Leased Assets Decision Guide (Cat 8 vs Cat 13)

A beginner-safe decision tree for real estate: are you the lessee or lessor, and where do emissions go?

Scope 3, Made PracticalCoreGuide20 min

What you'll accomplish

  • Understand leased assets in plain English
  • Decide whether leased assets emissions fall under Cat 8 (upstream) or Cat 13 (downstream)
  • Avoid double counting with Scope 1/2
  • Build a roster of leased assets and assign the correct pathway
  • Have templates for a decision tree worksheet and a method note

Plain-English definitions

Cat 8You are the tenant

Upstream leased assets

Emissions from assets you lease from someone else (you are the lessee/tenant)

Cat 13You are the landlord

Downstream leased assets

Emissions from assets you own and lease to others (you are the lessor/landlord)

Beginner rule: First identify your role (lessee vs lessor). Everything else follows.

The reality in real estate

A single organization can be both:

  • •A tenant in some locations (Cat 8 may apply)
  • •A landlord for other properties (Cat 13 may apply)

Key principle: Utility responsibility and operational control determine whether something is in Scope 1/2 vs leased assets.

Templates

Template 1 — Leased Assets Decision Worksheet

Asset:
Address:
Role: [Lessee / Lessor]

Utilities:
- Who pays electricity? (us/tenant/landlord)
- Who controls the account?
- Metering type (master/sub/tenant)

Boundary logic:
- Do we have operational control over energy use? (Y/N)
- Is energy already counted in Scope 2? (Y/N)
- If not in Scope 2, leased assets category applies:
  - If we lease from others → Cat 8
  - If we lease to others → Cat 13

Data pathway selected:
- Measured (bills/exports)
- Allocated (document rule)
- Proxy (temporary)
Notes:

Template 2 — Leased Assets Method Note (copy/paste)

Leased Assets Method Note (Internal)

We classify leased assets emissions based on our role:
- Cat 8 for assets we lease as a tenant (lessee)
- Cat 13 for assets we lease to tenants (lessor)

We avoid double counting by ensuring electricity included in Scope 2 is not also counted as leased assets.
Where utility data is tenant-controlled, we prioritize data access improvements via lease clauses and standardized collection workflows.

Common pitfalls

  • ✗Double counting tenant energy and allocations
  • ✗Treating leased assets as "one dataset" without separating lessee vs lessor
  • ✗No utility responsibility map (you can't build defensible methods)
  • ✗Proxy forever (no plan to improve)

Change log

v1.0 (2026-01): Latest release