Frequently Asked Questions

Carbon accounting is the measurement of a company’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions - that is, the greenhouse gases that are emitted by the company from its activities and operations. 

Carbon accounting is crucial for organisations aiming to understand, manage, and reduce their carbon footprint to mitigate climate change risks and meet regulatory requirements.  

There is!  The GHG Protocol supplies the world’s most widely used Greenhouse Gas accounting standards.  These standards set out the things you need to include and the methods you can follow (and yes, they cover methods where you don’t have perfect data because nobody does).  

Carbon accounting typically includes three scopes: 

• Scope 1: Direct GHG emissions from owned or controlled sources. 
• Scope 2: Indirect GHG emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heat, and cooling. 
• Scope 3: Indirect GHG emissions from activities such as supply chain, business travel, and waste disposal. 

 The carbon accounting process typically involves: 

1. Data collection, inventory, review & analysis 
2. Emissions calculation using approved methodologies (e.g., GHG Protocol) 
3. Reporting & Insights​ 
4. Strategy development & execution​ for emissions reduction

Business that meets at least 2 of the 3 criteria listed below: 

• From 1Jul24 - Business with $500m+ consolidated revenue, $1billion+ assets, or 500+ employees 
• From 1Jul26 - Business with $250m+ consolidated revenue, $500m+ assets, or 250+ employees 
• From 1Jul27 - Business with $50m+ consolidated revenue, $25m+ assets, or 100+ employees 

Carbon neutral refers to offsetting the same amount of carbon or greenhouse gases that an organisation emits. To be carbon neutral means that emissions produced are equal to emissions offset.

Net Zero refers to reducing all greenhouse gas emissions (as much as possible) and offsetting only the essential emissions that remain 

The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, France, in 2015 and came it to force in November 2016.

The Agreement sets long-term goals to guide all nations to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to hold global temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This agreement recognises that would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. 

To limit global warming to 1.5°C, greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

A report from UN Climate Change released November 2023 finds national climate action plans remain insufficient to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

We need to do more on a global scale!