Sustainability Excellence Associate and Sustainability Excellence Professional Carbon Accounting & Greenhouse Gas Inventories: practice questions

Question 1 · easy

On a mixed farm, which emission is Scope 1 under the GHG Protocol?

1. Emissions from generating the electricity that runs the milking parlour
2. Emissions from manufacturing the ammonium nitrate fertiliser it buys
3. Methane from enteric fermentation in the farm's own cattle
4. Emissions from the dairy plant that processes milk the farm sells to it

Question 2 · medium

The same choice in reverse: a food company owns 40% of a joint-venture plant emitting 10,000 t CO2e but has no control over it. Using the equity share approach, how much enters its inventory?

1. 4,000 t CO2e
2. 10,000 t CO2e
3. 1,600 t CO2e
4. 6,000 t CO2e

Question 3 · hard

A poultry processor installs rooftop solar panels and uses all the power on site, exporting none. How is this reflected in its inventory?

1. The company subtracts the panels' output, valued at the grid factor, from its Scope 1 as an avoided emission
2. The company records negative Scope 3 emissions equal to the emissions the grid would have produced instead
3. The panels' output is reported in Scope 2 at the grid-average factor, since all electricity counts the same
4. Electricity from the panels carries zero Scope 2 emissions, so purchased grid electricity and Scope 2 fall

Question 4 · medium

Why can a spend-based Scope 3 estimate fail to show a supplier farm's real emission reduction?

1. It is allowed only for capital goods, so purchased crops and milk are always excluded from it
2. It counts only transport emissions, so emissions from on-farm practice never enter the calculation
3. It scales with money spent, so cutting farm emissions without changing price leaves the estimate unchanged
4. It uses the supplier's own measured farm data, which usually lags behind the farm's practice change by five years

Question 5 · medium

What is the difference between insetting and offsetting for a food company?

1. Insetting applies only to Scope 2; offsetting applies only to Scope 1 emissions from the company's own delivery vehicles
2. Insetting reduces or removes emissions within its own value chain; offsetting buys credits from projects outside it
3. Insetting buys credits from projects outside its value chain; offsetting cuts emissions inside its own operations
4. Insetting and offsetting are synonyms for buying certified credits, used by different standard-setting bodies

Question 6 · hard

A buyer pays farmers to adopt practices that cut N2O and counts the result in its Scope 3, while the farmers also sell carbon credits for the same reductions. What is the problem, and what prevents it?

1. Under-counting, since the buyer should also add the credits to its Scope 1 total to match the farm
2. Double claiming of the same tonnes; a data-sharing agreement should allocate who may claim the reductions
3. Leakage, because the farmers will expand onto nearby forest land; a buffer pool of carbon credits always prevents it
4. None, because Scope 3 inventories and carbon credits use different units, so both claims can stand

Question 7 · easy

Which of these is NOT one of the five data quality indicators in the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard?

1. Profitability of the supplier
2. Reliability
3. Temporal representativeness
4. Geographical representativeness

Question 8 · medium

A dairy group with base-year emissions of 10,000 t CO2e buys a cheese plant that existed in the base year, when it emitted 2,000 t. What is the recalculated base year?

1. 8,000 t CO2e
2. 11,000 t CO2e
3. 10,000 t CO2e
4. 12,000 t CO2e

Question 9 · medium

Which statement compares absolute and intensity targets correctly?

1. An absolute target limits total tonnes; under an intensity target, total tonnes rise if output grows enough
2. An intensity target is always stricter, because it must be met in every year rather than at the end
3. An absolute target allows output growth to be excluded, while an intensity target always includes it
4. An absolute target limits tonnes per unit of output; an intensity target limits total tonnes emitted

Question 10 · medium

Under SBTi near-term criteria, what minimum share of Scope 1 and 2 emissions must a target cover?

1. 90%
2. 95%
3. 67%
4. 100%