Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials

Challenge

Given the scale of the climate challenge and the crucial role of the financial sector in facilitating the net zero carbon transition, a group of financial institutions created the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF). Aiming to advance carbon accounting in the financial industry, ABN AMRO, Amalgamated Bank, ASN Bank, Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV), and Triodos Bank decided to take on the challenge of developing a global carbon accounting standard and of increasing the number of financial institutions applying this standard to over 100 institutions globally.

Solution

The steering committee of PCAF engaged Guidehouse to serve as the Secretariat of PCAF and to get expert help in the development and implementation of a global carbon accounting standard. Guidehouse provides:

• Strategic support to the steering committee on actions that accelerate progress towards achieving the mission and objectives of PCAF. This also includes program management and communications strategy.
• Technical guidance to develop a global carbon accounting standard, which consists of methods for all asset classes — for example, mortgage, real estate, business loans, listed equity, motor vehicle loans, etc.
• Technical assistance on implementing the carbon accounting standard.
• Training on carbon accounting implementation.
• Development of a web-based emissions factors database to facilitate the implementation of the carbon accounting standard.
  
  

Impact

The outcome of this project enables financial institutions to assess the carbon impact of their portfolio through harmonized and open-source methods. It is expected that this will ultimately make carbon accounting common practice within the financial sector.

Furthermore, as carbon accounting is the foundation for climate target setting, climate risk analysis, climate reporting, and climate action, the carbon accounting standard and its accompanying web-based database will become a coherent source for financial institutions seeking to align their portfolios with the goals of the Paris Agreement.