Bankers Find Way to Claim Credit for Avoided Emissions
- PCAF says respondents have until end of Feb. to give feedback
- Market has been asking for emission metrics, PCAF’s Noach says
Such measures would, for example, allow banks to claim they’re helping avoid emissions by financing the early retirement of coal-fired power plants or a shift in steel production over to renewable energy.
Photographer: George Frey/BloombergBankers will soon be able to claim credit for emissions they say their financing has helped avoid, as the world’s largest voluntary carbon accounting framework for the finance industry works on broadening standards.
Under the approach, banks can assume a counterfactual scenario in which emissions remain elevated, and contrast that with the CO2 avoidance their loans or bonds enable, according to the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials. PCAF also is proposing expanding existing avoided-emissions guidelines to include all asset classes, rather than just the renewable power plants to which such reporting has so far been limited.