The following has been produced by AFRY, Combient Pure's partner in organizing the 2026 Scope 3 Decarbonization Accelerator. Join us for the first event of the 2026 Accelerator, the Scope 3 Energy Transition Summit, in Stockholm on April 20-21, 2026 (open only to Combient Associated Companies). The Summit will bring together experts and company cases to explore how Combient Associated Companies can meaningfully reduce value chain emissions linked to energy use, both upstream with suppliers and downstream with customers.
Why is customer energy use a critical component in decarbonizing Scope 3 emissions?
As energy is a major contributor to emissions across the entire value chain, Day 2 of the Scope 3 Energy Transition Summit turns the spotlight downstream to examine how customer energy use impacts Scope 3 emissions. The aim is to provide practical tools and methods for companies to effectively address the emissions stemming from their customers’ energy-use. Combient’s 2025 State of Value Chain Decarbonization Survey highlights Use of sold products as a significant Scope 3 emission category among Combient Associated Companies.
Reducing these Scope 3 downstream emissions remains one of the most complex challenges companies face when decarbonizing their value chain. The challenge is especially great for companies whose products consume high volumes of electricity or fuels in their use-phase, such as companies in the automotive or industrial sectors. While companies can advise their customers to use renewable options, such as renewable electricity, the overall control of the use-phase remains with the customer.
This limited control is rooted in the traditional produce‑and‑sell business model, where companies focus on the design, production, and sale of products, and have little direct influence over how those products are operated once ownership is transferred to customers. At the Summit, we will explore two key tools companies can use to take back control: Changing business models and using activity pools.
The role of transformative business models and the use of activity pools
By shifting away from traditional produce‑and‑sell business models, companies can regain control over their products throughout the use phase, strengthening their ability to reduce Scope 3 emissions from downstream energy use. At the Summit, we will present examples of potential business models, discussing the pros and cons of each and illustrating them with case examples of companies that have shifted from traditional produce‑and‑sell models to more transformative approaches. The Summit will not only cover shifting business models but will also discuss an alternative approach to achieving short-term decarbonization impacts through activity pools.
In the draft update to the SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard, a new idea called “activity pools” is introduced to make setting emissions targets easier and more practical. Activity pools group together sources of emissions that are linked to a company’s activities but can’t be traced back to one exact source. For example, this could include the electricity used by customers when they use a company’s products, especially if the company doesn’t have detailed data on that usage. This approach allows companies to still include these harder-to-measure Scope 3 emissions in their targets. In other words, even if companies can’t track every emission precisely, they can still take responsibility for and reduce the overall impact.
Photo by Elimende Inagella on Unsplash.