carbon accounting, definition of

Umbrella term referring to the act of measuring and reporting on an organization's greenhouse gas emissions.

Carbon accounting procedures typically aim to measure and report on the emissions that a company is directly responsible for, but they can also track emissions that result from a firm's supply chain and the activities of its partners, customers and staff.

The practice is widely regarded as an essential first step towards cutting carbon emissions.

However, critics have argued that its effectiveness is undermined by an absence of international standards, which means that carbon calculations can be undertaken differently from organization to organization.