Effective corporate emissions accounting is crucial for addressing the climate crisis. Without clear accounting of emissions, there’s no way to ensure they are being reduced.
Unfortunately, the most influential rules for emissions accounting for companies were written by the companies that use them, and they are full of loopholes. These rules are called the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), and the weaknesses in the GHGP are so significant, energy experts estimate they are allowing companies to avoid reporting significant amounts of the emissions they cause.
The GHGP rules are currently being reviewed, for the first time in a decade. This means we have a once in a decade opportunity to clean-up corporate emissions reporting.
Regrettably, major corporations are lobbying to further weaken reporting standards. According to a study by Princeton University, the Emissions First Partnership (EFP), one of the most prominent corporate lobbying groups, is pushing for new accounting rules that would allow companies to underreport their emissions by up to 90%.
Furthermore, EFP founders, such as Amazon and Meta, are also major funders of the GHGP. The exact extent of their donations has not been disclosed.
At a moment when leading climate scientists warn that we are failing in our efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees, it is hard to account for any decision by leaders within the emissions reporting community to hamstring effective emissions reporting.
Read about corporate efforts to weaken emissions accountability rules in our report: Hidden Power, broken rules: How companies are gaming emissions reporting rules, and undermining global climate targets.
