Carbon accounting
GHG Protocol
Definition
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the international standard for greenhouse gas accounting and reporting, created by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development as a partnership launched in 1998. Its Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (first published 2001) categorises emissions into Scope 1 (direct), Scope 2 (purchased energy), and Scope 3 (value chain, 15 categories), with additional standards for products, projects, cities, and policies.
References
origin, structure, adoption
history and scope definitions
Overview
What it means
The Protocol is the de facto grammar of corporate climate disclosure: in 2016, 92% of Fortune 500 companies reporting to CDP used it directly or through programmes based on it. Its five accounting principles — relevance, completeness, consistency, transparency, accuracy — and its scope framework are embedded in CDP, SBTi, ISSB, and CSRD requirements.
How it is used
Companies follow the standards to build inventories and set targets; assurance providers audit against them; and regulators reference them in mandatory disclosure regimes worldwide.
Why it matters
Without a common accounting language, corporate climate claims are incomparable; the GHG Protocol is what makes net-zero commitments auditable in principle. **Note:** 1200 GHG Protocol Corporate Standard merges into this entry as the flagship standard within the Protocol family.