Download the full White Paper “Towards Real Carbon Accounting: Calling for a transformation of the carbon accounting system – What is needed and how companies can help achieve it” here.

Credible emissions data is key for companies to take targeted decarbonization action across their supply chains and measure progress over time. This requires a carbon accounting system which enables access to accurate, granular and comparable data. Companies and consumers need to be able to understand the real impact of their products to reduce this as they cannot manage what they cannot measure. To achieve this, and mirroring the financial accounting approach, data needs to be passed along the value chain from one company to the next, tied to specific products and services in the form of a carbon invoice.

Work is already underway in the Partnership for Carbon Transparency to create such a system, focused on collaboration around calculation methodologies and a standardized technology infrastructure. In the meantime, companies can also start on this journey by putting in place a credible Scope 3 strategy and investigating their major emissions sources in more detail as part of their corporate footprint calculations, applying a hybrid approach which combines average data with primary data.

Carbon accounting, especially Scope 3, is a challenge, but one that can be solved – together.