Other standards for carbon accounting

Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP): CDP is a global platform that encourages companies, cities, states, and regions to disclose their environmental impact, including greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, and deforestation risks. CDP provides a standardized questionnaire for organizations to report their environmental data to investors and other stakeholders. Sustainability Accounting

Standards Board (SASB): SASB provides industry-specific standards for reporting on financial material sustainability topics, including carbon emissions, in annual financial filings. These standards help companies in various industries disclose their environmental performance to investors.

Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD): The TCFD, established by the Financial Stability Board, provides recommendations for organizations to disclose climate-related financial risks and opportunities. It focuses on how climate change might impact an organization's financial performance over the short, medium, and long term.

Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi): SBTi provides guidelines for setting science-based targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the level of decarbonization required to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. These targets are aligned with the latest climate science.

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards: The GRI provides a comprehensive framework for reporting on a wide range of sustainability topics, including carbon emissions. GRI standards offer guidelines for organizations to report their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance.

PAS2060: The only international standard for carbon neutrality. It provides a detailed and verifiable methodology for measuring the life cycle of greenhouse gases across the entire value chain. This methodology comprises four steps: 1. Measure Emissions 2. Reduce Emissions 3. Offset Emissions 4. Document success. To measure emissions, PAS2060 uses a similar methodology to the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064. At the end of the process, an organization can demonstrate its carbon neutrality by seeking verification through an independent third party. Offsetting is not a solution to climate change since it does not reduce emissions itself. However, it can be a temporary stopgap while the organization works to reduce emissions. Although PAS 2060 does allow companies to purchase carbon credits as part of the process, any carbon offsetting must meet specific criteria, and companies cannot receive PAS 2060 verification using offsetting alone.

ISO 14067: Probably best described as an add-on to ISO 14064. Released in 2018, ISO 14067 provides carbon footprint verification for an organization’s products and services. The product or service reviewed is then awarded one of several labels, including CO2 measured, reducing CO2, lower CO2, and carbon neutral following PAS2060. Of course, to achieve these labels for its products or services, the organization has to have a robust structure of greenhouse gas measurement in place, which would be through either the GHG protocol or ISO 14064.

Companies may not choose between these standards for a single function, as the list above hosts a range of different functions. This means a company may use many of these standards in conjunction. The choice of which protocol to use depends on an organization's goals, reporting requirements, and stakeholder expectations. Accordingly, organizations must consider their context and specific sustainability needs.