Cat 9 Starter Kit: Downstream Transportation and Distribution

If you ship physical products to customers: build a minimum viable Cat 9 dataset and improve it over time

Scope 3, Made PracticalCoreStarter Kit30 min

What you'll accomplish

  • Decide if Cat 9 is relevant for your organization
  • Identify major outbound logistics flows (if applicable)
  • Build a minimum viable estimate using shipment or spend data
  • Document gaps and improvement path

Is Cat 9 relevant for you?

Cat 9 covers transportation of goods you sell to customers, paid for by you. For most real estate organizations, this is not material unless you:

  • •Operate retail or e-commerce with significant outbound shipments
  • •Have distribution centers with outbound logistics you control
  • •Sell physical products that require delivery to customers

Note: Most real estate portfolios can mark Cat 9 as "not applicable" after screening.

Quick start (30 minutes)

  • •Identify if you ship physical products to customers
  • •List major outbound logistics carriers/modes
  • •Estimate using spend-based factors or distance × weight
  • •Document as 'screened - not applicable' if not material

Common pitfalls

Confusing Cat 4 with Cat 9

Fix: Cat 4 = upstream (goods coming to you); Cat 9 = downstream (goods going to customers)

Including tenant shipments

Fix: Only include shipments you control and pay for

Spending time on immaterial categories

Fix: Screen first, document rationale, move on

Change log

v1.0 (2026-01): Latest release