For more than two decades, organizations have been encouraged to set decarbonization (or net-zero) targets and use carbon accounting mechanisms to track emissions and monitor their progress toward those goals. However, net-zero targets are difficult to reconcile with growth ambitions, and the decarbonization benefits of carbon accounting are becoming harder to demonstrate, leading to a crisis in carbon accounting.

Net-zero goals

As the link between greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change has become clear, organizations and society have sought to measure and control emissions, often seeking to decarbonize energy systems and eventually balance out all the emissions they cause — a so-called net-zero goal.