CEPPA Climate Ethics Talk (in-person) – Matthew Brander (University of Edinburgh)

Title: Responsibility, Causality, and Carbon Accounting

Abstract:  Carbon accounting standards hold companies accountable (i.e. responsible) for the greenhouse gas emissions from their value chains, but what is the basis for this allocation of responsibility? There may be a partial causal ‘logic’ that underpins this assignment of responsibility, but this is not explicitly reflected on or discussed within carbon accounting standards, nor the related academic literature. As well as being an interesting question in its own right, the answer may be useful for guiding the development of carbon accounting standards. E.g. under ‘market-based’ accounting, is it appropriate for companies to report emissions based on their purchase of ‘emission attribute certificates’? Or does the allocation of emissions need to conform to some kind of real-world physical or causal relationship between the reporter and the emissions reported? This paper offers an initial exploration of the underpinning intuitions or rationales at play within carbon accounting practice.

Location:  Edgecliffe G03