Carbon Accounting May Be the Most Important Climate Fight You've Never Heard About

Who is responsible for each ton of carbon emissions? How that question is answered will shape everything from climate regulations to corporate energy purchasing decisions. —Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group—Getty Images I’ve found a surefire way to mess with the good vibes during my on-the-record conversations with CEOs and senior executives: bring up carbon accounting.

In an instant, a conversation that felt open and transparent moments prior can turn into guarded talking points or simply go quiet.

Carbon accounting may be the wonkiest topic in the already wonky world of climate change and emissions reduction.

And few areas inspire more passionate debate and infighting than the rules for measuring and attributing them.

But underneath the jargon lies a high-stakes question: who is responsible for each ton of carbon emissions ? How that question is answered over the coming months and years will shape everything from climate regulations to corporate energy purchasing decisions.

A report by the Aspen Institute and shared exclusively with me ahead of its Oct.

9 release offers a rare window into that fight.

It draws on a multi-day summit this February that brought together the field’s key players—including academics, NGOs, and industry voices—to debate the path forward on how best to account for carbon emissions.

I attended the closed-door summit having agreed to report on the discussion without identifying individual participants.

It concluded in a ceasefire of sorts with promises to work together even as the core debates remain unresolved.

To understand the carbon accounting landscape, you need to understand the system at the center of the debate.

For more than two decades, one approach, known as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), has flourished and become the de facto global standard.

Under GHGP’s approach, emissions are divided into scopes: Scope 1 for direct emissions from a company’s operations, Scope 2 from a company’s purchased electricity, heat, and cooling, and Scope 3 for value chain emissions.

The GHGP approach has driven a variety of guidance documents and informed regulation and certifications issued by other entities.