
| Covered in this calculator | Out of scope — separate category |
|---|---|
| The operation of assets you own and lease out — building energy, fleet fuel, data-centre power consumed by your lessees | The operation of assets you lease in from a landlord — that is Category 8, upstream leased assets, the same factors viewed from the lessee’s side |
| The portion of a leased asset whose operation you do not control, under your consolidation approach | The portion you operate or owner-occupy — reclassified to your own Scope 1 and 2, quantified in a separate block |
| The direct, location-based generation emissions of the electricity and fuel the asset consumes | The well-to-tank emissions of that fuel and grid electricity — computed but fenced as a Category 3 companion line, never in the Cat 13 total |
| Assets operated by a franchisee under your brand where you own the asset and lease it out | Franchise operations more broadly — that is Category 14, franchises, the related but distinct downstream category |
The control test — when an asset is Category 13
This is the page’s organising structure and the first decision every line makes. Before any factor is applied, the calculator decides whether a leased-out asset belongs in Category 13 at all — and that decision is not yours to eyeball line by line. It follows from your consolidation approach and whether you operate the asset, and the engine routes each line accordingly.
Consolidation approach sets the rule
Under the GHG Protocol, a company consolidates its inventory on one of three bases: operational control, financial control, or equity share. The basis you pick decides where a leased-out asset lands. Under operational control — the most common basis — an asset you own but do not operate sits in Category 13; an asset you own and operate sits in your own Scope 1 and 2. Under equity share, the split follows your ownership percentage. You set the consolidation basis once, at portfolio level, and answer a lease-type or “do you operate this?” question per asset.
Whether a leased asset is your Scope 1/2 or your Category 13 is not a judgement call made afresh for each building — it is determined by your consolidation approach plus one fact: do you operate the asset? Set the basis, answer the operate-or-not question, and the placement follows. The calculator applies that rule so the boundary is consistent across the whole portfolio.
The engine routes — and quantifies what it reclassifies
For each asset line, the calculator takes the consolidation basis and the operate-or-not answer and routes the emissions automatically: into the Category 13 total, or into a reclassified Scope 1/2 block it reports separately. This matters most for mixed-use assets — a building you partly owner-occupy and partly lease out splits cleanly, with the let floors in Category 13 and the floors you occupy moved to your own Scope 1 and 2. Nothing is double-counted, and nothing operated by you is left masquerading as a downstream emission.
The most common Category 13 boundary error is putting an asset you actually operate into Category 13, or putting a genuinely let asset into your own Scope 1/2. Both misstate the inventory. An asset you own and operate is your Scope 1/2 regardless of who holds the title; an asset you own and let, but do not operate, is Category 13. The operate-or-not question, not the lease paperwork alone, decides it.
The Category 8 mirror — same asset, opposite party
Category 13 has an exact counterpart upstream. Category 8, upstream leased assets, is the same accounting from the other side of the lease: where Category 13 is the landlord’s view of a let asset, Category 8 is the tenant’s view of a rented one. Same building, same fleet, same DEFRA and grid factors — opposite party. Seeing the mirror is the quickest way to place a lease correctly.
Category 8 — you are the lessee
You rent an asset from someone else and operate it, but it is not in your Scope 1/2 because you do not own it (under your consolidation approach). The emissions of operating the asset you lease in are your upstream Category 8.
Category 13 — you are the lessor
You own an asset and lease it to someone else who operates it. The emissions of operating the asset you lease out are your downstream Category 13. The factors are identical to Category 8 — only the party reporting them changes.
The shared boundary
A single leased asset can be one company’s Category 8 and another’s Category 13 at the same time — that is by design, not double-counting, because they are two separate reporting entities. The lessee reports operating it; the lessor reports owning-and-letting it.
When it collapses to Scope 1/2
If the party operates the asset and it falls inside their consolidation boundary, it is their Scope 1/2 — neither Category 8 nor 13. The leased-asset categories exist precisely for the gap between ownership and operation.
The leased-asset categories live in the gap between owning a thing and operating it. Category 8 is operating what you do not own; Category 13 is owning what you do not operate. Close that gap — operate what you own — and both categories vanish into Scope 1 and 2.
The three methods — asset-specific, lessee-specific, average-data
Once a line is confirmed as Category 13, the question is how to quantify it — and that depends on what you can see. The calculator offers the three GHG Protocol Category 13 methods, selectable per asset, so a portfolio with metered flagships and estimated long-tail assets can use the best method available for each.
Asset-specific
You hold the asset’s actual metered activity — kilowatt-hours of electricity, units of fuel, kilometres driven. The engine multiplies activity by the matching emission factor. The strongest method, used where you sub-meter the let space or hold fleet telematics. One carrier per line, so a building with both electricity and gas is two lines.
Lessee-specific
The lessee reports its own Scope 1 and Scope 2 for the asset. You enter those tonnes and your allocation share, and the engine takes the share of the lessee’s reported footprint. The method of choice when the operator already publishes a credible inventory and you hold only a slice of the asset.
Average-data
You have neither meter nor lessee report. You enter floor area or dwelling count and a building type, and the engine applies a published energy-use intensity and the grid and gas factors to estimate both legs. The practical default for the long tail of let assets, with the benchmark basis disclosed.
Per-asset selection
The method is chosen line by line, not once for the portfolio — because a lessor’s visibility differs across a catalogue. The data-quality score reflects the method, so a total built mostly on average-data is visibly distinguished from one built on metered activity.
Match the method to the asset, not the portfolio. Use asset-specific where you sub-meter, lessee-specific where the operator publishes a credible inventory, and average-data only for the assets you cannot see — then concentrate your data-gathering on the highest-consumption assets, where moving from average-data to metered activity changes the total most.
The upstream-energy firewall — Category 13 versus Category 3
The Category 13 headline is the direct operation of the leased asset — nothing upstream of it. The energy a tenant consumes carries an upstream burden too: the well-to-tank emissions of producing and delivering the fuel, and the losses in transmitting the grid electricity. Those belong in Category 3, not Category 13, and the calculator keeps them apart by construction.
Well-to-tank — computed, fenced as Category 3
For every fuel and grid line, the engine reads the well-to-tank companion factor and computes the upstream emissions — but never adds them to the Category 13 total. They surface as a separate, clearly labelled Category 3 companion line, because upstream fuel-and-energy emissions are a different category in the GHG Protocol taxonomy. The fenced figure is there for completeness and for your Category 3 inventory; it is not Category 13.
Transmission and distribution — not pulled
The electricity figure is location-based generation only. The losses in transmitting and distributing that electricity to the asset are not pulled into this calculator at all — they are flagged in-tool as a separate Category 3 line, to be picked up where you account for grid losses. The Category 13 number is the generation emissions of the electricity the asset consumed, full stop.
Do not fold the well-to-tank companion or transmission-and-distribution losses into your Category 13 figure. A Category 13 total of 30.8 tonnes does not become 34.4 tonnes because the gas carried an upstream burden — that 3.6-tonne well-to-tank slice is Category 3, reported there. Summing the upstream-energy line into Category 13 double-counts it against your Category 3 inventory.
How the calculation works — leased asset to Category 13 CO₂e
Each asset line runs the same pipeline: confirm it is Category 13 under the control test, pick a method, apply the lessor’s own emission factor, fence the upstream-energy companion, score the data quality, and roll up. What changes between lines is the method and the factor source.
What you enter, and what the engine derives
Per asset you enter the activity for your chosen method — metered units, or lessee-reported tonnes and a share, or floor area and a building type — plus the asset class, the occupancy mode, and the control basis. Everything else is derived: the engine reads the matching factor live from MasterBrain (DEFRA managed-asset for vehicles and UK electricity, Ember or EPA for non-UK grids, DEFRA for on-site fuel, a building benchmark for average-data), applies it, splits out the reclassified Scope 1/2 share, computes the fenced Category 3 well-to-tank companion, and sums the Category 13 lines.
The energy-to-emissions chain
For a metered building line, the chain is direct: activity in kilowatt-hours times the emission factor in kilograms of CO2e per kilowatt-hour, divided to tonnes. For a fleet line, kilometres times a per-kilometre managed-asset factor. For an average-data line, floor area times an energy-use intensity times the grid and gas factors. The factors carry their gases already aggregated to CO2e on the AR5 basis, so no separate global-warming-potential step is applied at the line.
Category 13 has no factor table of its own. The numbers come from the same DEFRA, Ember, and EPA factors a company uses for its own Scope 1 and 2 — re-attributed to a leased-out asset. That is the whole nature of the category: not new physics, but the same energy and fuel emissions, accounted to the owner of an asset someone else operates.
The Category 13 headline excludes two things by design: the share you operate or owner-occupy (reclassified to Scope 1/2) and the upstream well-to-tank and grid-loss burden (fenced to Category 3). Adding the reclassified share back in double-counts against your Scope 1/2; adding the upstream line back in double-counts against your Category 3. The headline is the direct operation of the let portion, nothing more.
Worked examples — leased office, leased fleet, multi-tenant apportionment
Three examples exercise the asset-specific method, the per-kilometre fleet path, and the control-driven reclassification: a metered office floor, a leased van fleet, and a multi-tenant building where the owner-occupied share routes out of Category 13. The factors are real MasterBrain values on GB defaults; the activity figures are illustrative inputs.
Example A — leased office floor (asset-specific, electricity + gas)
A landlord leases an office floor and sub-meters it. Asset-specific takes one carrier per line, so the floor is two lines — electricity and gas. The whole let floor is in Category 13; the gas carries a fenced well-to-tank companion.
| Line | Activity × factor | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity | 50,000 kWh × 0.177 kgCO₂e/kWh | 8.8500 tCO₂e |
| Gas (Gross CV) | 120,000 kWh × 0.18296 kgCO₂e/kWh | 21.9552 tCO₂e |
| Category 13 total | Electricity + gas, direct operation | 30.8052 tCO₂e |
| Category 3 WTT companion — fenced | 120,000 kWh × 0.03021 kgCO₂e/kWh (gas well-to-tank) | 3.6252 t (Cat 3) |
DEFRA 2025 managed-asset electricity (0.177) and natural-gas Gross CV (0.18296) factors, plus the gas well-to-tank companion (0.03021), via MasterBrain v2026.20, AR5 GWP-100. The 3.6252-tonne well-to-tank slice is Category 3, never added to the 30.8052-tonne Category 13 headline. Each carrier is its own line because asset-specific is single-carrier per line.
Example B — leased vehicle fleet (asset-specific, per-kilometre)
A leasing company owns a fleet of average diesel vans and leases them to an operator. The vehicles use the DEFRA managed-asset per-kilometre factor — not the passenger-vehicle factor — and the whole distance is in Category 13.
| Line | Activity × factor | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Van fleet (average, diesel) | 60,000 km × 0.25561 kgCO₂e/km | 15.3366 tCO₂e |
| Category 13 total | Managed-asset per-km, direct operation | 15.34 tCO₂e |
DEFRA 2025 managed-asset van (average, diesel) per-kilometre factor 0.25561 via MasterBrain v2026.20, AR5 GWP-100. Vehicles route through the managed-asset factor set, the same factors the Category 8 calculator uses for a leased-in van — the mirror in action.
Example C — multi-tenant apportionment (control-driven reclassification)
A landlord owns a building drawing 100,000 kWh of electricity — 17.70 tonnes whole-building. Two tenants occupy 80% between them; the landlord owner-occupies the remaining 20%. The owner-occupied share is not Category 13 — the engine reclassifies it to the landlord’s own Scope 1/2.
| Portion | Share × whole-building | Result | Bucket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tenant A | 50% × 17.70 t | 8.8500 t | Category 13 |
| Tenant B | 30% × 17.70 t | 5.3100 t | Category 13 |
| Owner-occupied offices | 20% × 17.70 t | 3.5400 t | → reclassified to Scope 1/2 |
| Category 13 total | Let portion only (80%) | 14.1600 t | Category 13 |
DEFRA 2025 managed-asset electricity factor 0.177 via MasterBrain v2026.20, AR5 GWP-100; apportionment shares user-entered with an allocation-basis label (floor area, sub-metered energy, headcount, or time) documenting the split. The 20% the landlord operates is reclassified to its own Scope 1/2 (3.54 t), leaving 14.16 t in Category 13 — the engine quantifies both so the boundary is auditable.
The whole building emits 17.70 tonnes, but only 14.16 tonnes is the landlord’s Category 13 — the 3.54 tonnes it operates itself moves to its own Scope 1/2. Quoting the whole-building figure as Category 13 would overstate it by the owner-occupied share. The control test, applied per portion, is what makes the number correct.
The factors behind the lines — the lessor’s own Scope 1/2 primitives
Category 13 has no dedicated factor table; it is computed from the same emission factors a company uses for its own Scope 1 and 2, re-attributed to a leased-out asset. The calculator reads each factor live from MasterBrain by asset class and country.
| Asset / leg | Factor source | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| UK electricity | DEFRA 2025 managed-asset grid factor | kgCO₂e / kWh |
| Non-UK electricity | Ember 2025 / EPA eGRID, location-based (213 countries) | kgCO₂e / kWh |
| On-site fuel | DEFRA 2025 fuel factors (by selectable unit) | kgCO₂e / kWh, m³, litre, tonne |
| Vehicles / fleet | DEFRA 2025 managed-asset per-km (car, van, HGV) | kgCO₂e / km |
| Average-data buildings | CIBSE TM46 / UK NEED energy-use benchmarks × DEFRA, Ember factors | kWh/m² × kgCO₂e/kWh |
| Well-to-tank companion (fenced) | DEFRA 2025 WTT factors — surfaced as Category 3, not Cat 13 | kgCO₂e / kWh |
Factor sources via MasterBrain v2026.20, AR5 GWP-100. Vehicles use the DEFRA managed-asset per-kilometre set (the Category 8 factor family), not the passenger-vehicle set. Electricity is location-based generation only; transmission-and-distribution losses are excluded from Category 13 and flagged as Category 3.
Apportionment is the real accuracy lever
For partial and multi-tenant assets, the number turns on how the asset’s total is split across occupants. The calculator splits by a user-entered share per occupancy row, with an allocation-basis dropdown — floor area, sub-metered energy, headcount, time, or other — that documents how the share was derived. The share is the driver; the basis label is the audit trail. The chart below shows how the same multi-tenant building’s Category 13 figure moves as the owner-occupied share changes, holding the whole-building total fixed.
Illustrative apportionment sweep on the Example C building (100,000 kWh, 17.70 tCO₂e whole-building, DEFRA managed-asset electricity 0.177, AR5 GWP-100). This shows how the let-versus-operated split moves the Category 13 figure for one building — it is not a universal ranking, and the reclassified owner-occupied share moves to Scope 1/2 in each case rather than disappearing.
For a multi-tenant asset, the apportionment share decides the Category 13 figure as much as the energy total does. Two reporters with the same building and the same consumption can land far apart on different but defensible splits — which is why the allocation basis must be documented, not just the percentage.
Apportionment, method, and control assumptions
Because the factors are fixed, a Category 13 figure lives in three inputs: which method you use, how you apportion shared assets, and how the control test routes each line. Each scales or relocates the result, and each is the lessor’s to characterise and disclose.
| Assumption changed | From → to | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Control routing | Asset operated by you → leased out | Moves the line from Scope 1/2 into Category 13 (or back) |
| Apportionment share | 80% let → 60% let, same building | Category 13 figure drops proportionally; the rest reclassifies to Scope 1/2 |
| Method | Average-data → asset-specific (metered) | Replaces a benchmark estimate with measured activity; data-quality score rises |
| Upstream energy | WTT folded in → fenced to Category 3 | Removes the upstream slice from the Cat 13 headline (the correct treatment) |
Illustrative single-variable changes (each row changes one input, holds the others). The control routing and the apportionment share are the two largest levers — both relocate or rescale the line — which is why disclosing the consolidation basis and the allocation basis is essential to an auditable Category 13 number.
A Category 13 figure quoted without its consolidation basis and apportionment method is not auditable — the same leased asset can sit in Category 13 or in Scope 1/2 depending on the control answer, and a shared asset can carry very different Category 13 figures on different splits. Always disclose the consolidation approach, the control routing, and the allocation basis per asset.
Where you cannot meter a let asset, use average-data with a named building benchmark and state it, rather than guessing a figure. A transparent estimate built on a cited energy-use intensity and a documented apportionment basis is more defensible in assurance than a precise-looking number whose method and split cannot be traced.
Data quality and the method hierarchy
Because Category 13 applies fixed factors, a Cat 13 inventory’s accuracy lives in the method and the apportionment: whether you metered the asset, took the lessee’s reported footprint, or estimated from a benchmark. The calculator scores each line one-to-five and rolls the lines into an emissions-weighted portfolio score, and the reporting expectation is to use the most specific method available per asset and be explicit where you estimated.
| Tier | Line data | Typical source |
|---|---|---|
| Metered asset-specific | Actual sub-metered activity for the let asset | Tenant sub-meters, fleet telematics, landlord-supply records |
| Lessee-reported | The lessee’s own reported Scope 1 and 2, allocated by share | Lessee sustainability reports, lease-data exchange, CDP disclosures |
| Average-data, measured area | A benchmark energy-use intensity on a known floor area or dwelling count | CIBSE TM46, UK NEED, lettable-area schedules |
| Average-data, estimated area | A benchmark on an estimated area where the exact area is unknown | Portfolio estimates, building-type proxies |
The highest-value improvement for most Category 13 inventories is metered activity on the highest-consumption let assets — which replaces a benchmark estimate with measured data on the lines that dominate the total. The second is obtaining lessee-reported footprints for assets whose operators already publish credible inventories. The honest disclosure names which assets are metered, which are lessee-reported, and which rest on benchmarks.
Audit checklist — what gets flagged in Cat 13 assurance
Category 13 is a boundary-heavy and apportionment-heavy category, and the recurring assurance findings cluster around the control test, the Category 8 overlap, and the upstream-energy fence rather than arithmetic. Each below traces to a boundary error, an apportionment error, or a scope-fence error.
01 — Operated asset left in Category 13
Reporting an asset you own and operate as Category 13. An asset you operate is your Scope 1/2 under operational control, regardless of title. Check the operate-or-not answer routes operated assets out of Category 13.
02 — Category 8 and Category 13 confused
Putting a leased-in asset in Category 13, or a leased-out asset in Category 8. Category 8 is what you rent and operate; Category 13 is what you own and let. Check each asset is on the correct side of the lease.
03 — Whole-building figure reported for a part-let asset
Quoting the whole-building total as Category 13 when you owner-occupy part of it. Only the let share is Category 13; the rest reclassifies to Scope 1/2. Check the apportionment removes the operated share.
04 — Well-to-tank folded into the total
Adding the upstream fuel-and-energy companion to the Category 13 figure. Well-to-tank is Category 3, not Category 13. Check the headline is direct operation only and the WTT line sits in Category 3.
05 — Apportionment basis undisclosed
Reporting a multi-tenant Category 13 figure without stating how the split was derived. The share can move the figure substantially. The allocation basis and its percentages must be recorded for the figure to be auditable.
06 — Consolidation basis not stated
Reporting Category 13 without naming the consolidation approach that decides scope placement. Operational control, financial control, and equity share route leased assets differently. The basis must be disclosed for the boundary to be checkable.
Reporting context — Scope 3, IFRS S2, CSRD E1, SECR
Category 13 emissions feed the same disclosure regimes as the rest of the Scope 3 inventory. The thread across the frameworks below is that all of them expect the category boundary, the consolidation basis, and the apportionment method disclosed — and all of them keep leased-asset emissions out of the lessor’s own Scope 1 and 2 where the lessor does not operate the asset.
| Framework | Role for Category 13 emissions | Disclosure cadence |
|---|---|---|
| GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard | The accounting standard. Defines Category 13 downstream leased assets, the three calculation methods, and the boundary with Category 8 and Scope 1/2. | Same as the company’s reporting cycle |
| GHG Protocol Corporate Standard | The parent standard. Sets the consolidation approaches — operational control, financial control, equity share — that decide whether a leased asset is Category 13 or the lessor’s own Scope 1/2. | Same as the company’s reporting cycle |
| IFRS S2 (ISSB) | The global disclosure baseline. Requires Scope 3 disclosure including downstream leased assets where material, with the method and consolidation basis disclosed. | Annual, aligned with financial statements |
| CSRD ESRS E1 (EU) | The EU climate standard. ESRS E1 carries Scope 3 leased-asset emissions in CO₂e as part of the gross Scope 3 total, with the boundary and method disclosed. | Annual sustainability statement |
| UK SECR | UK Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting. Downstream leased-asset emissions fall within voluntary Scope 3 scope; property and leasing companies often include them for a complete value-chain picture. | Annual, with the directors’ report |
| IPCC AR6 | The global-warming-potential reference. The underlying DEFRA, Ember, and EPA factors are published as aggregate CO₂e on the AR5 GWP-100 basis; AR6 values are the scientific reference for the gases involved. | Periodic assessment releases |
For the reporting mechanics, the paired downstream leased assets methodology sets out the control test, the three methods, and the Category 3 fence in full. The mirror accounting is documented in the upstream leased assets methodology, and the closely related franchise treatment in the franchises methodology. The consolidation concept that drives scope placement is defined in the operational control glossary entry.
Data sources, model, and GWP basis
The model — source and structure
Category 13 has no standalone factor table; it is computed from the lessor’s own Scope 1 and 2 emission factors, re-attributed to a leased-out asset. Electricity uses the DEFRA managed-asset grid factor for the UK and Ember or EPA location-based factors for 213 other countries; on-site fuel uses DEFRA fuel factors; vehicles use the DEFRA managed-asset per-kilometre set; average-data buildings use CIBSE TM46 and UK NEED energy-use benchmarks applied to floor area or dwelling count. The factors are read live from MasterBrain by asset class and country. The full warming-potential reference sits in the IPCC AR6 GWP values reference, and the grid factors in the grid emission factors and DEFRA emission factors references.
GWP basis
The DEFRA managed-asset, fuel, and grid factors are published as aggregate CO2e on the regulatory AR5 GWP-100 basis, and the calculator applies them as published. There is no AR5-to-AR6 toggle — the underlying factors are pre-aggregated CO2e, not gas-by-gas, and for the managed-asset vehicle factors the methane and nitrous-oxide share is a negligible fraction of the total, so an AR6 re-weighting would move the result by a trivial amount. The basis is stamped as AR5 per factor. For the global-warming potential definition and the AR5-versus-AR6 values, see the AR6 GWP values reference.
Coverage limits
Three coverage limits are worth naming plainly. First, electricity is location-based generation only — market-based instruments and transmission-and-distribution losses are not applied in this calculator, and the grid-loss portion is flagged as a separate Category 3 line. Second, well-to-tank emissions are computed but fenced to Category 3 by construction and never enter the Category 13 total. Third, the control routing and apportionment are taken as entered — the engine applies the consolidation logic the user selects but does not independently verify that a given asset is correctly classified as operated or let.
Live-read factors
The engine reads every emission factor live from MasterBrain at calculation time, and the MasterBrain version against which a result was computed is stamped on the output, so a figure computed against one vintage and the same figure recomputed against a later one are distinguishable in restatement work. The downstream leased assets methodology documents the control test, the three methods, and the factor sources in full.
What’s next — completing the downstream picture
Downstream leased assets is one of the four downstream Scope 3 categories. The adjacent calculators cover the lessee-side mirror, the sold-product categories that sit alongside it, and the organisational inventory that brings every scope together.
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Downstream Leased Assets
The operation of assets you own and lease out, across buildings, equipment, data centres, and fleet, with the operated share reclassified to Scope 1/2. The calculator on this page.
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Cat 8 Upstream Leased Assets
The exact mirror — the same assets viewed from the lessee’s side, where you rent and operate rather than own and let. The highest-value companion to this page.
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Cat 11 Use of Sold Products
The downstream emissions of products you sold and the buyer now owns — the sold-product counterpart to leased-asset accounting.
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Cat 12 End-of-Life Treatment
The disposal of the products you sold, the final downstream step alongside the use phase and the leased-asset categories.
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GHG Inventory Aggregator
Roll Category 13 together with every other Scope 1, 2 and 3 source into one auditable corporate carbon footprint — the organisation-level inventory this category feeds into.
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Cat 14 Franchises
Emissions from outlets your franchisees run under your brand — the downstream counterpart to your leased-asset reporting.
For the full methodological treatment — the control test, the three calculation methods, and the Category 3 fence — see the downstream leased assets methodology and its upstream mirror. The organisational roll-up is covered by the ISO 14064-1 GHG inventory calculator, where the Category 13 total lands alongside Scope 1, 2, and the rest of Scope 3. Franchises (Category 14) and inventory-aggregator tools are roadmap calculators; their methodologies are live.
Frequently asked questions
Category 13 covers assets the reporting company owns and leases out to other entities, where the emissions from operating those assets are not already in the company’s Scope 1 or 2. Typical examples are a landlord’s let office floors, a leasing company’s let vehicle fleet, and an owner’s let data centre. The defining feature is that you own the asset but a lessee operates it.
They are mirror images of the same lease. Category 8, upstream leased assets, is the lessee’s view — assets you rent and operate but do not own. Category 13, downstream leased assets, is the lessor’s view — assets you own and lease out for someone else to operate. Same asset, same emission factors, opposite party. A single leased building can be one company’s Category 8 and another’s Category 13 at the same time.
It depends on your consolidation approach and whether you operate the asset. Under operational control — the most common basis — an asset you own and operate is your Scope 1/2, while an asset you own but lease out for someone else to operate is your Category 13. Under equity share, the split follows your ownership percentage. The operate-or-not question, applied under your chosen consolidation basis, decides the placement.
Pick one of three methods per asset. Asset-specific multiplies the asset’s metered activity — kilowatt-hours, fuel units, kilometres — by the matching emission factor. Lessee-specific takes the lessee’s reported Scope 1 and 2 times your allocation share. Average-data applies a building energy-use benchmark to floor area or dwelling count, then the grid and gas factors. Sum the Category 13 lines, keep the operated share in Scope 1/2, and keep well-to-tank in Category 3.
Asset-specific, lessee-specific, and average-data. Asset-specific uses the asset’s own metered activity and is the most accurate. Lessee-specific uses the lessee’s own reported footprint allocated by share. Average-data estimates from a building energy-use intensity and floor area where neither meter nor lessee report is available. The methods are chosen per asset, so a portfolio can mix metered flagships with estimated long-tail assets.
It splits the building by occupancy share. The let portions are Category 13; the portion you owner-occupy or operate is reclassified to your own Scope 1/2 and quantified in a separate block. You enter a share per occupancy row with an allocation-basis label — floor area, sub-metered energy, headcount, or time. In a 100,000 kWh building let 80% and owner-occupied 20%, the 80% let share is Category 13 and the 20% you occupy moves to Scope 1/2.
No. The Category 13 headline is the direct, location-based operation of the leased asset only. Well-to-tank emissions for the fuel and grid electricity are computed but fenced as a separate Category 3 companion line. Transmission-and-distribution losses are not pulled in at all and are flagged as a separate Category 3 line. Adding either to Category 13 would double-count against your Category 3 inventory.
The same factors a company uses for its own Scope 1 and 2, re-attributed to the leased asset. UK electricity uses the DEFRA managed-asset grid factor; non-UK electricity uses Ember or EPA location-based factors across 213 countries; on-site fuel uses DEFRA fuel factors; vehicles use the DEFRA managed-asset per-kilometre set; average-data buildings use CIBSE TM46 and UK NEED benchmarks. Category 13 has no factor table of its own — it composes from these primitives.
AR5 GWP-100, applied as the underlying DEFRA, Ember, and EPA factors are published — aggregate CO₂e rather than gas-by-gas. There is no AR5-to-AR6 toggle, because the factors are pre-aggregated and the methane and nitrous-oxide share of the managed-asset vehicle factors is a negligible fraction of the total. The basis is stamped as AR5 per factor, matching the Category 8 calculator.
They are related but distinct. Category 13 is about assets you own and lease out for operation. Category 14 is about the operations of franchisees under your brand. Where you own an asset and lease it to a franchisee, the asset can sit in Category 13; the broader franchise operations sit in Category 14. The two are accounted separately to avoid double-counting, with the boundary turning on ownership of the asset.
Methodology notes and limitations
Scope and boundary. This calculator covers downstream leased assets under GHG Protocol Scope 3 Category 13 — the operation of assets the reporting company owns and leases to other entities, where those emissions are not already in the company’s Scope 1 or 2. It excludes assets the company leases in and operates (Category 8), the company’s own operated assets (Scope 1/2), and the upstream energy burden of the fuel and electricity (Category 3).
The control test. Scope placement follows the company’s consolidation approach — operational control, financial control, or equity share — set at portfolio level, plus a per-asset operate-or-not question. The engine routes each line automatically to Category 13 or to a reclassified Scope 1/2 block it quantifies separately. An asset the company operates is its Scope 1/2 regardless of title; an asset it owns and lets without operating is Category 13.
Three calculation methods. Each asset uses one of the three GHG Protocol Category 13 methods: asset-specific (metered activity × emission factor), lessee-specific (lessee-reported Scope 1 and 2 × allocation share), or average-data (floor area or dwelling count × building energy-use intensity × grid and gas factors). The method is selected per asset and drives the data-quality score.
Apportionment. Multi-tenant assets are split by user-entered share per occupancy row, with an allocation-basis label — floor area, sub-metered energy, headcount, time, or other — documenting how the share was derived. The share is the driver; the label is the audit trail. Shares are checked to sum to approximately 100% (a warning, not a block).
Upstream-energy fence. Well-to-tank emissions for the fuel and grid electricity are computed but surfaced as a separate Category 3 companion line, never summed into the Category 13 total. Transmission-and-distribution losses are not pulled in — electricity is location-based generation only — and are flagged as a separate Category 3 line.
Factor sources and GWP basis. Category 13 has no dedicated factor table; it composes from DEFRA 2025 managed-asset and fuel factors, Ember 2025 and EPA eGRID location-based grid factors (213 countries), and CIBSE TM46 and UK NEED building benchmarks. Global-warming potentials are applied on the regulatory AR5 GWP-100 basis as the underlying factors are published, with no AR5-to-AR6 toggle.
Live-read factors. The engine reads every emission factor live from MasterBrain at calculation time. The MasterBrain version is stamped on each result for restatement work.
Assumptions carry the accuracy, and no assurance opinion is given. The emission factors are fixed values, so the result’s accuracy depends on the method, the apportionment share, the consolidation basis, and the control routing entered per line. The calculator applies the logic the user selects and does not independently verify that an asset is correctly classified as operated or let. Results are estimates and do not constitute an assurance opinion. They should be reviewed by a qualified practitioner before use in IFRS S2 disclosures, CSRD ESRS E1 datapoints, UK SECR returns, or other regulatory submissions.