Guidelines for real estate emissions reporting released

New technical guidelines have been released for accounting and reporting real estate’s greenhouse gas emissions.

PCAF (Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials), CRREM (Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor) and GRESB (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) have collaborated to release harmonized technical guidance for the financial industry on Accounting and Reporting of GHG emissions from Real Estate Operations. 

The new technical guidance for banks, investors and asset managers is intend to serve as a best practice document with additional specifications to PCAF’s Global GHG Accounting and Reporting Standard for the Financial Industry on a range of technical, data and standards issues relating to operational GHG emissions from real estate. 

The guidance sets out recommendations for accounting procedures for both investors and banks, direct and indirect investments, equity and debt, full ownership and joint partnerships, under a variety of consolidation approaches.

Clarifications and key recommendations included in this paper include clear definitions for GHG emissions from real estate and differentiation of various categories, including a review of operational carbon versus embodied carbon in the real estate sector. 

It also includes clarification on emissions scope delineation and attribution for various financial actors and boundaries between tenant and landlord emissions.

The document can be accessed here.