Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A research office produces an annual carbon inventory broken down by faculty and category, audited externally.
- Is an instance
A funder requires grant-holders to submit a one-page carbon report at year-end using a prescribed template.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A press-release headline carbon number without methodology is not carbon accounting.
- Not an instance
A spreadsheet of energy bills without conversion to CO2e is energy accounting, not carbon accounting.
Editorial commentary
Carbon accounting in research draws on the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064 standards. It involves data collection (energy bills, travel records, procurement spend, compute logs), conversion using emission factors (DEFRA, IEA, Ecoinvent), and aggregation by scope and category. Outputs feed institutional sustainability reports, funder disclosures, and project-level climate impact statements. Specialised tools include GES1point5, Sulis, and consultancy platforms. Quality and granularity vary widely; community calls for standardisation are growing.
References
- GHG Protocol Corporate Standard; ISO 14064-1.
Also known as
Research GHG accounting · Academic carbon inventory
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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vocab-term="Carbon accounting (research)"
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