Publications and Media

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

Showing 33 - 40 of 46 results

How Accounting, Blockchain and Regulation Can Help Achieve Decarbonization
by Kris Cooper

Kris Cooper from the Accountant spoke with our co-founders, Professors Bob Kaplan and Karthik Ramanna, Clare Adelgren (EY), and Nitin Jain (SAP Green Token) about the E-ledgers Institute’s proposal for carbon reporting where emissions occur, with blockchain and regulation driving adoption.

The Accountant

November 2023

MediaE-ledgers Method Policy and Regulation Technology
Why Recycled Materials Don’t Always Generate Greener Products
by Karthik Ramanna and Harry Kirk

Companies are increasingly facing pressure from stakeholders, external and internal, to improve product quality and reduce “dirty” production practices. Japanese electronics giant Hitachi and three of its suppliers undertook an E-liability pilot to understand where emissions were produced in the value chain for the copper used to manufacture its transformers and how different sourcing of the copper would affect the quantity of emissions produced. Published in HBR, a key finding of the project was that recycled copper can produce significantly more emissions than mining copper, if the recycling process is itself high-emitting and if the mining process is low-carbon.

Watch the companion video that examines Hitachi’s product-level emissions calculations

Harvard Business Review

November 2023

PublicationVideoCase Studies E-ledgers Method Procurement
Zooming Out: Accounting for Climate Change with E-liability
by Robert S. Kaplan

Our co-founder, Bob Kaplan, published an article in Issue 3 of the ThinkTank Net Zero Magazine on how E-liability accounting innovates standard emissions-measurement approaches. The article highlights key challenges currently facing the carbon accounting space and presents a strong case for E-liability’s bottom-up method, which holds businesses accountable only for their direct emissions and those embedded in inputs from their immediate upstream suppliers. 

ThinkTank Net Zero Magazine

October 2023

PublicationCarbon Markets E-ledgers Method
Accounting for Carbon Offsets

Robust Reporting Principles to Improve Today’s Carbon-Trading Markets

 by Robert S. Kaplan, Karthik Ramanna, and Marc Roston

Markets for carbon trading function poorly, and many traded offsets do not actually perform as promised. Without robust protocols for monitoring offsets and in the absence of proper accounting mechanisms, market-based approaches to reducing atmospheric GHG will be vulnerable to misrepresentation and fraud. Our co-founders offer E-assets as a solution, applying fundamental and well-established financial accounting principles to improve the measurement and reporting of carbon offsets. Published in the HBR, the article presents five core principles that define what constitutes an E-asset, when can such an offset be traded in arms’-length exchanges, when can the asset be used to extinguish emissions liabilities, and who bears responsibility for reporting offset impairments after the underlying assets are destroyed, for instance, due to fire or deforestation.

Watch the accompanying video

Harvard Business Review

July–August 2023

PublicationVideoCarbon Markets E-ledgers Method
What’s The Deal With E-liability?
with Karthik Ramanna

Our co-founder, Professor Karthik Ramanna, was interviewed on the Sustainability Smartpod on June 22, 2023. He explains the basics of E-liability and makes the case for why companies, standards setters, and regulators all around the world should familiarize themselves with the concept of E-liability.

Sustainability SmartPod

June 2023

PodcastE-ledgers Method
A Game Plan for Funding Carbon Offsets
by Robert S. Kaplan, Karthik Ramanna, and Marc Roston

We need a feasible market solution to mitigate the long-term consequences of today’s carbon emissions. The use of financial instruments such as perpetual bonds can make considerable quantities of capital available to offset producers, spurring the production and the creation of spot markets in offsets that can definitively and reliably be offset against emissions. This article explores these ideas in further detail.

Harvard Business Review

June 2023

PublicationCarbon Markets E-ledgers Method
Harvard University and Urban Mining Industries: Decarbonizing the Supply Chain
by Robert S. Kaplan and Shirley Lu

Our co-founder, Professor Robert Kaplan, and Shirley Lu (Harvard) co-authored a teachable case study describing Harvard University’s consideration to decarbonize its supply chain by replacing cement with a low-carbon substitute. The case illustrates the flow of emissions along a simple supply chain, from the manufacturing of the substitute to concrete production to Harvard University’s construction project.

Harvard Business Review

May 2023

PublicationCase Studies E-ledgers Method
Getting a Clearer View of Your Company’s Carbon Footprint
by Robert S. Kaplan, Karthik Ramanna, and Stefan J. Reichelstein

E-liability accounting will help customers factor in a product’s environmental footprint into their purchasing decisions and will help create a competition dynamic that leads to reduced carbon outputs. Two pilot studies by an Asian tire manufacturer and a German cement producer illustrate how the E-liability methodology can do this.

Harvard Business Review

April 2023

PublicationCase Studies E-ledgers Method

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