To reduce carbon emissions, we need a ledger-based carbon accounting framework and product standards
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BY AMY BRACHIO, CEO OF CARBON MEASURES

Today, as COP30 comes to a close, it’s important to reflect on what’s critical for a lower-emissions future. When I was in Sao Paulo and Belem, I heard a consistent focus on action, urgency and the critical role of the private sector to deliver the solutions we need to reduce carbon emissions.
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At Carbon Measures, our membership couldn’t agree more. That’s why we’re tackling two of the most pressing problems of today – accurate carbon accounting and unlocking capital markets for lower-carbon products to transact across our economies through product-level regulation.

Accurate carbon accounting will allow for product differentiation, comparability and ultimately scalability. Government-mandated product standards will then set the bar for companies to meet, allowing them to reap rewards for producing lower-emissions goods, while incentivizing demand.

Carbon Measures, a coalition of leading companies from around the world and representing some of the world’s highest-emitting industries, is calling on governments to regulate them. Because our members believe that when data is reliable, and the rules are clear, businesses can do what they do best: innovate and compete.

Too frequently, we’ve seen companies invest in amazing climate solutions – green steel, low-carbon cement, SAF production and more – only to be forced to slow down their investment because the level of demand required to scale up production and drive down costs just isn’t there.

The world has made progress. Approaches taken to date have changed the trajectory of carbon emissions, but the changes haven’t been as fast or as significant as we need. We can’t afford to keep only doing the same things and hope for different results. Faster results require fresh thinking, building upon what we have done to date. And at Carbon Measures, we believe we need to unlock the private sector’s spirit of innovation and competition.

To unlock that spirit and drive demand for low-carbon products, we first need a generally accepted system that supports granular, real-time tracking of carbon emissions at the product level. This would allow carbon to be accounted for throughout the entire supply chain in the same way as financial metrics like revenue or cost. Simply put, we need a carbon emissions accounting system, working in tandem with today’s emissions disclosure systems.

This means understanding the emissions associated with a product at the unit level, so along with using price, features and availability as differentiators, companies are also able to compete on the specific level of carbon emissions that went into the production of that product. We know how to do this in financial accounting and can apply these same principles to carbon accounting, moving from estimates to actuals and eliminating double-counting.

With this transparency and ability to compare, buyers can make informed choices, investors can allocate capital efficiently, and producers investing in low-carbon technology can monetize their efforts. A steelmaker in Brazil using renewable electricity, for example, can more easily and reliably prove that one ton of its steel is lower-carbon than coal-intensive steel from a competitor — enabled through comparable, verified data. Coupled with product-level carbon intensity standards – industry can play a major role in reducing emissions.

In drawing inspiration from COP30, the COP of action, Carbon Measures is calling for actions that count.