Normative, the first carbon accounting engine, has unveiled a Carbon Glossary, which collects carbon accounting’s most common terms, abbreviations, and frameworks in one place.
“We want to make carbon accounting accessible to all businesses. The Carbon Glossary is one of the many steps we have taken recently to help businesses globally access accurate and truthful carbon accounting,” says Eline Wajon, Head of Climate Strategy at Normative.
What is Carbon accounting?
Carbon accounting is a relatively new field, and one that is rife with jargon. The Carbon Glossary helps people decode its most frequently-used concepts, whether they are new to the area or they are veterans looking to brush up on their knowledge.
It is continuously updated, to keep pace with the rapidly evolving field. The Carbon Glossary covers carbon accounting’s most common terminology, including:
- the science behind global warming
- the technical details of carbon accounting
- carbon removal technologies
- relevant pieces of legislation
- various sustainability reporting frameworks
To reach the climate targets set out by the Paris Agreement, companies must reduce their carbon emissions to half of pre-industrial levels by 2030, and to net zero by 2050.
The April 4th IPCC report cautioned that action must be taken quickly and comprehensively to stay on track to meet these targets, and stated that reducing business carbon emissions will require coordinated action throughout value chains to promote all mitigation options.
How can companies curb their carbon emissions?
Carbon accounting allows companies to take climate action.
A company using carbon accounting can measure its carbon footprint by totaling up the greenhouse gas emissions produced by its business activities. Then, the company can begin to reduce its carbon footprint, starting with its largest sources of emissions.
“In order to reduce emissions we need to start measuring them, and to trust these measurements we need to understand how they work. We hope this glossary can be a launching-off point for businesses to understand their emissions” Eline Wajon concludes.
Normative provides truthful carbon emission accounting, covering businesses full carbon footprints. Their method is based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), and covers Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, accounting for the full supply chain and tracking progress.
Normative automates the otherwise costly and time-consuming data collection, and provides tailored reduction strategies. The Carbon Glossary was created to lower the barrier to entry for companies to begin carbon accounting, and subsequently reduce their carbon footprints.
