FAQ

Carbon Measures is a global coalition representing major businesses from diverse industries and geographies, establishing an investment-grade, product-level accounting framework and driving market-based solutions to reduce emissions at the lowest cost. We are focused on driving innovation to unlock the underlying conditions required to drive market success for the products and services required to reduce carbon emissions at scale – investment-grade product-level data and product-level regulation for the highest-emitting products.

Carbon Measures is calling for new policy that unlocks innovation, competition, and the power of the market. Product-level carbon intensity standards, based on verifiable data informed by an enhanced emissions accounting framework, could create markets in which businesses are rewarded for investing in low-carbon production.

Member companies of the coalition include: ADNOC; Air Liquide; Anew Climate; Banco Santander; BASF; Bayer; CF Industries; EQT Corporation; ExxonMobil; EY; Global Infrastructure Partners, a part of BlackRock; Honeywell; Linde; Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; Mitsui & Co.; Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd.; NextEra Energy; Nucor; the Port of Rotterdam; TotalEnergies; Toyota; and Vale.

A full list is included on our Membership page

Carbon Measures’ membership includes leading businesses from diverse industries and geographies, many of which operate large, complex supply chains. The industrial sector accounts for a significant percentage of global emissions and has an important role to play in meaningfully reducing them. Their participation is essential to developing an accounting framework that works in real-world conditions. Carbon Measures is actively building a broad membership base to ensure the framework reflects diverse business models and operational realities, as well as sufficient coverage by industry to address the specific approaches required for product-level measurement. Member companies are committed to establishing an investment-grade, ledger-based carbon emissions accounting system for tracking emissions and supporting compliance-based product-level carbon intensity standards that unlock innovation, competition, and lower-carbon manufacturing. Our members understand the importance of reducing global carbon emissions, and they’re committed to helping reach that goal.

No. Carbon Measures was established to unlock demand for lower-carbon products. Carbon Measures is advocating for an investment-grade, ledger-based carbon accounting framework, coupled with mandatory, product-level carbon intensity standards enforced by governments. Carbon Measures’ carbon accounting framework would establish the foundational data that would enable businesses to differentiate lower-carbon products and equip policymakers to establish clear, enforceable product-level carbon intensity standards. We believe this effort will reduce carbon emissions at scale throughout the value chain.

Carbon Measures brings together a group of companies representing diverse industries, geographies, and perspectives — united by a shared ambition to create strong market demand for low-carbon production.

Individual member companies, as well as participants in our independent panels and working groups, represent a wide range of views across many topics. However, all members align on one core principle: the need for market-enabling innovation to drive demand for the products and services required to accelerate emissions reductions at scale across the value chain.

Carbon Measures’ perspectives are reflected on this website and are updated periodically to reflect the evolution of the coalition and our work.

Carbon accounting complements reporting and disclosure of enterprise-level actions, adding a verified system for calculating carbon emissions associated with products, companies, and countries. Similar to financial principles, it tracks where emissions come from by entity and how much is produced as companies create their products.

Good investment-grade, product-level data ensures every tonne of carbon is counted once, accurately, and attributed to the right place throughout the value chain.

A ledger system enables companies and suppliers to accurately calculate and track carbon emissions of their product at each step of its lifecycle. Just as a standard accounting practice assigns the cost of materials and overhead to a finished product, carbon ledgers assign and keep track of the emissions of various outputs to the correct product. This allows for the associated carbon to follow the asset through the product lifecycle.

The framework will be developed by an independent Technical Expert Panel co-launched by Carbon Measures and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The panel will apply sound science and financial accounting principles to enable a ledger-based carbon accounting system that is precise and addresses existing product-level information gaps. The panel includes experts from academia, industry, financial accounting, attestation, technology, chemistry, engineering, and civil society, supported by an Advisory Group focused on real-world feasibility and implementation.

For more information about the panel, please see here: https://iccwbo.org/global-insights/carbon-strategies/carbon-expert-panel/

A product-level carbon intensity standard sets a maximum level of emissions allowed per unit of a product – for example, CO2 per ton of steel or per watt of electricity. It’s a mandatory standard that all producers selling into a market must meet.

Governments could make the standard stricter as technology and solutions improve, contributing to systematic decreases in allowed carbon emissions per unit of a product and, by proxy, carbon emissions at large, while meeting demand.

Product-level carbon intensity standards level the playing field, reward innovation, and ensure progress is real and measurable.

The work of Carbon Measures will result in a carbon emissions accounting framework rooted in financial accounting principles to provide accurate, verifiable, product-level data. This level of specificity and comparability is required for product-level differentiation.

Reporting frameworks, like the GHG Protocol and others, are widely used for voluntary corporate inventory disclosure, but they weren’t designed to track product-level emissions through the supply chain or distinguish products with different carbon intensities. To support innovation and competition across supply chains, markets need accurate, product-level data that can be delivered through a ledger-based carbon accounting framework.

No. Carbon Measures is trying to find a solution for a different need. Our focus is to produce high-quality, consistent, and comparable investment-grade, product-level data that could help businesses differentiate their products and enable governments to make more informed policy decisions. This framework would be designed with interoperability in mind, meaning it could be used to satisfy disclosures across existing systems and standards, including Scope 3.