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Emissions within the context of Greenhouse Gas Protocol covers the release of any of the following gasses as a result of company activities: CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, and SF6. The release of these gases can be attributed to Scope 1, 2, or 3 emissions. Here are the main distinctions to be made here:

Scope 1: These are emissions that are produced as a direct result of company actions. Scope 1 emissions generally include items like company factories or an on site combustion. For most companies, Scope 1 emissions represent the smallest proportion of the three sources.

Scope 2: Scope 2 specifically covers purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling. If a company operates  in a hotter portion of the world, it would be expected that their emissions attributed to purchased electricity  would increase as a result of increased usage of Air Conditioning. Scope 2 emissions are considered indirect, as they are directly produced by another entity as a result of the service a company has paid for.

Scope 3: Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions outside of scope 2. This includes both upstream emissions and downstream emissions:

• Upstream Emissions: These are emissions that are produced in the creation input resources to companies. This includes material inputs to products, employee travel, and transportation of any resources before use. 
• Downstream Emissions: Downstream emissions are those that occur following the completion of company products or services. Lets take the example of a car produced by Toyota. Toyota's downstream 3 emissions would include the gasoline/electricity consumed through the entire lifetime usage of the car and any emissions resulting from the disposal (end of life) of the car. Under this system, you could say the fuel used by the consumer is their individual scope 2 emissions. This leads to the fact that all scope 3 emissions are someone else's scope 1 or 2.

How does this relate to Greenhouse Gas Inventories?

Greenhouse Gas Inventories represent compiled company data that has been converted to scopes 1, 2, and 3 estimates. This acts as a basis for regulation adherence, disclosure preparation, corporate social responsibility, and tangible climate action.

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