What Are Greenhouse Gas Accounting and Corporate Climate Disclosures? 6 Questions, Answered

WRI insight - written by Kyla Aiuto, Sarah Huckins and Hannah Momblanco

The origin of greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, or measuring emissions from companies and other entities, dates to the late 1990s, but interest has grown exponentially in the past few years with the proliferation of both voluntary and more recently, mandatory corporate climate disclosure initiatives.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finalized a rule in March 2024 that will require companies to disclose some of their emissions if they're deemed financially material to investors. The European Union enacted the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in 2023, which will require companies operating in Europe to disclose their emissions beginning in 2025. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) released a voluntary GHG reporting standard (IFRS S2) in 2023; three countries have made it mandatory for corporations operating in their nation, while several others are considering doing the same. And significantly, almost 400 organizations have committed to advancing the adoption or use of the ISSB’s sustainability standards (including IFRS S2) at a global level.

GHG emissions disclosure is a critical climate change mitigation and accountability tool, as well as a key step towards achieving ambitious emissions-reduction goals. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, global greenhouse gas emissions need to drop by nearly half by 2030 and ultimately reach net zero. The process to achieve these GHG emissions reductions starts with GHG accounting.

Here, we answer questions about this rapidly evolving field: 

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source: WRI - visit website here