There’s a quiet but growing crisis sitting inside the supply chains of some of the UK’s
largest companies. It’s not a shortage of ambition — most corporates have
sustainability commitments on record. The problem is what happens when they try to
back those commitments up with numbers.
Ask a Head of Procurement or Sustainability how confident they are in their Scope 3
emissions data, and the honest answer is usually: not very.
According to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Scope 3 emissions account for more
than 70% of most companies’ total carbon footprint — yet they remain the hardest to
measure. The reason is straightforward: the majority of a corporate’s supply chain is
made up of private companies that are hard to engage on sustainability issues.
So what fills the gap? Estimates. Sector averages. Educated guesses dressed up as
data.
That’s a problem that’s rapidly getting harder to ignore. The EU’s Corporate
Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is extending reporting obligations across
value chains. UK regulators are watching closely. And increasingly, your customers and
investors are too. When disclosure season arrives, “we used a modelled estimate” is no
longer a comfortable answer.
The traditional fix — supplier questionnaires and third-party audits — hasn’t scaled.
They’re slow, expensive, and they produce survey fatigue. A supplier answering their
twelfth ESG questionnaire of the year is unlikely to produce your most reliable data
point.
This is the Data Gap. And it’s where The Disruption House comes in.
TDH Disclosure Analysis takes a fundamentally different approach. Rather than waiting
for suppliers to self-report, TDH’s methodology uses scalable, automated public
disclosure analysis — scanning company websites, policy documents, sustainability
reports and certifications across 120 metrics aligned with international sustainability
frameworks. The result is structured, benchmarked, decision-ready intelligence on
companies between £2-100M, available via API or custom dashboard, without a single
questionnaire being sent.
Risk indicators are mapped against sector, industry and revenue group benchmarks —
so procurement and supply chain risk teams can immediately see where counterparty
opacity is highest, and where attention is most needed.
The shift this enables isn’t just operational. It’s strategic. When your supply chain data
moves from away from estimation, your regulatory reporting becomes defensible, your
risk conversations become grounded, and your sustainability commitments become
credible.
The Data Gap isn’t inevitable. It’s a solvable problem — if you stop waiting for suppliers
to fill it themselves.
Interested in understanding the resilience and risk profile of your supply chain without
the questionnaire burden? Get in touch with The Disruption House.
