Three numbers behind the insetting paradox
Most emissions sit in Scope 3, funding a supplier's emissions reduction recovers nothing today, and one inset credit changes that.
By Carbon3 team1 min read
Three numbers explain why supply-chain decarbonization stays underfunded, and what would change it.
Between 70 and 90 percent of a typical company's carbon footprint sits in Scope 3, outside its direct operational control. That is where most of the emissions are, and it is where climate targets now point.
Today, a buyer who funds a supplier's abatement recovers nothing for it. The spend books as a pure expense, with no asset on either balance sheet.
An inset credit changes that equation. One credit stands for one tonne of CO2e verifiably reduced inside the value chain, checked independently and carried with a full audit trail. Because the problem is structural, the fix has to be market infrastructure.
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Originally published on LinkedIn, 16 July 2026.
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