A group of leading financial, energy and industrial companies announced today the launch of Carbon Measures, a new coalition aimed at advancing a more accurate and consistent accounting framework to track carbon emissions at the company and product level, and carbon intensity standards for key industrial products.
Members of the new carbon accounting-focused coalition include ADNOC, Air Liquide, Banco Santander, BASF, Bayer, CF Industries, EQT Corporation, ExxonMobil, EY, BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), Honeywell, Linde, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsui & Co., Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., NextEra Energy, Nucor, the Port of Rotterdam, and Vale, with additional companies to be announced.
According to a statement issued by the new coalition, Carbon Measures will leverage sound science and the principles of financial accounting to help enable a ledger-based carbon accounting framework to address issues with current systems including accuracy, double counting, and information gaps, with the new framework aimed at helping companies to differentiate their products and to allow governments to make more informed policy decisions.
While focusing on the new carbon accounting framework, the coalition said that it will also prioritize designing carbon intensity standards for key industrial products that form the basis of most supply chains, such as electricity, fuel, steel, concrete and chemicals.
Ana Botín, Executive Chair of Banco Santander, said:
“This initiative aims to create a reliable, globally comparable way to calculate carbon intensity comprehensively across each step of the value chain, enabling product standards and accelerating the transition as a result. By joining forces to create a market-driven solution to this critical challenge we are laying the groundwork for real, scalable impact, building on our ongoing efforts to reduce emissions.”
The new coalition will be led by former EY exec Amy Brachio, who has been appointed CEO of Carbon Measures. Brachio worked for nearly three decades at EY, most recently serving as Global Vice Chair of Sustainability, leading the firm’s sustainability and climate change agenda globally.
Brachio said:
“Good data leads to good decisions, but for decades, precise and comparable data has proven something of a holy grail in emissions tracking. I’ve had a front-row seat helping businesses struggle with a system that’s been overly reliant on estimates and dependent on voluntary commitments and good intentions to drive market action. That simply won’t be sufficient going forward. Carbon Measures wants to create a system that will unleash markets and competition, unlocking investment and accelerating the pace of emissions reduction – ultimately driving the kind of enduring change the world demands.”