Carbon Accounting and Business Climate Strategy

Module 1: Review Business Climate Fundamentals

• Climate science
• Business drivers for climate action
• Implications of business drivers
• Carbon cycle

Objective: Understand why businesses seek to reduce GHG emissions

Significance: Knowing why businesses take climate action informs the rationale for proceeding through the course

Module 2: Measure and Report GHG Emissions

• Terms and Definitions
• Why accounting?
• GHG Protocol and scopes 1, 2, and 3
• Boundaries
• Emission factors and GWP
• Measurement tips and tricks
• Reporting programs and systems

Objective: Learn the mechanics of carbon/GHG accounting and measurement. Become acquainted with GHG reporting platforms.

Significance: GHG accounting lies at the heart of the course, allowing for the development of informed carbon strategy. Reporting platforms provide standards around how businesses communicate the accounting findings

Module 3: Set Goals and Targets

• Proliferation of terms
• Metrics and KPI
• Science-based targets
• GHG reduction, removals and offsets
• Related goals and target programs
• Economic growth vs. decarbonization

Objective: Understand the processes and programs through which carbon reduction targets are set.

Significance: Reduction targets are commonly the mechanism through which businesses seek to improve their climate performance, so understanding how they are set is important

Module 4: Action Planning

• Identify GHG reduction actions
• Integrate with business process
• Cost-benefit analysis, scenario analysis, and price on carbon
• Implement actions

Objective: Identify reduction actions. Translate measurement and targets into a short and long-term action plan.

Significance: Operationalizing the learning to date is critical for a business to succeed in reducing its carbon footprint

Module 5: Final Projects

Objective: Present final projects

Significance: Provides an experiential component to learning