Carbon accounting, or greenhouse gas accounting, is the process of quantifying the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced directly and indirectly from a business’s or organization’s activities within a set of boundaries. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most common greenhouse gas emitted by human activities. It can also be used to track projects or actions to reduce emissions in sectors such as forestry or renewable energy.
Using carbon accounting, you can calculate your business’s carbon footprint and understand where your emissions come from (You can’t manage what you can’t measure). This, in turn, enables you to report your sustainability impact to governments and stakeholders, implement carbon reduction and removal, and build your brand equity.
In summary: carbon accounting empowers your business to fight climate change, stay compliant, and seize business opportunities.

The GHG protocol is a multi-stakeholder initiative to develop internationally accepted accounting and reporting standards for business and to promote their broad adoption. The GHG accounting standard ranks highly among GHG measurement methods globally. The GHG Protocol Scopes 1, 2 and 3 classify emission sources across an organisation’s value chain; widely referenced as the basis for carbon accounting.

Scope 1: direct GHG emissions from sources owned or controlled by the organisation, for example fuel used in vehicles owned by the organisation and fugitive emissions from refrigeration and air conditioning.

Scope 2: indirect GHG emissions from the generation of electricity, steam, heating and cooling, that is purchased and used by the organisation.

Scope 3: other indirect GHG emissions that are the consequence of activities by the organisation but occur from sources not owned or controlled by the organisation, for example business travel, purchased goods and services including stock, office equipment and supplies and waste services (upstream), and also use of sold products and services by customers (downstream).

Carbon accounting is an essential tool for any business that wants to reduce its carbon footprint – which, in addition to fighting climate change, also helps businesses attract customers, investors, and employees.
There are 5 main benefits:

1. Taking actions to become a more resilient and sustainable business:
By measuring your company’s carbon footprint, you’ll be able to identify its main sources of emissions. Once this has been done, it will be easier to select the actions best suited to your needs, and to take action to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions, thanks to precise, measurable objectives. Finally, once the actions have been implemented, you’ll be able to demonstrate their effectiveness.

2. Improve brand identity, accountability, and transparency:
We’re all for sustainable businesses, but only when they’re truly doing something to reduce their environmental impact. By having carbon reports, you can show through data the impact of your actions. Ultimately, this will avoid greenwashing claims and improve your brand’s image.

3. Reduce costs and increase profit:
Carbon accounting can help you identify inefficiencies in your company’s operations. For example, optimizing energy use can result in lower utility bills. Moreover, being more sustainable will allow you to improve your brand image and access the market of environmentally conscious customers. Finally, investors are increasingly considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when making investment decisions. Having a carbon report and a clear carbon reduction strategy can help you attract more funds.

4. Staff recruitment and retention:
Finding the right person for a position is becoming increasingly hard. Taking action to be more sustainable will improve the image of your company and it will help you attract and retain talents

5. Compliance or anticipation of legislation:
Finding the right person for a position is becoming increasingly hard. Taking action to be more sustainable will improve the image of your company and it will help you attract and retain talents.

Net zero, whilst yet to have a single agreed international definition, means an organisation cutting its GHG emissions across its entire value chain to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions balanced by permanent removal from the atmosphere. Often the time frame stated is by 2050. One widely used definition is from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which describes net zero as a state of balance between emissions and removals. SBTi further states two conditions need to be met for companies to achieve net zero emissions, summarised below:

1. Reduce value-chain emissions to a level consistent with what science requires for the world to limit warming to 1.5°C by 2050 (this involves reducing emissions by a minimum of 90 to 95 per cent from an organisation’s baseline year).

2. Neutralise the impact of any source of residual emissions (that it’s unfeasible to eliminate) by permanently removing an equivalent amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Carbon neutral is generally used to mean an organisation has committed to balancing to zero its carbon dioxide emissions, by finding ways to reduce those emissions, and compensating for the carbon dioxide it does emit by preventing or reducing emissions elsewhere and/or by removing an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The balancing practice is known as carbon offsetting and could include activities such as planting trees.
Carbon neutral differs from net zero:

• Carbon neutral does not necessarily mean an organisation considers emission sources across their whole value chain. The carbon neutral boundary may be a building, event, product, service or the entire organisation. Net zero requires consideration of emissions across an organisation’s entire value chain; scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
• Carbon neutral may mean considering only carbon dioxide and not other GHG. Net zero means considering and measuring all GHG emissions, not just carbon dioxide.
• Carbon neutral can be achieved without cutting emissions, or cutting emissions but without achieving cuts deep enough to achieve net zero at the sector or global level. Achieving net zero means reducing emissions by an amount consistent with what science requires for the world to keep global warming to 1.5oC.

Greenwashing is the practice of misrepresenting the extent to which a product or strategy is environmentally friendly, sustainable or ethical. A key mechanism to avoid inadvertently greenwashing is to anchor the conduct and mindset of those involved in carbon accounting and other sustainability-related reporting in ethical values. Additionally, entities should have in place well-functioning systems, processes and internal controls to accurately collect and report this information.
Greenwashing is a priority for regulators in Australia, and businesses are being legally challenged in a number of greenwashing cases. Members are also reminded of their obligation to comply with the Code of Ethics – APES 110 or NZICA Code and PES 1 where applicable. These include the fundamental principles of integrity and professional competence and due care.
Integrity includes being honest and straight forward and not being associated with misleading information. This applies to all information including climate-related disclosures and a net zero commitment.
Professional competence and due care include attaining and maintaining professional knowledge and skill at the level needed to perform work competently and in accordance with applicable professional standards and laws and regulations. Governments and regulators are currently designing and implementing standards for climate change disclosure and members must keep abreast of these developments.
Specific requirements to assist members to comply with these fundamental principles are included in S220: preparation and presentation of information including considerations where the member intends to rely on the work of others.

This is often referred to as compiling a GHG inventory or measuring a carbon footprint. It is necessary so an organisation can measure GHG emissions, set reduction targets, manage emissions, track progress against targets and report on this. IFAC has published a useful explainer of the foundational concepts designed to equip accountants with the technical guidance necessary to collect and enhance the quality of data related to all scopes of GHG emissions at individual entity and group levels: GHG Reporting Building Blocks for Accountants.
Some organisations build internal capability to measure emissions, use carbon footprint management software or free emissions calculators, appoint external consultants, or a combination of approaches. For many office-based organisations scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions are from fuel in owned and controlled vehicles and the purchase of electricity and gas. These GHG emissions can be calculated using invoices/receipts to determine consumption of fuel, electricity and gas, and converted to GHG emissions using emission factors or using a GHG emissions calculator.
Measuring scope 3 emissions is often challenging. Some scope 3 GHG emissions can be estimated using calculators or carbon footprint software. However, users should take care as these calculations are based on estimated averages and may not identify all scope 3 GHG emissions through an organisation’s value chain, nor accurately represent emissions from an organisation’s specific suppliers.

Prior to 2023 climate-related, or emissions, reporting has largely been voluntary in our region, however this is rapidly changing.
International: The IFRS Foundation set up the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to develop a comprehensive and consistent global baseline for sustainability reporting, including climate related disclosures. The ISSB’s first two sustainability standards IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures were issued in June 2023 and are applicable for annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2024. Relief in IFRS S1 allows an entity to report only on climate-related risks and opportunities in the first year it applies IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. Although not mandatory in their own right, it is anticipated these standards will be adopted in many jurisdictions.
Australia: The Australian Treasury has signalled that mandatory climate disclosures, aligned with IFRS S2, will be phased in for Australian entities from the 2024-2025 financial year. Certain entities with high emitting facilities are currently required to report information about their emissions annually to the Clean Energy Regulator under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 (NGER Act).
Other jurisdictions: Many other jurisdictions have or are introducing their own mandatory climate-related disclosures through legislation and/or listing requirements. This includes the European Union and USA. Currently voluntary reporting is largely based on recommendations of the multi-stakeholder Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
In Australia, ASIC encourages listed companies to use the TCFD recommendations as the primary framework for voluntary climate related disclosures. The XRB’s standards are based on the TCFD recommendations.

Carbon offsetting is the practice of purchasing a carbon credit or offset representing a reduction in (abatement) or removal (sequestration) of GHG emissions. One carbon credit or offset represents one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) avoided or sequestered. Once a carbon credit or offset is purchased and used to offset CO2-e, it is retired. Terminology has evolved so the terms credit and offset are often used interchangeably, or combined into ‘carbon offset credit’, to represent the unit, or market instrument being traded. Although the terms credit and offset are often used interchangeably, most commonly:
Carbon offsets are generated by projects that remove (sequester) GHG from the atmosphere, for example reforestation, or sophisticated removal technology, or reduce GHG emissions for example through renewable energy projects. Carbon offsets are sold to organisations seeking to offset their GHG emissions.
Carbon credits are created by governments either by: • Issuing credits to projects that abate emissions, for example Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). • Setting a cap on an organisation’s GHG emissions, with the cap referred to as the number of carbon credits or tonnes of CO2-e the organisation can emit. These may also be referred to as allowances or permits. If an organisation emits less than its cap, it may be able to sell its credits to other organisations seeking to offset their GHG emissions.