ISO and GHG Protocol work together for unified carbon accounting

Confused about all the different methodologies for carbon accounting? You’re not alone.

 

There’s some good news – ISO (the International Organisation for Standardisation) and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol have just announced a major collaboration to unify global carbon accounting standards.

 

Until now, organisations have navigated different frameworks when reporting their carbon emissions. ISO 14064-1 and the GHG Protocol are very similar but differences such as categorisation of emissions can cause confusion. Scope 1 emissions in the ISO standards, for example, are called Indirect emissions.

 

But now, the two organisations will begin to work together to combine their leading GHG standards into harmonized co-branded international standards. This includes standards from the ISO 1406X family of standards, alongside the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting, Scope 2 and Scope 3 standards.

 

Don’t expect anything too soon… I know from experience how long it takes to write, consult upon and approve new international standards.

 

But it’s great that the objective is there to improve carbon accounting … and importantly make it easier for organisations to report emissions and reduction, plus for their stakeholders to really understand it all.