The My Emissions platform allows you to enter custom emissions values for food and drink items. Using custom values increases the use of primary data and makes your results more accurate and specific to what you actually buy.
Current scope: Custom emissions values are currently supported for food and drink items only. Support for custom emissions values for packaging is being developed.
Because the My Emissions platform is self-serve, the My Emissions team does not verify or audit custom emissions values. To ensure you can confidently use your data, it’s important to check that any custom values meets basic quality requirements and aligns with our GHG Protocol–aligned methodology. Please follow the checks outlined below, and contact our technical team if you need any further support.
What to Check Before Adding a Custom Emissions Value
We recommend checking the four areas below before entering a value into the platform:
System boundary
Units of the emissions value
Assessment year
Geographical representativeness
1. System Boundary
For purchased food and drink, My Emissions uses a cradle-to-gate system boundary, in line with the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard. This means emissions are counted from raw material production up to the point the product leaves your supplier’s final site.
Within this boundary, My Emissions separates emissions into four life-cycle stages:
Farming: Emissions from growing crops or rearing animals used in the product.
Processing: Emissions from processing the ingredient or product you purchase.
Packaging: Emissions from packaging the product as supplied to you.
Transport: Emissions from transport within the supply chain up to your supplier’s last site.
What to check:
Make sure the emissions value covers the correct life-cycle stages. If it only covers one stage (e.g. farming only), you should only enter it for that stage.
2. Units of the Emissions Value
To be used in My Emissions, the emissions value must be expressed as:
kgCO₂e per kg of food (kgCO₂e/kg).
If your supplier provides data in different units, you can convert it as follows:
kgCO₂e per product
→ Divide by the net weight of the food product (food only).
gCO₂e per gram of food
→ This is equivalent to kgCO₂e/kg, so no conversion is needed.
kgCO₂e per kg of protein
→ Multiply by the kg of protein per kg food (e.g. 20g protein per 100g product)
Any other units or unclear cases
→ Contact our technical team for support.
3. Assessment Year
The year the emissions value was assessed is an important indicator of data quality. In general, more recent assessments are higher quality, as methods, data, and background assumptions improve over time.
Based on guidance from the GHG Protocol and WRAP, we use the following quality ranges:
High quality: Same year as your reporting period
Good quality: ≤ 2 years old
Acceptable interim (fair): 3–5 years old
Needs improvement plan (poor): 5-10 years old
Last resort only (very poor): > 10 years old
Older values can still be used if no better data exists, but they should be clearly documented.
4. Geographical Region
The emissions value should be geographically representative of what you are actually purchasing.
What to check:
The value should reflect the specific supplier, site, or farm where the product is produced.
Avoid using global or unrelated regional averages if more specific data is available.
The closer the value matches the real production location, the higher the data quality.
Entering Your Custom Emissions Value
Once you’ve checked all four criteria:
Go to the relevant food or drink item in the platform.
Select “Custom value” for each applicable life-cycle stage
(farming, processing, packaging, transport).
If your value only covers one stage, only enter it for that stage.
In the Source field, enter:
The assessor or organisation, and
The assessment year
In the Emissions value field, enter:
The emissions value
Need Help?
If you’re unsure whether a custom emissions value can be used, or how to convert or enter it correctly, reach out to our technical team for support at: [email protected]