Publications and Media

Discover the latest developments, articles, and podcasts on E-ledgers accounting.

Showing 17 - 24 of 46 results

America’s Advantage in Clean Production Can Make Manufacturing Great Again
by Karthik Ramanna

At recent U.S. Senate confirmation hearings, policymakers debated how to reinvigorate domestic industry without triggering inflation or a trade war. Our co-founder, Professor Karthik Ramanna, explores an emerging solution to this: a dynamic emissions-based tariff system that accounts for actual product-level emissions. By using E-liability cradle-to-gate emissions accounting, tariffs can be fair, WTO-compliant, and innovation-driven.

Promarket

February 2025

PublicationPolicy and Regulation
Summary: Evolving E-ledgers: Conceptual Advances and Real-World Applications
by E-ledgers Institute

On October 10th, 2024, the E-ledgers Institute successfully hosted its third conference, Evolving E-ledgers: Conceptual Advances and Real-World Applications. The virtual event brought together over 250 industry practitioners and Institute staff to advance the field of rigorous carbon accounting. It featured critical discussions on the latest developments in carbon accounting methodologies and their practical implications across various sectors.

Watch Session 1: An Update on the E-ledgers Framework
Watch Session 2: E-liability Pilot Update
Watch Session 3: E-liability Proto-Standard and Closing Remarks

E-ledgers Institute

October 2024

PublicationVideoCase Studies E-ledgers Method Policy and Regulation
IFC Report: Empowering Carbon Accounting: from Data to Action
by Alessandra Alfieri, Lauren Holloway, Ulf von Kalckreuth, Stephan Moll, Christian Schmieder, and Bruno Tissot

In February 2024, we supported an influential workshop on measurement, reporting, and dissemination of carbon content information at the Deutsche Bundesbank Regional Office in Hamburg, Germany. We are delighted to share the new BIS / IFC report summarizing key findings from this workshop, co-authored by Lauren Holloway (Chief of Staff). The report reinforces the need for collaboration among industries, statisticians, and policymakers to close data gaps and establish a robust global carbon accounting framework.

Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics, Bank for International Settlements

October 2024

PublicationE-ledgers Method Governance Policy and Regulation
E-ledgers Institute Welcomes Renowned Scientist Maria Zuber as New Board Chair

In September of 2024, the E-ledgers Institute was pleased to announce that Professor Maria T. Zuber, one of the United States’ most respected scientists, will be joining our Board of Directors as the new Chair, effective 1 October 2024. ​​Zuber, the E. A. Griswold Professor at MIT and Presidential Advisor for Science and Technology Policy at MIT, brings deep expertise in climate science, technology, and policy, with leadership experience across NASA missions, MIT’s climate action plans, and U.S. presidential advisory councils.

E-ledgers Institute

September 2024

MediaAnnouncement
A Proto-Standard for Carbon Accounting and Auditing using the E-Liability Method
by Lauren Holloway, Karthik Ramanna, Max Israelit, Chloe Wenye Zhang, and Robert S. Kaplan

The E-ledgers Institute is excited to announce the release of a draft Proto-Standard for carbon accounting and auditing using the E-liability method. A number of different jurisdictions are currently attempting to develop standards for entities to calculate and report the GHG emissions embedded in their outputs, especially to have an assessment basis for planned carbon border levies. This document can serve as a complementary guide for such efforts, ensuring that standards developed in different geographies, industries, and sectors follow similar, interoperable, and conceptually sound accounting principles.

SSRN

September 2024

PublicationE-ledgers Method Governance
Disclosing Downstream Emissions

When are companies accountable for customers’ use of their products?

by Robert S. Kaplan and Karthik Ramanna

An increasing number of companies are using the E-liability carbon-accounting method as an important tool for tracking progress toward reducing global emissions in their supply chains. The system does not require formal accounting for downstream emissions – those occurring after a company sells its products to immediate customers, for several good reasons. Certain companies, however, are accountable for disclosing downstream emissions generated by consumers’ use of their products. This article presents three principles to govern accountability and explains how and to what standards of reliability the companies should disclose downstream emissions.

Harvard Business Review

July-August 2024

PublicationDownstream Emissions E-ledgers Method
What’s Scope 2 Good For?
by Marc Roston, Alicia Seiger, and Abigail Mathieson

Scope 2 has long been pivotal in addressing electricity’s role in emissions, yet its effectiveness in emissions accounting is limited. Marc Roston (Senior Fellow) and Alicia Seiger (Board member), with co-author Abigail Mathieson, explore some of the challenges with status quo approaches to account for electricity-derived emissions, including the market vs location emissions and grid-embodied emissions. Seiger, Roston, and Mathieson introduce the concept of carbon solvency as a model to enable more accurate emissions accounting and investment decisions for grid decarbonization.

Oxford Academic

July 2024

PublicationCarbon Markets Electricity Emissions
How Europe’s Import Carbon Tax Can Boost Prosperity, Not Hurt It
by Karthik Ramanna

The EU is implementing a definitive Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) from 2026, an import tax of sorts to level the playing field for domestic companies that are subject to more-stringent environmental regulations than many overseas suppliers. Professor Karthik Ramanna sets out that the primary challenge for CBAM is the absence of an accurate, verified, and comparable basis for import levies. He describes how carbon accounting can be harnessed to ensure effective implementation of CBAM and its environmental goals.

Impact Alpha

June 2024

PublicationPolicy and Regulation

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