Category 1 Starter Kit: Purchased Goods and Services

Turn vendor spend into a usable Scope 3 dataset and upgrade it over time

Scope 3, Made PracticalCoreStarter Kit1 hour

What you'll accomplish

  • Build a Category 1 vendor inventory tied to AP spend
  • Categorize vendors consistently (so screening isn't chaos)
  • Produce a minimum viable Cat 1 estimate (directional)
  • Identify 5–10 suppliers for data improvement
  • Set up a data quality ladder and evidence rules

Who this is for

Procurement + Finance teams

Managing vendor data

Sustainability teams

Running Scope 3

Ops teams

Supporting vendor categorization and scope clarity

Quick start (60 minutes)

  • Pull top 50 vendors by spend
  • Tag them into a simple taxonomy (Template 1)
  • Produce: top vendor list + top subcategories
  • Pick 5 suppliers to engage (Supplier Engagement Starter Pack)

What Category 1 is (plain English)

Cat 1 covers emissions associated with goods and services you purchase (excluding capital goods).

In real estate this often includes:

  • •Janitorial, HVAC service, landscaping, security
  • •Repairs and maintenance services
  • •Professional services (varies by materiality)
  • •Consumables and supplies (if meaningful)

Step-by-step

1

Build the vendor inventory

Use AP spend, then add: vendor category (what they do), sites served, whether they are service-heavy vs material-heavy.

2

Choose your minimum viable method

Start with: spend-based screening to find hotspots. Then improve with: activity data for priority suppliers (service frequency, materials, fuel usage, etc.).

3

Improve data quality for priority suppliers

Use the Supplier Engagement ladder: Level A activity data, then supplier-specific methods if needed.

Templates included

Template 1 — Vendor Taxonomy (starter)

Use 6–10 buckets max:
- HVAC service and maintenance
- Janitorial
- Landscaping / exterior
- Security
- Waste / recycling (often Cat 5, but keep separate)
- Repairs / general contractors (Cat 2 if capex-like)
- Professional services (optional)

Template 2 — Cat 1 Vendor Table (copy/paste)

| Vendor | Spend (12 mo) | Category bucket | Sites served | Notes | Data quality | Next action |
|---|---:|---|---|---|---|---|

Template 3 — Priority Supplier Shortlist (copy/paste)

Priority suppliers (Cat 1)

Pick 5–10 suppliers based on:
- spend
- footprint across sites
- feasibility of getting activity data

For each supplier:
- Owner
- Data request level (A/B/C)
- First request date
- Expected response date

Common pitfalls

  • ✗Too many categories → inconsistent tagging
  • ✗Treating all vendors equally (focus on top suppliers)
  • ✗Confusing capex-like projects (should be Cat 2)
  • ✗Not maintaining the taxonomy over time

How to prove impact

Cat 1 coverage

% of spend categorized

Supplier response rate

For top suppliers

Proxy share shrinking

Over time

Evidence and Confidence

Confidence:Medium-High(methods vary; screening is directional)

Assumptions: AP spend export exists.

Where this can fail: Vendor categorization is messy or ownership is unclear.

Change log

v1.0 (2026-01): Latest release