What is the GHG Protocol?

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol is the world’s most widely used accounting standard. It helps companies and organisations quantify and manage their greenhouse gas emissions.

It was developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in 1998.

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Sumday’s online courses take you through the standards. Check it out in Sumday Academy

Quick links to the standards

You can access all the current standards here.

Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard

The GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard provides requirements and guidance for companies and other organizations preparing a corporate-level GHG emissions inventory.

Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard

The Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard allows companies to assess their entire value chain emissions impact and identify where to focus reduction activities.

Why haven’t these standards been front and centre for you before?

Times are changing! These standards have been around many years but it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s the first time you've heard about them. They form the foundation for the way we look at emissions across scope 1, 2 and 3 and they provide the methodologies we follow to convert activity data into emissions across each of those scopes.

There are a suite of standards and guidance notes:

The Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard was developed in 2004

The Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard was developed in 2011

The Scope 3 Calculation Guidance in 2013

The Scope 2 Guidance in 2015.

Since then there have been huge developments in greenhouse gas accounting and reporting. From The Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), the trend towards setting net-zero targets, changes in mandatory climate disclosure regulations and more. There were no net zero targets 5 or 10 years ago, so for many companies and certainly accountants, these voluntary standards have sat on the shelf.

Now they’ve been dusted off to keep up the pace. In 2022 WRI and WBCSD began a process to determine the need and scope for additional guidance or updates building on the existing set of corporate GHG accounting and reporting standards for scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3 emissions.

While the Protocol currently doesn't mandate scope 3 reporting, changes in guidance around scope 3 are expected to form part of an update.

The mandatory climate and sustainability reporting disclosure standards that’s coming into effect from 2024 onwards across the world are all underpinned by the GHG Protocol for measuring their GHG emissions.

🎓 Have a read of this article for An overview on the sustainability reporting landscape