Glossary
Carbon Accounting Glossary
Key terms and definitions for carbon accounting, GHG reporting, CSRD compliance, and sustainability standards.
- Audit TrailCore Concepts
- A chronological record that traces the history of data from its origin to its current state. In carbon accounting, audit trails document data entries, calculations, methodology choices, and evidence to ensure reports are verifiable and defensible.
- Carbon AccountingCore Concepts
- The process of measuring, tracking, and reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by an organization, municipality, or product across its value chain. Carbon accounting enables evidence-based climate action and regulatory compliance.
- CO₂e (Carbon Dioxide Equivalent)Core Concepts
- A metric used to compare emissions from different greenhouse gases based on their global warming potential (GWP). For example, methane (CH₄) has a GWP of approximately 28, meaning 1 tonne of methane is equivalent to 28 tonnes of CO₂e.
- CSRDRegulations
- The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive is an EU regulation requiring large companies and listed SMEs to report on sustainability matters using the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). It significantly expands the scope of companies required to report and introduces mandatory audit requirements.
- DEFRAData Sources
- The UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs publishes one of the most widely used sets of greenhouse gas emission factors. DEFRA conversion factors cover a comprehensive range of emission sources and are updated annually.
- Double MaterialityRegulations
- A concept under CSRD/ESRS requiring companies to report on both how sustainability matters affect the company (financial materiality) and how the company affects people and the environment (impact materiality).
- Emission FactorCore Concepts
- A coefficient that quantifies the emissions per unit of activity. For example, the emission factor for grid electricity might be expressed as kg CO₂e per kWh. Emission factors come from authoritative sources like DEFRA, EPA, or regional databases and are versioned annually.
- ESRSStandards
- European Sustainability Reporting Standards are the mandatory reporting standards under the CSRD. They cover environmental, social, and governance topics and require companies to report on both the impact of sustainability matters on the company and the company's impact on people and the environment (double materiality).
- GHG ProtocolStandards
- The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the most widely used international accounting framework for quantifying and managing greenhouse gas emissions. It establishes comprehensive standardized frameworks for measuring and managing emissions from private and public sector operations, value chains, and mitigation actions.
- GPCStandards
- The Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories provides a framework for cities and municipalities to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions at the community level. It covers stationary energy, transportation, waste, industrial processes, and agriculture.
- iXBRLStandards
- Inline XBRL embeds XBRL tags within a human-readable HTML document, allowing the same report to be read by both humans and machines. This is the required format for sustainability reporting under the CSRD.
- Scope 1 EmissionsCore Concepts
- Direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by an organization. Examples include emissions from combustion in owned boilers, furnaces, and vehicles, as well as emissions from chemical production in owned or controlled process equipment.
- Scope 2 EmissionsCore Concepts
- Indirect greenhouse gas emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumed by the reporting organization. These emissions physically occur at the facility where the energy is generated.
- Scope 3 EmissionsCore Concepts
- All indirect greenhouse gas emissions (not included in Scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting organization, including both upstream and downstream emissions. Scope 3 typically represents the largest share of an organization's carbon footprint.
- XBRLStandards
- eXtensible Business Reporting Language is a digital reporting standard used for the electronic communication of business and financial data. Under the CSRD, companies must tag their sustainability reports in XBRL format using the ESRS taxonomy to enable machine-readable reporting.
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