TL; DR
The regulatory category is defined by default at the Emission Factor (EF) level.
Overriding the Purchase Category (PC) is today's workaround to change it.
A direct override at the activity level is on the roadmap.
1. Key concepts
Emission Factor (EF): the ratio used to convert a quantity (or what we call an activity) into CO₂e. Each EF carries its own default regulatory entry, e.g., 81% Scope 1 + 19% Scope 3.3 for a fuel combustion EF.
Purchase Category (PC) : the category attached to every EF. It drives two things: (1) where emissions appear in visualizations (My Emissions, reports, quality checks, etc.); and (2) the regulatory entry split when a PC override is in place.
Regulatory entry (or regulatory category) (RE): the category an emission is assigned to (e.g., category 1.1, category 2.1, category 3.3, etc.). This is what determines the regulatory category breakdown in BEGES-R and GHG Protocol reports.
2. How does the allocation work today?
Step 1: The EF defines the default allocation
When an activity is created, the system reads the regulatoryEntry field directly from the emission factor.
If an EF covers multiple scopes (e.g., fuel combustion = upstream + combustion), the emissions are split proportionally across the corresponding regulatory entries.
You can find the regulatory entry of an EF in the emission factor manager, and the allocation is done per methodology (BEGES-R and GHG Protocol).
Step 2: A PC override replaces the split
If the default split from the EF is not appropriate for the client's context, the split can be changed by overriding the Purchase Category. The new PC carries a different regulatoryEntry, which replaces the one from the EF.
Common examples where an override is needed:
Scope 3 downstream emissions (e.g., energy EF that needs to be allocated to the use of sold products category).
Transportation that is used to commute vs. business travel.
3. How to override the split today
There are two ways to override a PC, depending on whether you're working before or after data import.
Option A - Only for advanced modules: In the export file, before import. On the rows where the override is needed, paste the ID of the target PC. The platform processes this column automatically on import.
Option B: Directly in the module, after import (Admeenly). Select the activities you want to reassign. Click "Edit PCs.” Find the target PC using the filters, click on it, and confirm with" Update xx activities to: [PC name].”
When looking for a PC, you’ll see two options:category tree to use in priorityand,ONLY FOR OVERRIDES.
Illustration
If you can find the regulatory entry you need in the category tree, use these ones as a priority.
But as the category tree doesn’t cover all regulatory entries (notably downstream Scope 3 categories, employee commuting, visitor transport, etc.), you can check the “only for overrides” options too if a category is missing in the tree.
4. What's on the roadmap?
The current system has a known limitation: the regulatory entry and the visualization category are both controlled through the same field (the PC override), which conflates two distinct concerns. This creates friction and sometimes forces unnecessary PC duplication.
Here is what is in progress or planned:
🔜 Direct regulatory entry override at the activity level
The goal is to allow overriding the regulatoryEntry directly on an activity, independently of the PC. Work has started at the domain level but is not yet exposed in PATCH /activity or any user-facing app.
🔜 Direct visualization category override at the activity level
Similarly, the plan is to let users override the category label shown in My Emissions and reports at the activity level without having to go through a PC override. This will allow custom labels without polluting the PC database.
5. FAQ
Q: If I override the PC, does it also change the visualization category? Yes, today, the PC controls both the regulatory entry split and the visualization label. When you override the PC, both change. The future roadmap decouples these two.Q: Will a PC override be kept if the module is re-imported or updated? Not reliably today. This is one of the known pain points. The roadmap explicitly includes making overrides persistent across updates.Q: What if the split I need doesn't exist in any PC?
Reach out to the R& M team via the methodology request form. If a new PC needs to be created, R& M will handle it.