Job titles of the future: carbon accountant

illuminem summarizes for you the essential news of the day. Read the full piece on MIT Technology Review or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: The role of carbon accountants is gaining prominence as companies increasingly seek to understand, manage, and disclose their contributions to climate change
• Billy Scherba, the vice president of regulated reporting solutions at Persefoni, a climate management platform, embodies this new profession, assisting businesses in comprehending their carbon footprints

🔭 The context: Carbon accounting, a relatively novel profession, involves gathering diverse data from an organization and employing consistent measurement techniques to translate this data into a carbon emissions footprint
• This can encompass activities like business flights, utility bills, transportation fuel types, and even financial data
• As data becomes more detailed, the precision of these calculations improves

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: With the intensifying focus on climate change, businesses require clear data that pinpoints where they have the most significant positive or negative climate impact
• Reliable data can guide both business and societal value, leading to better climate decisions

⏭️ What's next: The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP), developed by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, is the primary methodology used for carbon accounting and more companies have started to use it worldwide
• It has been integrated into rulings by regulators like the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the European Union, and Japan, making it the preferred accounting method for public carbon emissions disclosures

💬 One quote: “Good data should be used to drive business and societal value. As we build controls and ensure this data is reliable, we have an opportunity to use it to make better climate decisions” (Billy Scherba)

📈 One stat: The GHGP is the leading methodology for carbon accounting, adopted by major global regulators for public carbon emissions disclosures

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