You Sold It. The Emissions Didn’t Leave With It.
Scope 3 Category 11 is where emissions quietly drift out of sight.
What are Scope 3 Category 11 use-of-sold-products emissions?
Scope 3 Category 11 use of sold products emissions capture the greenhouse gases generated when customers operate, consume, or use products after purchase. Under the GHG Protocol, this includes direct use-phase emissions (e.g. fuel combustion in vehicles) and indirect use-phase emissions (e.g. electricity consumed by appliances). The reporting organisation must model these emissions over the expected lifetime of each product, using assumptions about usage frequency, energy source, and product efficiency.
| Parameter | Definition | Uncertainty | Improvement Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product lifetime | Expected years/cycles of use | Medium | Validate with warranty and return data |
| Usage frequency | Operating cycles per period | High | IoT telemetry or customer surveys |
| Energy per use | kWh or fuel per cycle | Low-Medium | Real-world testing, not lab specs |
| Grid emission factor | CO2e per kWh consumed | Medium | Regional factors for key markets |
| Efficiency degradation | Performance decline over life | High | Build curves from service data |
The product has been sold. Revenue has been recognised. Responsibility, at least operationally, feels complete. And yet, for many businesses, the largest share of their total carbon footprint is only just beginning.
Category 11 captures the emissions generated during the use of sold products — often over years, sometimes decades. These are emissions you enable, influence indirectly, and are expected to report, despite having no control over how customers actually behave.
This playbook sets out how leading organisations approach Category 11 realistically — without pretending they can control end users, and without retreating into vague assumptions.
What Category 11 Actually Covers
Scope 3 Category 11 includes emissions from the use phase of products sold by the company.
That might mean:
Energy consumed by appliances, equipment or vehicles
Fuel burned by products during operation
Electricity used by consumer or industrial goods
Ongoing emissions driven by how often, how long and how intensively products are used
In simple terms: once your product leaves the building, Category 11 begins.
One product manager described it as “the emissions equivalent of parenting a teenager — you influence early behaviour, but after that, you’re mostly hoping for the best.”
Why Category 11 Is So Uncomfortable
Category 11 forces organisations to confront a difficult reality: your biggest emissions may depend on choices you don’t make.
Usage varies wildly by customer, geography, behaviour and context. Two identical products can generate very different emissions depending on how they’re used, maintained or powered.
We’ve seen teams attempt to define “average use” based on limited assumptions, only to realise that their average user doesn’t really exist.
The result is often a set of numbers that look precise, but feel deeply theoretical.
The Challenge of Modelling the Use Phase
Unlike transport or procurement, Category 11 is forward-looking by nature.
It relies on assumptions about:
Product lifetime
Frequency of use
Energy mix
User behaviour
Maintenance and efficiency degradation
Each assumption is reasonable in isolation. Together, they compound uncertainty.
One ESG lead put it bluntly: “We can explain every assumption — but we still wouldn’t bet the company on the result.” That honesty is important, because pretending otherwise rarely survives scrutiny.
When Engineering Meets ESG (Sometimes Awkwardly)
Category 11 often pulls ESG teams into unfamiliar territory.
Engineering teams talk about design specs and efficiency ratings. Sustainability teams talk about emissions factors and reporting boundaries. Marketing talks about customer value. None of them are wrong — but alignment doesn’t happen automatically.
We’ve seen organisations struggle not because the maths was hard, but because ownership was unclear. Who defines “typical use”? Who signs off the assumptions? Who explains the uncertainty?
Until those questions are answered, Category 11 tends to drift.
What Good Looks Like for Category 11
Leading organisations take a grounded, transparent approach.
They define a clear use-phase model based on defensible assumptions. They document what is known, what is estimated, and what is out of scope. They prioritise products that drive the largest share of emissions, rather than modelling everything at once.
Most importantly, they resist the urge to oversell precision.
One manufacturer shared that once they openly labelled their Category 11 numbers as “modelled, assumption-driven estimates,” assurance conversations became noticeably calmer. Confidence improved, not because uncertainty disappeared, but because it was acknowledged.
Influence, Not Control
The real value of Category 11 lies in influence.
While organisations can’t dictate how customers use products, they can:
Improve product efficiency
Design for lower energy consumption
Provide clearer guidance on efficient use
Support transitions to lower-carbon energy sources
When Category 11 data is linked back to product design and innovation, it stops being a reporting obligation and starts informing strategy.
A product director summed it up neatly: “Once we could see the lifetime emissions, design trade-offs suddenly mattered a lot more.”
What This Means for You
If You’re in Product or Engineering
Category 11 isn’t about blaming design teams for customer behaviour.
It’s about understanding how design choices influence lifetime emissions and where efficiency improvements have the biggest impact. A clear Category 11 model gives product teams a carbon lens they can actually use — without pretending to control the user.
If You’re an ESG or Sustainability Manager
Category 11 is rarely precise, but it can be credible.
A playbook-led approach gives you a structured model, documented assumptions, and a defensible narrative for uncertainty. It shifts conversations away from false precision and towards continuous improvement and influence.
If You’re a CFO or Finance Leader
Category 11 often represents long-term, off-balance-sheet impact — which makes transparency essential.
Clear assumptions, consistent methodology and visible governance allow you to sign off numbers you understand, even if they’re modelled. More importantly, it links emissions back to product strategy and investment decisions.
If You’re a CSO or Board Sponsor
Category 11 is where long-term credibility is tested.
Stakeholders increasingly accept that use-phase emissions are complex. What they expect is honesty, consistency and a credible plan to reduce impact over time — through design, innovation and influence rather than wishful thinking.
What This Looks Like in Horizon ESG
Horizon ESG’s ESG reporting platform supports Category 11 by enabling organisations to model use-phase emissions transparently, document assumptions clearly, and link emissions back to products, scenarios and improvement pathways.
The result isn’t artificial precision — it’s decision-grade insight.
The Playbook Mindset
Scope 3 Category 11 is uncomfortable because it stretches responsibility beyond the point of sale.
But it’s also where some of the most meaningful reductions can be influenced.
Organisations that approach the use phase with realism, discipline and humility don’t just report better — they design better products, make better trade-offs, and build long-term trust.
That’s what good looks like. Book a demo to see how Horizon ESG can help.
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