The Transparency‐Capability Dilemma: Configuring Stakeholder‐Engagement to Overcome Scope‐3 Inertia in Net‐Zero Supply Chains

Scope‐3 decarbonisation is central to a credible net‐zero strategy. However, firms face a difficult transparency‐capability dilemma. They are under immense pressure to disclose supply chain emissions, while the collaborative capabilities needed to act are slow‐building, relational, and unevenly distributed across supplier systems. This paper explains how firms can configure stakeholder engagement so that Scope‐3 transparency supports collaborative decarbonisation rather than becoming a source of unmanaged exposure. Drawing on a structured conceptual review and interpretive synthesis, we develop a stakeholder engagement architecture comprising carbon‐intelligence sourcing, collaborative carbon co‐design, and carbon‐governance commons. It theorises these as interdependent engagement configurations, explaining how supplier emission information becomes decision‐useful carbon intelligence, how such intelligence supports collaborative implementation with suppliers, and how repeated collaboration can be stabilised through accountable governance. The paper develops propositions, diagnostic configurations, and boundary conditions explaining why Scope‐3 engagement may become substantively coupled, weakly coupled, or symbolically claimed.