Register for carbon accountants launched

Global register will help vet the right accountants and help combat greenwashing

With mandatory carbon reporting looming for hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide, two leading sustainability groups are moving to crack down on greenwashing, by launching a global register to set professional standards in carbon accounting.

The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) and the Carbon Accounting Alliance (CAA) have unveiled plans for the Carbon Accounting and Auditors Register (CAAR), a rigorous new certification scheme to ensure only trained, competent professionals are calculating and verifying emissions data.

The register is set to launch globally by the end of 2025 but work is already under way. A new competency framework, lays out what skills, knowledge and qualifications carbon accountants must have – from junior to principal level – to be trusted with high-stakes climate data.

And it matters.

Businesses are under mounting pressure from net-zero targets, ESG reporting frameworks, regulators and investors to get their carbon figures right.

But there’s currently no quality control on the growing number of self-described ‘carbon accountants’. That’s left the door wide open to errors, overclaims or outright greenwash.

IEMA’s new framework aims to fix that, defining 15 core competencies at associate level, another 15 for practitioner status and 17 for those operating at principal level.

These cover everything from understanding emissions factors and GHG protocols to assessing supply chain impact, auditing and staying up to date with evolving carbon regulations like the expected Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

The goal is to raise the bar across the board, giving businesses confidence they’re working with qualified professionals, and giving those professionals a pathway to prove – and improve – their expertise.

Training providers are also being urged to align courses to the framework to help professionals fill any gaps in their skillsets ahead of CAAR’s launch.

Chloë Fiddy, IEMA’s Senior Climate Policy Lead, said: “It’s crucial to have a set of standards to which we can hold accountable Carbon Accounting professionals – not just so there’s an accessible benchmarking exercise, but also to protect the integrity of professionals carrying out this sensitive work.”

In a world where emissions data drives investment, the hope is CAAR could become the gold standard that filters out the fluff and puts integrity back into carbon reporting.

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