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.

• Big Climate Brother Coming Your Way (voluntary now, mandatory later)
  ...the warning signs are increasing. It is time to expose and resist, politely but firmly.
• A global Carbon Currency would be a wonder-tool for Bankers, Bureaucrats and Crooks
  The idea that we could make “a carbon credit” work as an international currency and fix our weather at the same time, is the stuff of Econo-alchemy.
• Shades of insane: A carbon currency feeds corruption, bankers and bureaucrats
  The idea that we could make “a carbon currency” work as an international currency standard, and fix our weather at the same time, is a trap. A scientific quagmire marries an economic fairy and we get the swamp to end all swamps. It doesn’t...
• Treasure in tree rings: Using untapped tree ring data to calculate carbon sequestration
  [counting dancing angels on the head of a pin~cr] Peer-Reviewed Publication S.J. & JESSIE E. QUINNEY COLLEGE OF NATURAL RESOURCES, UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Having a solid estimate of the amount…
• Scientists discover an extra 5 million square kilometers of forest , just like that.
  Scientists apparently can’t predict where forests are right now, but weather patterns one hundred years from now, no problem. It’s nearly 60 years since the first satellite was launched, and we are still figuring out basic stuff down here...
• Australian target set at 26% reduction by 2030 — billions spent to reduce global CO2 emissions by 0.01%
  The Australian Abbott government has announced the target of a 26% reduction in emissions of CO2 by 2030. This futile effort to change the weather is all cost and no benefit. It’s 26% reduction in 1.3% (Australia’s share) of  4% (human share)...
• Those Green Australians! Our emissions per person fell 28% since 1990
  Get ready for the startling news that Australians have been great corporate “green” citizens — on a per capita basis, all of us are so much more carbon-efficient (sic) than we were 25 years ago...
• Australian deserts are controlling global CO2 levels?
  Does the world owe Australia bezillions of dollars in carbon credits? With years of La Nina rainfall on arid outback Australia, “we” (or rather the citizen plants of Australia) have apparently been sucking down the CO2 at a phenomenal rate:...
• Australia is either Green genius or Kyoto-criminal depending on fires and forests: Tom Quirk
  Tom Quirk has taken look at the numbers for the Australian Government’s direct action plan (someone had to do it). Not surprisingly in a vast nation with hardly any people, the numbers that matter are the ones about “land-use” —...
• Amazon River produces monster levels of “pollution”. The dilemma. Should we stop the river?
  The mouth of the Amazon is the worst source of “pollution”. Bad news for fans of The Amazon River. A new study shows that while the Amazon rain forest is the Lungs of The Planet, pulling down gigatonnes of CO2, the river undoes all the good...