COP26 Action Plan: Three Urgent Steps to Standardize Emissions Reporting

The RMI report 'COP26 Action Plan: Three Urgent Steps to Standardize Emissions Reporting' proposes a 'digitally native' GHG Protocol to improve the visibility and traceability of scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions across supply chains. The author argues that current accounting systems rely too heavily on approximations and spreadsheets, which hinders the ability to compare companies and incentivize decarbonization. The plan outlines a three-step transition: establishing unified accounting principles that prioritize primary data over averages, building a technical architecture based on distributed ledger technology to track embodied carbon at the product level, and evolving the market so that carbon emissions become a digital 'unit of trade' integrated into corporate financial disclosures.

• The current GHG Protocol is insufficient for comparing companies based on their scope 3 emissions because it provides multiple options for allocating the same emissions and contains fundamental gaps in reporting.
• RMI proposes a shift toward 'upstream primary data'—data collected directly from a plant or process—to replace the current reliance on averages and standard 'emissions factors' that limit options for reducing emissions.
• To enable the tracking of embodied carbon as it moves through supply chains, RMI suggests a standard, open-source technical architecture utilizing distributed ledger technology, similar to the technology used in cryptocurrency.
• The ultimate goal is a 'digitally native' system where carbon emissions act as a 'digital twin' of a product, turning emissions into a unit of trade and allowing for instant verification of climate credentials via digital wallets.
• There is a growing trend toward integrating GHG inventories into financial disclosures, with the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation and the US Securities and Exchange Commission considering such requirements.

APA

Natali, P. (2021). COP26 Action Plan: Three Urgent Steps to Standardize Emissions Reporting. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2021/11/rmi_cop26_action_plan.pdf

Chicago

Natali, Paolo. COP26 Action Plan: Three Urgent Steps to Standardize Emissions Reporting. RMI, 2021. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2021/11/rmi_cop26_action_plan.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Natali |first1=Paolo |title=COP26 Action Plan: Three Urgent Steps to Standardize Emissions Reporting |publisher=RMI |date=October 2021 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2021/11/rmi_cop26_action_plan.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{natali2021cop26, author = {Natali, Paolo}, title = {{COP26 Action Plan: Three Urgent Steps to Standardize Emissions Reporting}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2021/11/rmi_cop26_action_plan.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }