Leading scientists: corporate carbon accounting is broken, here is how to fix it

A new peer-reviewed paper backed by Cambridge spin-out Neutreeno argues that corporate carbon accounting is failing because the data behind climate targets is unreliable. Over 75% of a company's emissions sit in its supply chain, but the industry averages used to estimate them can be off by a factor of ten. The authors say this makes the data useless for real action, even though it ticks compliance boxes. The paper proposes the CSA Principles, a framework requiring emissions data to be credible, scalable, and actionable. It calls on policymakers, regulators, and investors to adopt these standards before the window to act closes. The timing is critical as governments in the EU and US are loosening emissions rules.