Is your supply chain ready for the cost of carbon?

There is a silent challenge that many industrial leaders are still underestimating: the direct financial impact of Scope 3 emissions on global competitiveness.

As you prepare for the event, ask yourself: how much will your operating costs rise as CBAM and ETS2 reach full implementation?

The ‘Grand Strategy’ of Decarbonisation and Supply Chain Resilience: the value of Scope 3 that you still cannot see

Picture a European manufacturer following a familiar playbook: raw materials or semi-finished goods are imported from another continent, processed in a European factory, and then shipped to customers by truck.

Maritime transport and manufacturing fall under the ETS 1. From 2028 onward, downstream logistics will also bear the cost of ETS2. On top of this, the imported product is subject to CBAM, pushing costs up by 30–40% within just a few years—while the exporting country is already rolling out its own carbon pricing schemes to drive the energy transition.

Under the mounting weight of European and global carbon mechanisms, how long can this supply chain model hold—and how will it be forced to change?

Scope 3: from reporting burden to strategic radar

In the race toward the ecological transition, Scope 3 – emissions across the value chain – is often treated as a complex, optional reporting exercise. That’s a mistake.
Scope 3 is where the real signals are. It is the lens that reveals how global climate policies will ripple through supply chains and hit business costs – often before those shocks show up in financial statements. Together with Scope 1 and Scope 2, it is the essential tool for anticipating where carbon pricing will bite next.

A multi-year journey: from big picture to sharp focus

Managing Scope 3 is not a box to tick. It is a multi-year strategic journey that gains power over time:

• Hotspot analysis – Start fast, with simplified models that spotlight critical categories and high-impact suppliers.
• Engagement – Turn insight into action by bringing suppliers into the decarbonisation effort.
• Refinement – Replace industry averages with high-quality primary data, expand coverage to secondary categories, and build models that become progressively more granular, robust, and decision-ready.

A radar for EU regulation – and the next global wave

The real value of Scope 3 lies in anticipation:

• CBAM is already reshaping the economics of carbon-intensive imports.
• ETS 2 (Expected from 2028) will go further, raising logistics and production costs by pricing suppliers’ Scope 1 emissions—which sit squarely within your Scope 3.
• New carbon schemes are coming fast. Europe led the way, but it won’t stand alone. Carbon markets and emissions taxes are emerging across key jurisdictions, from China and Turkey to multiple U.S. states. Scope 3 analysis lets companies trace the origin of purchased goods and model how these new carbon prices will reshape costs across logistics and production.

Intelligence for competitiveness

Managing Scope 3 means building intelligence, not just compliance. It means understanding how the geography of value creation may shift under rising CO₂ prices and where cost and risk will concentrate next.

Companies that identify Scope 3 hotspots today and sharpen their data year after year are building a defensive – and offensive – advantage. In tomorrow’s global market, the carbon price will matter as much as labor or raw materials.

At its most mature stage, this work culminates in a full Scope 3 assessment that becomes a compass for real decarbonisation strategy. It delivers auditable metrics, feeds directly into sustainability reporting (including CSRD), and equips companies to communicate credible, resilient value to the market – grounded in data, not assumptions.

Stress-test your Supply Chain

Sustainability theory stops where costs begin. In a carbon-constrained world, your company’s resilience depends on the quality of your Scope 3 data.

What we can do together:

1. Direct Consultation: discuss your specific import and logistics models with our experts.
2. Rapid Stress-Test: discover how new carbon pricing mechanisms will impact your margins.
3. CSRD & Strategy: learn how to transform compliance into an asset to communicate credible, resilient value to the market.

The cost of carbon is moving upstream. If your supply chain isn’t carbon-ready, your margins are already exposed.

Ensure it doesn’t become your weakest link.