Friday 18 February 2022

Carbon Call: New initiative to boost reliable carbon emissions accounting

A new initiative that aims to accelerate the development of reliable and interoperable carbon emissions accounting to help the world reach net zero emissions by 2050 has been launched.

Hosted by Climateworks Foundation, more than 20 major organisations, including Microsoft, Capricorn Investment Group, Global Council for Science and the Environment and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) have joined the Carbon Call.

The initiative will uncover and address gaps in existing global carbon accounting systems, focusing on carbon removal and land sector, methane and indirect emissions.

It will work collectively to identify where more accurate information is needed to improve reliability and advance interoperability by design, both in carbon accounting reports and the data ecosystems that support them.

Surabi Menon, Vice President of global intelligence at ClimateWorks Foundation said: “To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we must deliver on effective infrastructure this decade that supports credibility of net zero targets.

“Accurate carbon accounting is fundamental to holding polluters accountable and knowing where focus on climate action is most needed. The Carbon Call will build on existing efforts by bringing together civil, business and philanthropic actors to accelerate the development of more reliable and interoperable systems for tracking emissions.”

Lucas Joppa, Chief Environmental Officer at Microsoft added: “With so many organisations now committing to net zero, one key piece is still missing: a transparent and interoperable system to track, report and compare GHG emissions and removals.

“The Carbon Call is a collaboration to enable reliability among the multiple, different GHG accounting ledgers — from the corporate to the national to the planetary. We encourage all organisations committed to net zero to join us.”