As a retailer with business activities, including procurement, distribution, manufacturing, and retail operations in over six U.S. states, Meijer has a vast and complex value chain. In order to expand its sustainability programs and goals outside of its direct operations and into its value chain, Meijer must first complete a scope 3 inventory to identify the most pertinent areas of impact.

To that end, this project aims to support the Meijer team in conducting a scope 3 emissions inventory. The research goals were to:

1. Perform market research for comprehensive benchmarking analysis to understand methodologies employed by peer companies,

2. Identify and classify relevant Scope 3 categories for Meijer,

3. Work with the Meijer team to gather data needed to carry out this analysis,

4. Create a peer-reviewed Scope 3 inventory calculation framework, including emission factors and analysis methods,

5. Apply this calculation framework to the data gathered from Meijer to establish their Scope 3 emissions inventory.

6. Document limitations with data and analysis methods and provide recommendations for future Scope 3 inventories.

Within the Scope of this project, we have also discussed the impacts of each of these 15 Scope 3 categories, various shortcomings concerning methodologies deployed, data management, and future scope for improvement. These discussions are meant to inform future initiatives within Meijer to assist in refining their emissions inventory and encouraging Scope 3 inventory to help guide business decisions across the value chain.