From carbon counting to carbon accounting: The case for Emissions Liability Management

(Originally published by Impact Alpha on November 17, 2022) 

Carbon Sequestration

“There does not yet exist the capacity,” Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith warned at last month’s Breakthrough Energy Summit in Seattle, for almost any of the thousands of companies that have signed climate pledges, “to with confidence turn that pledge into the progress that has been promised.”

Such a stark statement from an industry-leading climate actor brings a sobering dose of reality to climate action. It calls the question: How might the flashing warning sign of ineffective progress drive a course-correction in climate action?

The tools and tactics that have driven voluntary climate action are unlikely to withstand the pressures of traversing from voluntary to mandatory emissions disclosure, let alone lead practitioners to the desired destination of shifting capital allocation at the necessary speed and scale.

(Continue reading the opinion essay on Impact Alpha’s page here.)