Financed emissions – top tips for finance teams of financial institutions

A4S Financed emissions – top tips for finance teams of financial institutions

Calculating an emissions baseline: data and methodologies

The climate crisis presents a significant threat to our economic and financial stability. This threat directly impacts financial institutions, which also have substantial influence in accelerating global decarbonization efforts. While measuring financed emissions alone will not reduce overall emissions, it represents a crucial step in identifying and mitigating emissions and achieving net zero objectives. Currently, there is a lack of international best practices in this area, which prompted A4S to develop top tips, tailored for finance teams within financial institutions.

These top tips guidelines offer practical steps to address the challenges associated with calculating an emissions baseline, with a specific focus on data collection, methodologies, and establishing a baseline. The top tips not only highlight key challenges but also provide strategies for overcoming them, complete with case studies. 

"The risk that climate change poses to our economic and financial stability is catastrophic. Given their place in the financial system, financial institutions have a strategic imperative, a moral responsibility and critical leverage to drive faster global decarbonization. Measuring and reporting emissions – across all scopes – are vital steps we must take towards reducing and ultimately eliminating those emissions. Challenging though this is, finance teams are well positioned and appropriately skilled to play a key part in overcoming these challenges and delivering on net zero goals."

Helen Slinger, Executive Director, A4S