Enterprise Supplier Carbon Disclosure: Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Target, and Walmart Programs Compared

April 14, 2026· 26 min read

Your business supplies Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Target or Walmart, or a company with a similar program. An email has arrived asking for carbon emissions data you have never calculated, through a portal or template you have not used before, with a short deadline. Each of these five companies has published a dated climate goal that depends on its suppliers' emissions: Target, for example, reports that Scope 3 makes up 98.5% of its footprint. Supplier data is how they measure and reduce that share. This guide sets out what each program asks for, taken from each company's own published documents, and how to build one data package that serves all five without starting again for each customer.

Some of the pressure is now legal. California SB-253 applies to entities with more than $1bn revenue doing business in California: first Scope 1 and 2 reports are due 10 November 2026 (CARB bulletin of 24 June 2026), and Scope 3 starts in 2027. The statute allows secondary data, such as spend-based industry averages, for Scope 3 (see our SB-253 explainer). In the EU, Directive (EU) 2026/470 narrowed the CSRD to companies with more than 1,000 employees and more than EUR 450m turnover, from FY 2027. Large companies may still ask suppliers for data, and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/1560 caps what in-scope companies can require from smaller value-chain partners at the VSME standard. The SEC's climate rule is stayed, the SEC proposed rescinding it on 29 May 2026, and the SEC does not require anyone to report Scope 3. Most of the requests covered here come from the customers' own climate targets and supplier codes of conduct, and Apple and Microsoft write their emissions requirements into those codes.

One note up front: supplier programs change every reporting cycle. This guide reflects each company's published documents as of October 2026, linked in each section. Portals, thresholds and deadlines are often set in your contract or by your buyer, so confirm the specifics with your customer contact before you submit.

The enterprise supplier program landscape

Supplier carbon requests usually arrive in one of five forms, and many suppliers receive three or four at once.

CDP supply chain requests: customers ask suppliers to answer CDP's standardized questionnaire. In 2025, more than 200 requesting organizations asked more than 45,000 suppliers to disclose through CDP. One CDP response can serve several customers, and Amazon lists public disclosure through CDP as one way for suppliers to share progress.
Customer-specific requirements: some customers define their own data. Apple asks for emissions allocated to Apple products by its own methods, and Microsoft asks for the emissions of the goods and services you deliver to Microsoft. These are more specific than CDP and less reusable across customers.
EcoVadis: a paid sustainability rating that assesses environment, labor and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement, with a separate carbon scorecard (EcoVadis for suppliers). Amazon lists EcoVadis next to CDP as a channel for public disclosure.
Supplier code of conduct requirements: Amazon's Supply Chain Standards, Apple's Supplier Code of Conduct and Microsoft's Supplier Code of Conduct all include emissions provisions, alongside labor, ethics and environmental rules. Accepting a code is a commitment to your customer.
Ad-hoc procurement requests: Excel templates from category-management teams with their own questions. Quality varies, and the risk of a methodology mismatch is highest because there is no shared standard behind the questions.

The efficient approach is to build one GHG Protocol Scope 1, 2 and 3 data package each year, then format the same underlying data for each request. Most of the measurement work is shared across programs; the packaging, the customer-specific allocation and some questions differ. This guide covers each program in turn, then closes with a playbook that uses one data build for all five.

Amazon: The Climate Pledge and supplier engagement

Amazon's supplier asks sit under The Climate Pledge, its commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions across its operations by 2040, and under its Supply Chain Standards. Amazon's 2024 Sustainability Report says more than 550 companies have signed The Climate Pledge.

Scope and who gets asked

Amazon's Supply Chain Standards (published 30 December 2022) apply to all suppliers of goods and services, including vendors, service providers, selling partners, contractors and subcontractors. On emissions, they say suppliers should track, document and, upon request, report greenhouse gas emissions to Amazon, and they encourage suppliers to set a reduction goal and report publicly on progress.

The deeper engagement targets the largest emitters. Amazon's 2024 report says it has identified its high-emitting suppliers, who account for 50% of its Scope 3 emissions, in industries including transportation, building construction, IT hardware and devices, and products and packaging. It also reports that 90% of its highest-emitting suppliers have decarbonization plans in place.

What Amazon asks for

The 2024 report sets out three steps for suppliers:

Set a target: join The Climate Pledge or make a public, science-aligned commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040 or earlier, or make an Amazon-specific commitment to net zero by 2040 or to use carbon-free energy.
Share progress: disclose your corporate carbon footprint publicly through CDP, EcoVadis or a corporate sustainability report, and share emissions data with Amazon directly.
Reduce emissions: adopt carbon-free energy, join Climate Pledge joint action projects, pilot lower-carbon technologies with Amazon, and use the free Sustainability Exchange, which Amazon launched in July 2024, for tools and playbooks.

Amazon reports that 100% of the electricity it consumed in 2023 and 2024 was matched with renewable energy sources, and that it ran pilots in 2024 to make it easier for suppliers to buy renewable energy certificates.

Submission channels

A public CDP response, an EcoVadis rating or a published sustainability report covers the public-disclosure step. Data you share with Amazon directly goes through the channel your Amazon business contact specifies, so ask them which applies to your relationship.

What happens if you do not respond

Amazon's published materials describe engagement: its business units work with high-emitting suppliers on target setting, progress reporting and emission reductions. The Supply Chain Standards ask for emissions data on request, so a request from your Amazon contact sits within them. Separately, Climate Pledge Friendly is a badge for products certified as having one or more sustainability features. It is a product program, separate from supplier emissions requests.

Apple: Supplier Clean Energy and the 2030 commitment

Apple has been carbon neutral for its global corporate operations since 2020 and aims to be carbon neutral across its entire supply chain and the life cycle of every product by 2030, by cutting emissions 75% and addressing the remaining 25% with nature-based carbon removal. In October 2022 it called on its supply chain to decarbonize Apple-related production by 2030, including running on 100% renewable electricity for Apple production, and said it would track and audit annual progress. At that point more than 200 suppliers, representing more than 70% of Apple's direct manufacturing spend, had committed to clean power for all Apple production.

Scope

Apple's Supplier Code of Conduct and Supplier Responsibility Standards (Version 5, effective 11 November 2025) apply to every third party that works with or contracts with Apple, including subcontractors and sub-tier suppliers that directly or indirectly provide goods or services to Apple. Apple manufacturing suppliers carry additional requirements.

Specific requirements

A company-wide GHG inventory: section 3.6 of the code requires an electronic, company-wide inventory that identifies facility-level emissions from every facility involved with Apple products, available to Apple on request. The standards require it to follow the GHG Protocol or an equivalent standard and to include Scope 1 and Scope 2.
An Apple-specific footprint: you allocate your emissions to Apple products using one of Apple's approved Emissions Allocation Methods. The result is your Covered Carbon Footprint: the Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions of the facilities, production and lines of business involved with Apple products.
Annual reporting: you report emissions, targets, reductions and progress on the Covered Carbon Footprint to Apple annually and on request, with evidence of your reduction measures.
Targets: each year you review your inventory and Covered Carbon Footprint and set reduction targets (absolute, intensity-based or both).
For manufacturing suppliers: a carbon neutrality target for the Covered Carbon Footprint, with a date before the end of Apple's fiscal year 2029, and a plan to meet it that you develop, manage and report on. You also procure renewable electricity equal to 100% of the power used in manufacturing related to Apple products, under Apple's Specification for Clean Energy. Carbon credits cannot offset electricity-related Scope 2 emissions, and residual Scope 1 emissions follow Apple's separate carbon credit specification.

Submission channel

The code sets what you report to Apple; ask your Apple procurement contact which template or system to use. Apple's Clean Energy Program offers suppliers free e-learning resources and live training to help them meet their commitments.

What happens if you fall short

Apple requires every supplier to operate under the code when doing business with Apple, and it said in 2022 that it will partner with suppliers that are working with urgency and making measurable progress toward decarbonization. If Apple revenue matters to your business, treat the renewable electricity and reporting requirements as contract terms.

Microsoft: Supplier Code of Conduct and carbon negative by 2030

In 2020 Microsoft committed to be carbon negative by 2030 and, by 2050, to remove all the carbon it has emitted directly or through electricity use since its founding in 1975. Its procurement site says it is aligning its indirect supplier practices with that goal and with a 55% cut in its Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

What section 6.11 asks for

Section 6.11 of the Microsoft Supplier Code of Conduct (July 2026) applies "upon request". When Microsoft asks, suppliers must:

disclose complete, consistent and accurate Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions data, or the components needed to calculate it, plus the ESG data Microsoft reasonably needs for its own reporting; Microsoft may also require independent third-party assurance over that data;
provide and achieve plans to cut the absolute emissions of the goods and services they deliver to Microsoft by at least 55% by 2030, or meet an alternative target against the baseline set in their contract or other written communication from Microsoft;
move to 100% carbon-free electricity for their Microsoft-delivered goods and services by 2030, and target Sustainable Aviation Fuel where possible for Microsoft business travel.

The code says the details (data, method, assurance, timelines and targets) are set in each supplier's contract or in written communication from Microsoft. Microsoft's procurement program asks in-scope suppliers for third-party assurance or a letter from an external consultant.

Carbon-free electricity rules

Microsoft's supplier carbon-free electricity guidance sets out which electricity counts:

one MWh of carbon-free generation for each MWh of Microsoft-related electricity use;
generation in the same market as the consumption, which generally means the same country;
generation within a 21-month vintage window around the reporting year;
no spot purchases of unbundled certificates from existing generators.

Where you produce for Microsoft alongside other customers, the guidance says to apportion facility electricity using activity data, such as production volumes, rather than spend.

Target: Target Forward and supplier climate engagement

Target's sustainability strategy is Target Forward. On its climate page, Target reports that Scope 3 makes up 98.5% of its footprint and that it has cut the Scope 3 emissions covered by its goal by nearly 11% since 2017. It has extended its interim Scope 3 reduction goal from 2030 to 2035 and now expects to reach net zero beyond 2040 and no later than 2050.

What Target asks of suppliers

Target runs supplier climate engagement programs that segment suppliers by emissions impact and help them calculate their footprint, set science-aligned actions, scale solutions and track progress. It also offers factory-level energy efficiency training and support with renewable energy procurement. Target discloses its own climate data to CDP every year.

SMB response strategy

Ask your Target contact which engagement segment you are in and which format they want. The core data package below covers the footprint, actions and progress tracking these programs work on. Product categories can also carry their own sustainability requirements, separate from the emissions request, so check yours with your buyer.

Walmart: Project Gigaton

In 2017 Walmart set out to work with suppliers to reduce, avoid or sequester 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in product value chains by 2030. In February 2024 it announced that suppliers had reported passing that goal more than six years early, with more than 5,900 suppliers signed up since 2017. Walmart said it would keep improving and expanding Project Gigaton while working toward zero emissions in its own operations (Scopes 1 and 2) by 2040.

Who takes part

Walmart designed Project Gigaton to accommodate suppliers from small single-category businesses to multi-category ones. It says reporting suppliers represented about 75% of US product net sales dollars in FY23. In 2021 Walmart also expanded a supplier financing program, developed with HSBC, to offer better financing terms to private-brand suppliers that set 1.5°C-aligned science-based targets reported to CDP.

Six pillars of Project Gigaton

Walmart focuses Project Gigaton on six areas (Walmart, 2022):

Energy use, for example energy efficiency projects
Nature
Waste, for example food waste reduction
Packaging, for example packaging redesign
Transportation, for example trucking optimization
Product design

How Project Gigaton counts progress

Project Gigaton counts the emissions that supplier projects reduce, avoid or sequester. For each area, Walmart provides calculators that translate changes in business practice into an emissions impact, based on guidance from CDP and NGOs such as WWF and the Environmental Defense Fund. Two consequences follow. A supplier with large emissions and real projects can show strong results. And a Gigaton figure is an estimate of project impact, so keep it separate from your Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory, which measures your actual footprint.

Submission

Walmart's supplier information on Project Gigaton sits on the Walmart Sustainability Hub. Ask your Walmart contact for the current reporting window.

Recognition

Walmart recognizes leading suppliers with "Giga Guru" status, which it describes as excellence in target setting, action and results, and it says it keeps raising the bar for that status. Recognition you can cite is useful in B2B sales.

The build-once-submit-many playbook

The five programs above become one workflow when you build the underlying data once a year and format it for each request.

Core data package (build once per year)

A GHG Protocol Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory for the reporting year: company-wide, with Scope 2 reported both location-based and market-based if you operate in markets with contractual instruments such as certificates or supplier-specific tariffs, as the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance (2015) requires. The first year takes the most work; refreshes are faster once your spend classification is set up.
Facility-level data: Apple asks for facility-level emissions for every site involved with its products, and Microsoft asks you to apportion electricity by activity data. Keep meter readings, fuel records and production volumes by site.
Methodology appendix: emission factor source and vintage per category, boundaries, data choices per Scope 3 category, and exclusions with reasons. Reviewers check this, and several requests ask for it.
Targets and year-over-year progress: Apple requires targets, Microsoft requires a reduction plan against a contract baseline, Amazon asks for a net-zero or carbon-free energy commitment, and Project Gigaton is built on supplier targets and projects. If a science-based target is not feasible yet, document an internal target with a base year.
Supplier code documents: environmental, labor and ethics policies ready to attach or attest against each customer's code.
Renewable and carbon-free electricity evidence: certificates, PPA contracts and on-site generation records. Apple (Specification for Clean Energy) and Microsoft (carbon-free electricity guidance) each set their own rules on which instruments count.
Assurance: if a customer such as Microsoft asks for third-party assurance or a consultant's letter, plan for it early.

Per-request formatting

CDP: the standardized questionnaire. One response can be shared with every customer that requests through CDP, and Amazon accepts it as public disclosure.
Amazon: a target or commitment, public disclosure through CDP, EcoVadis or a sustainability report, and data shared directly when asked.
Apple: the Covered Carbon Footprint under Apple's allocation methods, with targets, progress and evidence of reductions, plus renewable electricity substantiation for manufacturing suppliers.
Microsoft: Scope 1, 2 and 3 data on request, a reduction plan for the goods and services you deliver to Microsoft, carbon-free electricity evidence, and assurance if your contract requires it.
Target: the footprint, actions and progress its supplier climate engagement program asks of your segment.
Walmart Project Gigaton: targets and project results in the six areas, calculated with Walmart's calculators.

Split the work between whoever owns sustainability, the controller (who holds the spend and energy records) and procurement.

Five submission mistakes to avoid

Reusing one baseline everywhere. Microsoft's 55% reduction runs against the baseline in your contract or Microsoft's written communication. Apple tracks your Covered Carbon Footprint against the targets you set. Project Gigaton counts project impact. Keep one base year for your own inventory, and record each customer's reference point separately.
Attesting to a supplier code of conduct without reading it. Microsoft's section 6.11 and Apple's section 3.6 both contain specific emissions obligations, alongside labor, ethics and environmental rules. An attestation is a representation to your customer, so check that you can meet each obligation before you sign.
Overcommitting on renewable electricity timelines. A public "100% renewable by 2028" becomes a target your customers measure you against. Apple and Microsoft already ask for renewable or carbon-free electricity for their share of production by 2030, with strict rules on which instruments count. Commit to timelines backed by signed PPAs, certificate budgets or installation plans.
Reporting corporate-level emissions when the customer asks for customer-attributed emissions. Apple's Covered Carbon Footprint and Microsoft's "Microsoft delivered goods and services" both ask for the emissions tied to what you supply them. Sending your company total overstates the figure.
Reporting emissions without reduction projects. Project Gigaton is built on projects, Apple asks for evidence of reduction measures, and Amazon's third step is reducing emissions. A submission that lists current emissions with no named, quantified actions gives the customer nothing to count. Projects can be small: a documented lighting retrofit with an estimated annual saving is a start.

Illustrative example (fictional company), for mistake 4: a packaging maker reports 50,000 tCO2e of Scope 1 and 2 across the company, and 3% of its production volume goes to one customer. A simple pro-rata allocation puts about 1,500 tCO2e on that customer. Apple requires one of its approved allocation methods, and Microsoft's electricity guidance says to apportion by activity data rather than spend, so check each customer's method before you divide.

Building your core data package

Every program above starts from the same company-wide GHG Protocol calculation. Carbon Draft builds a spend-based screening version of it from one accounting or bank export: CSV or Excel from QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage, SAP or Tally, or a DATEV, SIE or XAF file. Optional fields add annual kWh, renewable kWh, a supplier electricity factor, fuel volumes, gas and refrigerant. Every emission factor is cited to its source document and table, and the methodology follows the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, Scope 2 Guidance and Scope 3 Standard. It covers companies in Australia, Belgium, Germany, India, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and the US.

Basic, $20: Scope 1 and 2.
Complete, $49: adds Scope 3, up to 8 of the 15 categories: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 where your ledger has spend in them, 3 derived from electricity, and 12 when you enter end-of-life tonnages.
Disclosure-Aligned Report, $299: the same Scope 3 coverage as Complete, plus the full priced ledger (every transaction with its factor), per-row confidence, an Excel calculation workbook you can copy figures from into CDP or a customer template, and a framework section for the GHG Protocol, CDP, CSRD (ESRS E1) and California SB-253 that sets out what each requires, what the report contains, and the gap.

Each report is a screening-grade inventory, marked "SCREENING / INVENTORY / NOT ASSURED" on its cover: a starting point a reviewer or assurance provider can work from. Spend-based screening carries roughly +/-25-40% uncertainty at the category level (our engineering estimate), so move your largest categories to activity data over time. Customer-specific pieces, such as Apple's facility-level Covered Carbon Footprint, Microsoft's carbon-free electricity evidence and Walmart's Gigaton project calculations, come from your own site records. Full tier details are on the pricing page.

Upload your accounting export at aisustainablefuture.com/carbon-draft and get a cited, screening-grade carbon report in minutes. Scope 1 and 2 from $20, Scope 3 from $49.

If you are new to this and want context on why your customers are asking, read our guide to the real supplier disclosure pressure in 2026.

If you are a CPA firm building this as a client service, the workflow is in our CPA's Guide to GHG Protocol Scope 1, 2 & 3, and firm pricing for Disclosure-Aligned Reports is on our accountant partner page.