Towards Harmonized Carbon Accounting: Challenges and Opportunities (March 2026) maps the current landscape of carbon counting, reporting, and accounting frameworks. Through comparative analysis, the report examines key differences and gaps in current carbon counting and reporting systems relative to a comprehensive product- and entity-level carbon accounting system. It highlights the challenges and opportunities in harmonizing carbon counting and reporting systems, both among themselves and together with a comprehensive carbon accounting system.
The report begins by exploring the distinction between carbon counting and reporting and carbon accounting, examining the current landscape of carbon accounting and reporting frameworks. It continues by comparing how carbon counting and reporting frameworks are applied to policies and assessing how existing frameworks align with and differ from comprehensive carbon accounting. It also identifies areas where comprehensive carbon accounting could improve the quality of current reporting under the GHG Protocol’s Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. The report concludes with insights on advancing the harmonization of carbon accounting.
Read more from our carbon accounting work:
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