First Carbon Accounting Panel Established by ICC and Carbon Measures

Global business coalition unveils first carbon accounting panel to develop standardised ledger-based emissions tracking system.

The International Chamber of Commerce and Carbon Measures announced the first carbon accounting panel on 19th January 2026, appointing 10 specialists to develop a global framework for tracking product-level emissions across supply chains. The first carbon accounting panel, formally known as the Technical Expert Panel on Carbon Accounting, represents a significant industry-led initiative to address longstanding challenges in carbon measurement and reporting, potentially reshaping how businesses and governments approach climate accountability.

Ledger-Based System to Eliminate Double Counting

The panel’s mandate centres on creating a ledger-based carbon accounting system modelled on financial reporting principles, designed to eliminate double counting and provide verifiable emissions data at each step of the value chain. This marks a departure from existing frameworks that critics argue have allowed inconsistencies to persist in corporate climate disclosure.

Amy Brachio, chief executive of Carbon Measures and panel co-chair, described the initiative as essential infrastructure for climate action. “You can’t effectively manage what you can’t accurately measure,” she said, emphasising that current systems have relied too heavily on estimates rather than precise data.

Panel Members Span Industry and Academia

The first carbon accounting panel draws members from industry, academia, science and civil society across multiple geographies. The initial cohort includes Alicia Seiger, climate director at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Dr Amy Luers, head of sustainability science and innovation at Microsoft, and Jakob Stausholm, former chief executive of Rio Tinto and now a fellow at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government.

Other appointees include Dr Benedikt Plümper, head of ESG portfolio management at Banco Santander, Billy Pizer, chief executive of Resources for the Future, Kate Maher, professor at Stanford University, and Koushik Chatterjee, executive director and chief financial officer of Tata Steel. The panel also includes Armin Knors, former head of engineering and technology at Bayer, Rachel Teo, a private family office managing director, and Tatsuya Hoshino, executive strategist at Mitsui.

All members serve in a personal capacity rather than representing their organisations, a structure the ICC views as crucial for maintaining the panel’s independence. The selection process prioritised geographical diversity and technical expertise across sustainability, public policy, industrial systems and financial accounting.

Framework Models Financial Accounting Principles

Karthik Ramanna, professor at Oxford University and panel co-chair, drew parallels to the development of generally accepted accounting principles nearly a century ago. “About 90 years ago, a small group of experts from business and academia gathered in the wider public interest to create GAAP for financial accounts,” he noted. “Their innovation allowed capital markets to scale like never before. We are at a stage today where a similar set of rigorous, technologically agnostic, policy-neutral accounting principles are needed for supply-chain emissions.”

The first carbon accounting panel builds on the E-ledgers methodology developed by Ramanna and Harvard professor Robert Kaplan in 2021. This approach treats emissions as transferable liabilities passed through the value chain, fundamentally differing from the Greenhouse Gas Protocol that has served as the global standard for over two decades.

Global emissions have risen 65% since 1990, reaching record levels despite the proliferation of corporate climate pledges. Fossil fuel emissions alone hit 37.4 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2024, according to the Global Carbon Budget report, whilst atmospheric CO2 concentrations reached 422.8 parts per million, the highest in recorded history.

Nineteen Companies Back the Initiative

Carbon Measures launched on 20 October 2025 as a coalition of 19 companies spanning energy, finance, manufacturing and logistics sectors. Founding members include ExxonMobil, ADNOC, BASF, Banco Santander, BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners, Air Liquide, Bayer, Honeywell, Linde, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsui, NextEra Energy, Nucor, the Port of Rotterdam and Vale.

The coalition emerged against a backdrop of rising global emissions despite record climate investments. Global greenhouse gas emissions reached 53.2 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2024, a 1.3% increase from 2023, according to the European Commission’s Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research. Data indicates that less than 16% of carbon credits demonstrate genuine emission reductions, whilst more than half of companies misreport Scope 3 emissions from their supply chains, according to independent reviews.

Andrew Wilson, ICC deputy secretary-general, said the appointments reflect the expertise required to unlock carbon accounting as a decarbonisation tool. “The initial appointments to the panel bring an exceptional depth and range of experience, reflecting the diversity of expertise that will be required,” he said. The ICC announced on 4 November 2025 that it would form the panel, then extended the application deadline to 15 February 2026 to accommodate additional qualified candidates following strong global interest.

Technical Hurdles Remain Substantial

The first carbon accounting panel faces substantial technical challenges. Developing a globally consistent framework requires reconciling diverse measurement practices across industries and regions. China’s emissions rose 0.4% in 2024 whilst India’s surged 4.6%, reflecting divergent trajectories amongst major emitters. Many developing economies lack the infrastructure for granular emissions tracking, whilst data integration across complex supply chains involving hundreds of suppliers presents operational hurdles.

The proposed system aims to track emissions at the product level rather than merely at the corporate level, enabling differentiation between high and low-carbon versions of the same commodity. This granularity could influence procurement decisions, carbon border adjustments and market-based climate policies.

S&P Global Commodity Insights serves as the panel’s independent knowledge partner, providing analytics and carbon market infrastructure expertise. The panel’s work will be supported by an advisory group of 25 members representing private sector and non-profit organisations.

Draft Standards Expected by Year-End

The first carbon accounting panel intends to develop guiding principles that build on existing frameworks whilst addressing current limitations. Their work will include detailed implementation roadmaps for standard-setters and policymakers, recommendations for improving data quality and governance, and proposals for attestation standards and enforcement mechanisms.

Industry observers expect the panel’s first meeting later in the first quarter of 2026, with draft standards for the power and steel sectors anticipated by year-end. The broader framework could take two years to develop, with scaling expected over five to seven years, according to coalition estimates.

The initiative’s success depends partly on adoption by standard-setting bodies and regulators. The framework must align with existing disclosure requirements whilst offering sufficient improvement to justify transition costs for companies already reporting under established protocols.

Markets Await Investment-Grade Climate Data

Carbon Measures positions the first carbon accounting panel’s work as complementary to voluntary climate commitments, arguing that market-based mechanisms require accurate data to function effectively. The coalition calls for policies that reward low-carbon production through product-level carbon intensity standards based on verifiable information.

Critics may question whether an industry-backed initiative can deliver the rigour required for credible climate accounting, particularly given the presence of fossil fuel companies among Carbon Measures’ founding members. The panel’s independence and its ability to withstand commercial pressures will prove crucial for legitimacy.

For financial markets, the first carbon accounting panel represents potential progress towards investment-grade climate data. Accurate product-level emissions information could affect asset valuations, enable more sophisticated climate risk assessment, and support the development of markets that price carbon performance more efficiently.

The International Chamber of Commerce, representing more than 45 million companies across 170 countries, brings convening power and cross-border standard-setting experience accumulated over nearly a century since its 1919 founding. Its involvement signals business appetite for harmonised approaches to carbon measurement, even as debate continues over the appropriate balance between voluntary initiatives and regulatory mandates.

Whether the first carbon accounting panel can deliver a framework that satisfies both market participants and climate advocates remains uncertain. The test will be whether improved measurement translates into accelerated emissions reductions, or merely provides more sophisticated documentation of continued warming trajectories.