Combient Pure's State of Value Chain Decarbonization survey offers critical insights into how leading Nordic companies are tackling their Scope 3 emissions - this year the results highlighted that while more and more companies have set targets for Scope 3 decarbonization, significant internal and external barriers remain for effective decarbonization.
Continuing the trend from 2024, the largest contributors to Scope 3 emissions in the Combient network are purchased goods and services, as well as the use of sold products. These also represent the categories where companies struggle most with reducing emissions. For companies utilizing materials, steel and aluminum remain the primary sources of emissions, with plastics also increasing in impact. Other materials that contribute to emissions are e.g. chemicals and textiles.
Scope 3 targets now common, next step: tie targets to organizational incentives
In 2025, 91% of the survey respondents had some form of Scope 3 reduction target, compared to 80% in 2024. For the majority of respondents, these targets are also validated by the Science-Based Targets Initiative. 25 out of 38 Combient companies now have validated SBTi targets, with 10 of these companies having both near term and net zero targets. All of the companies with Scope 3 targets also indicated that they have or are working on a roadmap for reducing their Scope 3 emissions.
Despite the year-on-year increase in companies with targets and roadmaps in place, around 40% of Combient companies report being behind on their Scope 3 targets. Notably, the survey highlights how critical top management commitment is to ensuring progress towards these goals: companies that are on track to reaching their Scope 3 targets are more likely to embed Scope 3 into top management targets, while those falling behind on Scope 3 are less likely to link the topic to top management targets. Across all organizational levels, in 2025 Scope 3 targets are increasingly being integrated into general performance metrics compared to 2024 results.
Competing priorities and systemic barriers are increasingly a challenge for Scope 3 work
The practices utilized by companies to reduce Scope 3 emissions did not change dramatically in 2025, with the most common ones being operational efficiency improvements, low carbon and circular product design, employee training, and prioritizing supplier selection based on emissions data. More customer-facing practices, including take-back programs and prioritizing offering choices based on emission intensiveness, were the only ones to rise in popularity. Overall, the number of practices chosen by respondents dropped by nearly 10% per respondent, perhaps highlighting a trend in consolidating resources for more targeted Scope 3 work.
These efforts are most commonly challenged by competing priorities and suppliers being unable to decarbonize. Supplier relationships seems to be a source of increased pain, as difficulties in supplier collaboration was also much more likely to be chosen as a key barrier in 2025 compared to 2024.
Interestingly, lack of data and lack of resources, which were some of the top barriers chosen in 2024, did not make the top five list in 2025. Similarly, while high and/or unclear costs remain significant barriers, their significance dropped overall. Many respondents also noted systemic barriers to Scope 3 work, such as regulation or the lack of availability of low-carbon fuels and energy in certain markets.
Based on the survey, the top focus areas for Scope 3 investment in the next five years for Combient companies are circular economy initiatives and product and service offering development. Investments into reporting are, however, increasing disproportionately compared to other focus areas, possibly at the expense of actions that can directly reduce emissions.
Hard numbers, deeper human collaboration, and an appetite for risk-taking missing from the Scope 3 equation
The 2025 edition of Combient Pure’s State of Value Chain Decarbonization survey shows an upward trend in the Combient network’s Scope 3 work. Climate ambition is rising as more companies are setting targets for Scope 3, creating roadmaps, and embedding these targets into incentives. However, there are still challenges in turning these commitments into action on the scale needed to match ambition levels.
Many of the practices companies are implementing represent incremental operational improvements to emissions intensity. What is needed in the next 4.5 years to 2030 is more transformative Scope 3 work, placing climate at the center of business priorities and business models. Less than 30% of Combient companies are implementing business model transformations for Scope 3 reductions, and less than 20% are implementing operational incentive programs that would align Scope 3 work with business goals. Like any change management program, decarbonizing value chains also benefits from small wins, but sooner or later, the focus should shift from incremental improvements towards transformative efforts.
What is needed next, is for Scope 3 work to become more than a sustainability team exercise. Scope 3 work must be led from the top as a strategic effort spanning all functions. An honest look at the cost of inaction, weighed against the quantified risks of climate change and opportunities decarbonization presents, can help make the case for decision-makers. Finally, while bottlenecks around data and practical tools remain, Scope 3 work will only be successful with more human collaboration: across organizations and between companies and industries. In a time when no company is succeeding in decarbonization to the scale that the climate crisis demands, there is no time to wait for someone else to figure out the best way forward – instead, let’s do it together.
