Carbon Measures aims to accelerate emissions reductions by turning carbon data into economic incentives that reward the production, purchase, and investment in lower-carbon products. Its approach advocates for mandatory product-level carbon intensity regulations, supported by granular, comparable, and verifiable data, to create lasting market demand for lower-carbon solutions in hard-to-abate sectors.

(Read full context here)

Misconception: New approaches are competing alternatives to existing frameworks, creating unnecessary duplication and fragmentation in an already complex ecosystem.

FACT CHECK ✓

Too much of the carbon accounting debate is framed as a choice: Scope 3 or product-level accounting. Existing frameworks or new approaches. Voluntary disclosure or regulation. We don’t believe those are the choices we face.

The Carbon Accounting Landscape Review makes an important point: existing approaches have not “failed.” Different frameworks were designed to solve different parts of the problem, and product-level carbon accounting remains an evolving field. Our task now is not to choose between them, or harmonize for harmony’s sake, but to identify what is missing and determine how existing and new approaches can contribute to a better whole.

It is as important to avoid unnecessary fragmentation, build on existing progress, and prioritize interoperability; as to realize that, in some cases, existing systems cannot be adapted for different purposes without introducing inefficient levels of complexity. As Professor Bob Eccles recently highlighted, the history of financial accounting shows that efforts toward convergence often ultimately resulted in interoperability — different standards working together rather than becoming identical. Carbon accounting can learn from the financial reporting experience.

The ultimate test should not be whether one methodology replaces another. It should be whether the effort we make can help deliver emissions reductions at scale.

Measurement alone will not change the emissions trajectory. But policies that create demand for lower-carbon production, supported by accurate product-level data, can help turn better measurement into competition, innovation, investment and action.

And at a time when global emissions continue to rise, accelerating that transition — not delaying it — is precisely the point.

‍

Back to "Better Product Carbon Accounting Will Accelerate Progress — Not Delay It"