In this episode, Amy Brachio and Karthik Ramanna, Co-Chairs of ICC’s Technical Expert Panel, make the case for a ledger-based carbon accounting system where emissions – like money – are tracked, allocated and never lost. Drawing on real pilots, they explore what it will take to build a standard the world can actually trust – and finally turn better data into real emissions reductions.
Amy Brachio, CEO of Carbon Measures, joins Oxford University Professor Karthik Ramanna to unpack carbon accounting – the practice of measuring, tracking and allocating carbon emission data with a company’s activities.
As Co-Chairs of ICC’s Technical Expert Panel on Carbon Accounting, they explore why today’s carbon numbers are so inconsistent – the same factory, the same product, can produce different emissions figures depending on which customer is asking – and what it takes to fix that. Drawing on pilots with companies across cement, steel, energy and tyre manufacturing, they make the case for a ledger-based accounting system modelled on centuries-old principles of double-entry bookkeeping – one where emissions, like money, can be tracked, allocated and never lost as they move through the value chain, creating market-based incentives for emissions reduction.
Guest speaker:
Amy Brachio
Chief Executive Officer,
Carbon Measures
Hosted by:
Karthik Ramanna
Professor of Business and Public Policy,
Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University
Listeners will gain insight into:
why fragmentation remains a major challenge in emissions measurement and how businesses can collect and use primary emissions data across complex value chains;
how carbon accounting’s leger-based system aligns market incentives with emissions reductions, creating the conditions for lower-carbon products to compete and succeed at scale;
the critical distinction between carbon accounting and carbon reporting, and why getting the underlying data right means one accounting system can serve every disclosure format that follows, from CBAM and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and investor or customer requirements.
This episode was recorded on 9 September 2026.
*Disclaimer: The content of this podcast may not reflect the official views of the International Chamber of Commerce. The opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and other contributors.
