Our thinking

Carbon accountants unite

24 November, 2023

They say you can’t manage what you can’t measure, and this is particularly true with greenhouse gas emissions. After all, you can’t see these emissions, they’re embedded in everything bought and sold, and defining who’s responsible for them isn’t straightforward.

And it’s fair to say that the whole field of corporate carbon accounting that has set out to do this is in its relative infancy. Important strides have been made since the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the organisation behind the world’s most widely used greenhouse gas accounting standards, published the first version of the Corporate Standard in 2001. Meanwhile, an industry has been developing to support businesses through the implementation of the guidance. Despite this and given the challenges in measuring emissions, the standards still leave room for interpretation. And the need for urgent, informed action has never been clearer.

That’s why we’re particularly excited to be a founding member of the Carbon Accounting Alliance, a group of organisations collaborating to solve challenges in the carbon accounting industry. It has launched publicly this week with the goal of encouraging greater oversight and professionalisation of carbon accounting to accelerate the effectiveness of the industry. This will see members share learnings and best practice and engage collectively as an alliance with industry, regulators and international standard setters to accelerate the development and adoption of carbon accounting that incentivises meaningful action.

We believe that collaboration is essential for tackling the climate crisis, across businesses, policymakers and industry groups alike. We look forward to being part of this important association to advance the measurement and management of one of the defining issues of our time.

By Patrick Bapty