A Triangulated Index Validating Multi-Tier Scope 3 Disclosures against Blockchain Audit Trails

• Abey Litty

  Texas University

  Author

Corporate Scope 3 emissions disclosures remain largely unverifiable, with companies self-reporting value-chain data that regulators and investors cannot independently confirm. This study develops and validates a Triangulated Scope 3 Index (TS3I) that cross-references corporate Scope 3 disclosures at three data-quality tiers against blockchain-anchored audit trails. The research employs a design-based methodology combining retrospective analysis of 428 firm-year observations (2020–2025) with prospective simulation of blockchain-verified emissions records. The TS3I integrates three validation dimensions: disclosure completeness (GHG Protocol Category coverage), blockchain audit trail consistency (on-chain versus reported emission factors), and tiered data quality scoring (primary supplier data versus industry averages versus spend-based estimates). Results demonstrate that the triangulated framework achieves 89.4% accuracy in identifying material discrepancies between reported and blockchain-verified Scope 3 emissions, outperforming single-source verification approaches by 23.7 percentage points. The index correctly classified 91.2% of high-confidence disclosures and 84.6% of low-confidence disclosures. These findings establish a replicable validation architecture for Scope 3 assurance and provide regulators with an operational tool for detecting disclosure inconsistencies across multi-tier supply chains.

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