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Corporate footprint vs. GLEC: differences and connections

How the corporate footprint (GHG Protocol) and the GLEC report relate to each other, what each covers, and how Scopes 1, 2, and 3 fit in.

Dcycle TeamDcycle Team5 min

The corporate footprint covers everything. GLEC covers only logistics — but in far greater depth. Understanding how they fit together is key to reporting correctly under CSRD and SBTi.

What each one measures

Corporate Footprint GLEC
Scope EVERYTHING your company does Only logistics activity
Examples Offices, employee travel, purchases, waste, transport… Freight transport and warehouses
Primary unit Total kg CO₂e Tonne-kilometre (tkm)
Purpose Report your total impact as a company Calculate and report emissions to customers for their shipments

How they relate

CORPORATE FOOTPRINT (everything)
    │
    ├── Offices, electricity, water…
    ├── Employee travel
    ├── Purchases and suppliers
    │
    └── LOGISTICS (this is where GLEC fits)
            ├── Freight transport
            └── Hubs / warehouses

GLEC is one “piece” within your corporate footprint, but with specialised methodology for logistics.

The three scopes in both methodologies

Scope Corporate Footprint GLEC (logistics)
1 All your fuels and direct emissions Only fuel from your own fleet or owned hubs
2 All your electricity Only electricity from your owned hubs
3 Your entire value chain Subcontracted transport + external hubs + fuel production

Own fleet vs. subcontracted fleet

Fleet type Where it appears in GLEC What is measured
Own fleet Scope 1 + Scope 3 Scope 1: combustion (TTW) → what comes out of the exhaust
Scope 3: fuel production (WTT) → extracting and refining the oil
Subcontracted fleet Scope 3 All together (WTW) → uses the GLEC emission factor for the vehicle × tkm

Practical example:

Your own truck consumes 100 litres of diesel:
  → Scope 1 (TTW): 100 L × 2.63 = 263 kg CO₂e
  → Scope 3 (WTT): 100 L × 0.80 = 80 kg CO₂e

Subcontracted truck travels 1,000 tkm:
  → Scope 3 (WTW): 1,000 tkm × 0.05 kg/tkm = 50 kg CO₂e

Owned hubs vs. subcontracted hubs

Hub type Where it appears in GLEC What is measured
Owned hub Scope 1 + Scope 2 Scope 1: gas, heating oil from boilers…
Scope 2: purchased electricity
Subcontracted hub Scope 3 Uses an intensity factor (g CO₂e per tonne handled)

Example:

Your own warehouse:
  → Electricity: 10,000 kWh × 0.25 = 2,500 kg CO₂e (Scope 2)
  → Gas heating: 500 m³ × 2.0 = 1,000 kg CO₂e (Scope 1)

Subcontracted warehouse (you handle 100 tonnes):
  → 100 t × GLEC factor (e.g., 5 g/t) = 500 kg CO₂e (Scope 3)

Vehicles that do NOT appear in GLEC

Vehicle Included in GLEC? Where it goes
Delivery trucks Yes GLEC
Sales reps’ cars No Corporate footprint (Scope 1)
Maintenance vans No Corporate footprint (Scope 1)
Warehouse forklifts Depends If in a logistics hub → GLEC (within the hub)
Rental cars for business travel No Corporate footprint (Scope 3)

The simple rule:

If the vehicle moves customer goods → GLEC If the vehicle does something else → General corporate footprint

Visual summary

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│             CORPORATE FOOTPRINT                     │
│                                                     │
│  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐ │
│  │   Offices   │  │   Employee  │  │  Purchases  │ │
│  │    Cars     │  │   travel    │  │  materials  │ │
│  └─────────────┘  └─────────────┘  └─────────────┘ │
│                                                     │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │              GLEC (Logistics)                │   │
│  │                                             │   │
│  │  Own fleet ────────► Scope 1 + 3           │   │
│  │  Subcontracted fleet ► Scope 3             │   │
│  │  Owned hubs ──────► Scope 1 + 2            │   │
│  │  Subcontracted hubs ► Scope 3              │   │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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