Scope 3 and data: finance firms confront a new era of carbon accountability

Finance providers are under growing pressure to address Scope 3 emissions across their portfolios. With limited visibility and data quality challenges, reporting has often remained out of reach. A new collaboration between financial services advisory firm Finativ and STH Consulting, a specialist provider of asset emissions data for finance companies, offers a data-led pathway to transparency and compliance.

Finance companies face growing pressure from regulators, shareholders and capital providers to report and manage Scope 3 emission levels, while sustainability issues continue to grow in importance for customers – a recent survey by Novuna showed that 88% of SMEs place greater importance on sustainability matters than a year ago, including cleaner forms of transport and energy production.

The challenge for finance providers has been that, until now, comprehensive emissions data has not been available across the whole of the company’s diverse lending portfolio, and Scope 3 reporting (incorporating the emissions involved in production, in-life and end-of-life) has not been possible.

We at Finativ and STH Consulting have been working together to develop a flexible solution for finance companies seeking to measure, analyse and manage the level of emissions generated by the vehicles and equipment they finance. Leveraging extensive research and development, we can now provide lenders with a full solution, reporting at an asset and portfolio level, to satisfy regulatory reporting, Net Zero strategy development and the needs of individual customers.

This latest initiative builds further on Finativ’s growing sustainability financing proposition, which features renewable energy asset finance strategy, implementation and support services, guiding firms through the ISO 32210 sustainable finance management framework, access to specialist insurance services and now, emissions reporting and reduction strategies.

The European leasing industry is facing a period of transformation in the way it approaches sustainability reporting. Yet for many finance providers, the rules are far from clear. Different interpretations, shifting timelines, and evolving regulatory expectations have created uncertainty — particularly around what exactly needs to be reported, and when.

Against this backdrop, the upcoming CO₂ emissions reporting recommendations from Leaseurope — the European federation representing over 90% of the leasing and automotive rental market — offer a much-needed sense of orientation. While not a formal regulatory mandate, the guidance provides a structured approach to Scope 3 emissions reporting that helps lessors prepare for what is undoubtedly becoming the standard expectation.

The guidance outlines that leasing companies will be expected to report CO₂ emissions associated not only with the operation of leased assets but also with their production, transportation, and end-of-life treatment. In line with the GHG Protocol and draft guidance from EFRAG, the recommendations encourage lessors to report emissions across several Scope 3 categories, including:

• Scope 3.2 – Capital Goods: Emissions from the production of leased assets (“cradle to gate”)

• Scope 3.13 – Downstream Leased Assets: Emissions during the lease period

• Scope 3.11 – Use of Sold Products: Emissions following the end of lease contracts

• Scope 3.12 – End-of-Life Treatment: Emissions from the disposal or recycling of assets

This comprehensive view of emissions is challenging — but it is also essential. It pushes the industry towards a more accurate and lifecycle-based assessment of climate impact, where reporting stops being a tick-box exercise and becomes a driver of responsible asset management.

As a strategic partnership, we recognised early which direction ESG regulation was heading. Years before formal guidance began to emerge, we were already building methodologies to calculate and assign CO₂ values to leased assets. Our work began with operational emissions, leveraging technical specifications and performance metrics. From there, we progressed to developing production-related emissions models based on material composition and manufacturing processes.

Now, our focus is expanding again. In cooperation with VSB – Technical University of Ostrava, in Ostrava, Czech Republic, we have launched new research aimed at developing robust methodologies for calculating transportation-related emissions and end-of-life CO₂ impact. These areas, while often overlooked, are becoming central to Scope 3 transparency and ESG compliance. With this research, we aim to provide leasing companies with tools that cover the full lifecycle — from cradle to grave.

But delivering CO₂ values alone is not enough. To report accurately, finance companies must be able to map those values to their actual portfolio of assets. That means identifying specific asset types, configurations, and usage scenarios across portfolios that often contain hundreds of thousands of records, many of them fragmented, inconsistent, or incomplete.

STH Consulting has developed an advanced data-cleansing and standardisation engine capable of processing vast portfolios in minutes. Our system identifies, categorises, and enriches asset data across multiple industries, product types, and languages, transforming raw and inconsistent records into structured, recognisable entries. Once this process is complete, CO₂ values can be applied with precision, giving our clients not only compliance, but clarity.

While regulatory compliance may be the immediate driver, the long-term value of this approach lies in its broader application. With artificial intelligence now at the forefront of digital transformation in financial services, the question for most leasing companies is no longer if they should adopt AI, but how they can prepare their systems and data for it.

This is precisely where data quality comes into play. Without consistent, structured, and standardised data, AI systems cannot deliver meaningful results. Whether for strategic product development, portfolio risk modelling, lifecycle forecasting, pricing strategy, or remarketing optimisation, clean data is the bedrock of effective AI.

Unfortunately, many companies underestimate this challenge. According to studies from firms such as EY, KPMG, and Deloitte, poor data quality is one of the biggest barriers to successful AI implementation across industries. And in leasing and asset finance — where internal data is complex, domain-specific, and highly variable — this challenge is even more pronounced.

To address this, we created the AssetGym, a dedicated environment where asset finance companies can standardise and enrich their data. Beyond cleansing, it maps records to structured taxonomies and adds technical context, enabling accurate ESG reporting and AI readiness.

Clean data unlocks automation, analytics, and predictive modelling. From compliance to customer insights, these benefits depend on a reliable data foundation.

Leaseurope’s upcoming recommendation is a signal to the market. It provides orientation amid uncertainty and sends a clear message that full-lifecycle CO₂ transparency is becoming the new norm. For some, this will present a challenge. For others, it is a strategic opportunity.

Phil Gerrard is a Consulting Director of Finativ, and Petr Thiel is the CEO of STH Consulting

“Scope 3 and data: finance firms confront a new era of carbon accountability” was originally created and published by Leasing Life, a GlobalData owned brand.

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