PR94481

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

-- Participating organizations and signatories to focus on solving companies'

carbon emissions and removal accounting challenges for a net zero future

Over 20 leading organizations on Thursday announced an initiative to accelerate

the development of reliable and interoperable carbon emissions accounting,

which is necessary to help the world reach net zero by midcentury. The Carbon

Call mobilizes collective action, investment and resources from scientific,

corporate, philanthropic and intergovernmental organizations to enable access

to data and science that is reliable and up to date and can be easily exchanged

among carbon accounting systems.

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Reliable measurement and accounting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is

critical to climate accountability and attribution. According to an analysis (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3439812-1&h=2747238901&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fclimate-environment%2Finteractive%2F2021%2Fgreenhouse-gas-emissions-pledges-data%2F&a=analysis

) by The Washington Post, the gap in underreported GHG emissions "ranges from

at least 8.5 billion to as high as 13.3 billion tons a year." Today, carbon

accounting suffers from data quality issues, measurement and reporting

inconsistencies, siloed platforms, and infrastructure challenges. This makes it

difficult to compare, combine and share reliable data, particularly for

companies.

The Carbon Call uncovers and addresses gaps in existing global carbon

accounting systems, focusing on carbon removal and land sector, methane and

indirect emissions. The Carbon Call will work collectively to identify where

more accurate information is needed to improve reliability and advance

interoperability by design -- both in carbon accounting reports (or ledgers)

and the data ecosystems that support them.

The Carbon Call is hosted by ClimateWorks Foundation (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3439812-1&h=1981830559&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.climateworks.org%2F&a=ClimateWorks+Foundation

), and participating organizations include Capricorn Investment Group, Climate

Change AI, Corporate Leaders Group Europe, Global Carbon Project, Global

Council for Science and the Environment, International Science Council, LF

Energy, Linux Foundation, Microsoft, Mila, Skoll Foundation, Stanford Woods

Institute for the Environment, United Nations Environment Programme

(collaborating organization), and United Nations Foundation. Participating

organizations of the Carbon Call work to advance the development of universal

accounting methodological standards, enable expanded access to reliable GHG

emissions and removal data, and strengthen the interoperability of digital

accounting infrastructures.

Signatories to the Carbon Call support the enabling conditions needed for a

more reliable global system of interoperable carbon accounting reports (or

ledgers). To that end, signatories commit to report GHG emissions and offset

information comprehensively, including all scopes and classes of GHG emissions,

annually and transparently. Signatories include Capricorn Investment Group, EY,

GSK, KPMG, Microsoft, and Wipro.

The outputs of the coalition will be widely available, and organizations are

encouraged to learn more and sign on by visiting www.carboncall.org.

What participating organizations and signatories are saying about the Carbon

Call

Capricorn Investment Group

Ion Yadigaroglu, managing partner at Capricorn Investment Group, said, "We

invest billions of dollars into climate solutions, and we are now deploying

significant capital into carbon removal in order to meet our net zero

commitment. But this only registers at the scale of the climate crisis if we

can keep track of the global balance between greenhouse gas emissions and

removals. We are joining the Carbon Call to support the creation of a

transparent and science-based ledger for carbon accounting. This will be an

important building block for net zero investing."

Climate Change AI

David Rolnick, co-founder and chair of Climate Change AI and assistant

professor and Canada CIFAR AI Chair at McGill University, said, "The mission of

Climate Change AI is to catalyze impactful work at the intersection of climate

change and machine learning. Machine learning has already proved helpful in

gathering data on emissions and carbon stock and may be of use in supporting

verification and assessment of progress on emissions reductions. We are excited

to collaborate with the Carbon Call to advance the interoperability and

reliability of carbon accounting systems in the service of climate action."

ClimateWorks Foundation

Surabi Menon, vice president of global intelligence at ClimateWorks Foundation,

said, "To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we must deliver on

effective infrastructure this decade that supports credibility of net zero

targets. Accurate carbon accounting is fundamental to holding polluters

accountable and knowing where focus on climate action is most needed. The

Carbon Call will build on existing efforts by bringing together civil, business

and philanthropic actors to accelerate the development of more reliable and

interoperable systems for tracking emissions."

Corporate Leaders Group Europe

Eliot Whittington, director of Corporate Leaders Group Europe, said, "As action

on climate change scales up and becomes mainstream, we're seeing a growing

trust gap as new promises are made without the tools and systems to track

delivery. The Carbon Call is a much-needed rallying point for efforts to

improve the accountability, transparency and readability of data on carbon

emissions across the economy — an indispensable tool in closing that trust gap.

Better collaboration for more transparent, more clear and more useful data will

help the world keep track of climate pledges and give insights into how to

improve and accelerate delivery of the Paris Agreement. CLG Europe is proud to

support the Carbon Call and join efforts to enable the development of more

reliable global carbon data and consequently faster climate action."

EY

Steve Varley, global vice chair, sustainability at EY, said, "As businesses

realize their role in tackling climate change, pledges and promises must be

evidenced by progress and performance. A global, reliable and interoperable

system for improved GHG accounting is critical for our efforts to accelerate

action and track progress at scale. EY is excited to be joining this

collaboration across a broad range of stakeholders that will help create value

for all."

Global Carbon Project

Rob Jackson, chair of Global Carbon Project, earth scientist at Stanford

University, and senior fellow of the Stanford Woods Institute for the

Environment and the Precourt Institute for Energy, said, "As scientists, we

track increasing concentrations of methane and other greenhouse gases in the

atmosphere that are warming the earth. But because of incomplete and

inconsistent emissions reporting and a scarcity of monitoring stations, it is

difficult for us to track where emissions originate and whether they are being

cut sufficiently in a given country or region. We are pleased to be part of the

Carbon Call, which cuts across science, civil society and the private sector to

develop more comprehensive and integrated emissions reporting."

Global Council for Science and the Environment

Michelle Wyman, executive director of the Global Council for Science and the

Environment, said, "Collaborations, partnerships and accountability between

scientists and decision makers are vital to advance the use of science to

address environmental challenges. The Carbon Call seeks to collaborate and

facilitate various industries and organizations from local, national and global

levels to develop a reliable global carbon accounting system. The Global

Council for Science and the Environment is pleased to support the Carbon Call

initiative to strengthen an interoperable global system of GHG accounting for

the planet."

International Science Council

Leena Srivastava, deputy director general for science at the International

Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, said, "The world needs to limit warming

to no more than 1.5 degrees. Staying within this goal requires accelerating

decarbonization through strategies that incentivize inclusive green growth.

Many of these strategies rely on carbon accounting, which is still in its

infancy. The Carbon Call's focus on interoperability and transparency is

critical to building a reliable carbon accounting system. Science has a key

role to play. Science is needed not only to expand availability to reliable

emissions and removal data but also to design strategies that ensure trusted

governance."

KPMG

Bill Thomas, global chairman and CEO of KPMG International, said, "Progress on

climate action demands all of us working together to achieve positive change on

a vast scale. That's why KPMG is excited to be a founding signatory of the

Carbon Call. Together, we can help build a more sustainable future for all."

LF Energy

Shuli Goodman, executive director of LF Energy, said, "Open source and

interoperable data and technologies are critical to accelerating

decarbonization of our economies. LF Energy provides a neutral, cooperative

community that is building those shared investments that will help the world to

meet the urgency of climate change. This is why we are excited to be part of

the Carbon Call's mandate to enable interoperability within the carbon

accounting infrastructure."

Linux Foundation

Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, said, "At Linux

Foundation, we help grow open technologies ecosystems to transform industries.

A key part of our work is enabling collaboration for building protocols

interoperability. We are excited to be part of the Carbon Call to support and

expand collaboration in building interoperability in the carbon accounting

infrastructure to help accelerate climate action."

Microsoft

Lucas Joppa, chief environmental officer at Microsoft, said, "With so many

organizations now committing to net zero, one key piece is still missing: a

transparent and interoperable system to track, report and compare GHG emissions

and removals. The Carbon Call is a collaboration to enable reliability among

the multiple, different GHG accounting ledgers — from the corporate to the

national to the planetary. We encourage all organizations committed to net zero

to join us."

Mila, the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute

Yoshua Bengio, founder and scientific director of Mila, said, "A key challenge

to addressing the climate crisis globally is effectively accounting for carbon

so a price can be put on it. Machine learning has the potential to offer a

solution, but this requires that data from multiple sources be interoperable so

they can be aggregated and used in analysis. MILA is pleased to be part of the

Carbon Call collaboration to build a road map to ensure interoperability of

carbon data and improve carbon accounting."

Skoll Foundation

Bruce Lowry, senior advisor at Skoll Foundation, said, "Climate change requires

urgent, collective and coordinated action, including protecting forests and

managing land use better. But accounting data for emissions and carbon removal

by forests and other sectors remains siloed, making it difficult for countries

and companies to plan and take action. By catalyzing a more robust,

interoperable global accounting system, the Carbon Call will enhance carbon

accountability broadly. Having forest data integrated into a reliable global

accounting system will give local communities, companies and countries stronger

evidence of the value of preserving forests."

Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment

Christopher Field, Perry L. McCarty director at Stanford Woods Institute for

the Environment, said, "Natural climate solutions can be important contributors

to solving the climate crisis; at the same time they provide valuable

co-benefits for communities, economies and ecosystems. Getting the accounting

right is a critical foundation for building Natural Climate Solutions into a

comprehensive strategy for decarbonization. Stanford Woods Institute is pleased

to be collaborating on the Carbon Call to support efforts that enable more

reliable, transparent and integrated approaches to accounting for nature-based

carbon dioxide emissions and removals."

United Nations Environment Programme (collaborating organization)

Sheila Aggarwal-Khan, director of the United Nations Environment Program's

economy division, said, "With the scaled-up engagement the private sector saw

at COP 26 and the large number of new commitments and pledges, it is crucial

that we have a more transparent reporting system, one that builds confidence in

the reported reductions of financial institutions, industries and cities. The

Carbon Call will build on existing reporting initiatives in creating a coherent

and transparent common reporting format, once that ensures comparability of

reporting."

United Nations Foundation

Elizabeth Cousens, president and CEO of the United Nations Foundation, said,

"The science is clear: the pathway to 1.5°C is rapidly narrowing. To meet our

climate goals and save our planet for future generations, we need to slash

emissions significantly — and immediately. The Carbon Call is a welcome step

toward ensuring greater accountability and credibility for climate commitments

made across sectors."

Wipro Ltd.

Narayan P.S., VP and global head of sustainability and social initiatives at

Wipro Ltd., said, "In the run-up to COP26, we have seen an encouraging increase

in commitments from countries on emissions reductions, adding up to an

estimated two-thirds of the global economy. We are also seeing a concomitant

increase in corporate commitments with more than 2,000 companies that have set

science-based targets. While these are very positive developments, it is

absolutely critical that carbon accounting used to calculate GHG emissions is

transparent and based on science-based methods. We are happy to support the

Carbon Call's objectives of building a reliable system of GHG accounting with a

focus on some of the less understood areas like land use change and carbon

removals."

SOURCE  Microsoft Corp.

CONTACT: The Carbon Call, media@carboncall.org