September 23 protest outside Carbon Measures CEO event at Climate Week highlights how the fossil-fuel funded coalition would erase oil and gas pollution from corporate books without cutting a single ton.
New York, 23 September 2026 – Today, climate activists staged a satirical “Carbon Measures Cover-Up Crew” stunt at a Climate Week event featuring Carbon Measures CEO Amy Brachio. In matching jackets and carrying buckets and paint rollers, the crew offered attendees greenwashing services with a simple promise: “You Spew It, We Move It.” The demonstration called attention to what Carbon Measures is selling its dues-paying members – a way to make emissions disappear from their books and shed accountability for climate change.
“Some of the world’s biggest polluters are backing Carbon Measures, including founding member ExxonMobil. That tells you everything you need to know about what it’s selling,” said Josh Archer, Corporate Accountability Campaigner at Action Speaks Louder. “Carbon Measures represents ExxonMobil and the other major polluters that fund it. The Carbon Measures approach would allow them to keep driving the climate off a cliff, and stick the rest of us with the bill.”
Since its establishment in October 2025, Carbon Measures has been promoting an e-ledger approach to carbon accounting, which its Technical Expert Panel is expected to build into a framework proposal this fall. Under this approach, a company counts emissions only up to the point of sale. After that, the emissions travel with the product, and responsibility for them moves to the buyer.
“Throughout Climate Week, everyone should have their antennas primed to detect mentions of ‘e-ledgers’ and other Carbon Measures rhetoric,” said Allison Fajans-Turner, Bank Engagement and Policy Lead at Rainforest Action Network. “All companies, financial institutions, policymakers, regulators, and supervisory bodies must do their due diligence and be clear-eyed that the agenda Carbon Measures is championing is designed to weaken the emerging global standard and muddy responsibility for emissions.”
The shift from counting pollution through the supply chain, to just up to point of sale, matters significantly for fossil fuel producers. More than 85 percent of ExxonMobil’s emissions come from burning its products, and today they sit in Exxon’s disclosures as Scope 3. Fill your tank with gas from Exxon and the emissions appear in Exxon’s disclosures. Under the Carbon Measures approach, the emissions pass to the drivers, who don’t file emissions disclosures and lack the ability to reduce them at any scale.
“Carbon accounting can sound like a technical fight, but this subject is really about whether the world’s biggest polluters are held accountable for dragging their feet on emissions cuts,” said Rachel Kitchin, Senior Campaign Manager at Stand.earth. “Carbon Measures is turning corporate accountability on its head. Fossil fuel companies shouldn’t be able to sell oil and gas, then wash their hands of the pollution when they’re burned. It’s as simple as that: Companies are responsible for the pollution they create.”
Interest in Carbon Measures is not limited to the fossil fuel industry. Finance companies Banco Santander and Bank of America have also thrown in with the group. For these financial institutions, Scope 3 emissions tied to their lending, underwriting, and investment can comprise 95 to 100 percent of their climate pollution.
“Banco Santander and Bank of America must not be allowed to evade responsibility for the emissions of the activities they finance,” said Fajans-Turner. “They must withdraw their support for Carbon Measures or face continuing criticisms for aligning themselves with fossil fuel majors and other heavy emitters.”
Carbon Measures has emerged on the scene at a decisive moment. In July, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) announced they will combine their corporate standards into a single global accounting standard. Carbon Measures threatens to splinter that consensus before it takes hold.
Action Speaks Louder calls on industry leaders and standard-setters to reject Carbon Measures and support real standards that move the needle on emissions reduction rather than shift accountability.
- Carbon Measures members must exit the coalition before the Technical Expert Panel releases its framework this fall
- National regulators must reject ledger-based or intensity accounting as a substitute for full Scope 3 disclosure
- Organizations that support climate progress must stop giving Carbon Measures a platform and endorse science-backed and evidence-based carbon accounting methods that truly advance emissions reduction
“We are making great progress on honest rules for counting our emissions,” said Archer. “ExxonMobil and its Carbon Measures coalition want to put its thumb on the scales and tilt those rules in their favor. We’ll keep showing up to resist those greenwashing efforts and fight for real, transparent emissions counting and reporting.”
For more information or interviews, please contact josh@speakslouder.org.
Action Speaks Louder is a not-for-profit organisation galvanizing people around the world to hold major corporations to account for their impacts on the climate crisis. Action Speaks Louder strategically pushes companies to live up to their climate commitments as part of the movement to transform the global energy landscape.
Rainforest Action Network is a not-for-profit organization working to preserve forests, protect the climate and uphold human rights by challenging corporate power and systemic injustice through frontline partnerships and strategic campaigns.
Stand.earth is a not-for-profit organisation that challenges corporations and governments to treat people and the environment with respect. Stand.earth runs justice-led campaigns to defend and protect forests and oceans, advance the transition to renewable energy, and end fossil fuel production and consumption.