The Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) has named S&P Global Sustainable1 – the central source for sustainability intelligence from credit rating agency S&P Global – as principal founding data partner to PCAF’s industry-led initiative standardizing greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting.

As financial institutions increasingly look to report the emissions associated with their financial activity, the top challenges involve the scarcity of high-quality data and the lack of standardization across the existing reporting processes. In recognition of this critical data gap in climate reporting, PCAF and S&P Global Sustainable1 have partnered to help increase transparency and comparability of emissions data disclosure across the international financial system.

The PCAF Standard, now widely adopted by financial institutions worldwide, is a cornerstone of the sector’s decarbonization process, and the PCAF continues to develop robust methodologies for GHG accounting across different sectors and asset classes to support financial institutions in this effort. Going forward, S&P Global Sustainable1 will support PCAF through its diverse set of sustainability data, research, and analytics.

S&P Global’s businesses bring their expertise in empowering firms with more transparent and comprehensive data to support firms’ comprehensive disclosures – crucial for organizations aiming to meet evolving reporting requirements and manage their climate-related risks.

“Our collaboration with S&P Global represents a significant step forward in our efforts to standardize emissions measurement and reporting across the financial sector,” says Angélica Afanador, PCAF’s executive director. “By sharing our resources and expertise with this industry-leading organization, we aim to elevate transparency and comparability across the international financial sector.” 

Chris Heusler, S&P Global Sustainable1’s president, adds: “As the financial sector sets ambitious emissions reporting targets, access to reliable high-quality data is crucial in helping them achieve their climate goals. We are deeply committed to accelerating progress and believe meaningful collaboration is key to success.”