Move to simplify climate reporting should help businesses disclosing their emissions, key standards bodies say.
The International Organization for Standardization and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol are to align their reporting and measuring frameworks for greenhouse gas emissions, the two bodies announced.
The ISO and GHG Protocol said they would create a combined standard that aligns on terminology, measurement and reporting so that governments and businesses can more easily disclose their emissions.
The ISO, based in Geneva, develops and publishes international standards on products from healthcare to food safety. For climate reporting it has developed the ISO 1406x series, and it is this standard that will be combined with GHG Protocol’s framework. GHG Protocol’s standard was used by 97% of S&P 500 companies that reported their emissions to the Carbon Disclosure Project in 2023, making it one of the most used carbon accounting standards globally.
Until now, greenhouse gas reporting has been fragmented, with different reporting standards and terminology employed by different bodies. As well as the ISO and GHG Protocol frameworks, companies also use standards from the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures and the CDP to account for their carbon output.
ISO Secretary-General Sergio Mujica said that the new standards “will ensure that everyone involved in carbon accounting the world over will be using the same reporting requirements and measurements, allowing for the transparent, verifiable benchmarking of progress.”
Both the ISO and GHG Protocol highlighted that one of the barriers to effective climate action has been the lack of alignment of standards and policies.
(Read the full original article at https://www.wsj.com/articles/iso-greenhouse-gas-protocol-to-align-on-carbon-accounting-rules-44ba1383)
