New York City, 18 September 2023: The need for a faster pace of global climate action continues to rise exponentially and in recognition of this, the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) today announces the launch of new activity to support the financial sector’s decarbonization.
As an industry-led initiative, PCAF is uniquely positioned to develop new infrastructure to support the global financial sector in its transition to a more sustainable system. At an event hosted for its signatories, partners and funders today, PCAF announces the launch of a platform to train 2,500 financial professionals in carbon accounting, a partner program that encompasses the wider financial supply chain and its new Global Core Team.
PCAF trains 2,500 financial professionals in GHG accounting
The PCAF Academy is an e-learning platform for signatories and partners to build expertise in greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting. The Academy was developed with the aim of elevating the quality of financed emission accounting, driving standardized interpretation and application of the PCAF Standards, and enabling participants to take independent steps in their decarbonization journeys.
By deepening engagement with the PCAF Standards, the program will help deliver international consistency and comparability of financed emission accounting, thereby increasing the overall quality of disclosures.
The PCAF Academy provides signatories with the opportunity to build practical expertise, improving PCAF assessments and disclosure across asset classes. The Academy delivers an opportunity to explore the broader value of measuring and disclosing financed emissions and the individual asset classes through in-module examinations and a final financed emissions calculation test. Through the platform, PCAF estimates it will train 2,500 professionals in carbon accounting, whilst providing content for signatories to elevate their own in-house training.
Partner program launched to support financial sector
As the number of financial institutions committing to use the PCAF Standard to measure and disclose the emissions associated with their financial activity increases, the need to collaborate with third-party businesses supporting this activity is critical. To meet this rising demand, the PCAF Secretariat has developed an accredited partner program for service providers operating in this space, which it also launches today. This new model will provide service providers with access to the PCAF Database and technical assistance in the application of the PCAF Standard along with other benefits.
We are pleased to announce Watershed and Persefoni, leading enterprise climate platforms, as the first PCAF-accredited SaaS providers under the partner program.
New Global Core Team
The Global Core Team of PCAF leads the development of new accounting standards for the global financial industry. The new Core Team is made up of a diverse group of 14 members representing all regions and types of PCAF signatories. As PCAF’s global presence expands, it is essential that this breadth is adequately represented by the Core Team to ensure a range of viewpoints are included in new methodologies. The Core Team members were selected following a rigorous application process, which attracted over 50 highly qualified candidates from across the PCAF signatory community.
The new members of PCAF’s Global Core Team are: Chidozie Ezike of United Bank for Africa Plc (Nigeria), Emily Rodgers of EIG (US), Frida Panayi of Metrics Credit Partners (Australia), Giel Linthorst of ING (Netherlands), Hetal Patel of Phoenix Group (UK), Jamie Mattison of Morgan Stanley (US), Maren Bodenschatz of Swiss Re (Switzerland), Melanie Janse van Vuuren of Investec (South Africa and UK), Rafael Martins de Oliveira of Itau Unibanco (Brazil), Ryan Greenwald of PIMCO (US), Sharad Tuladhar of NMB Bank (Nepal), Sharna Bourke of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Australia), Stefan Henningsson of Nordea (Finland) and Yu Takita of Mizuho Financial Group (Japan). The group is chaired by Hetal Patel, Head of Climate Investment Risk at Phoenix Group.
The first important task for the Core Team will be to select areas for further GHG accounting methodology development in 2024. These areas will promote PCAF’s ambition to ensure that carbon accounting reflects the global financial sector’s diverse set of needs across climate risk management, disclosure, and target setting.
“PCAF is laying a foundation that the financial system can build on. Our new Global Core Team reflects the diversity of the international financial sector – and PCAF’s growing membership – and will shape the future development of guidance to meet the evolving needs of the global industry. We are committed to raising the quality and consistency of emissions disclosures and have developed these new offerings to guide and support the financial sector through its transition.”
Angélica Afanador, Executive Director of PCAF
About the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials
The Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) was launched globally in September 2019. Currently, more than 430 financial institutions have subscribed to the PCAF initiative. PCAF signatories work together to jointly develop the Global GHG Accounting and Reporting Standard for the Financial Industry to measure and disclose the greenhouse gas emissions associated with portfolios of loans, investments, provision of insurance , and other financial products and services. By doing so, PCAF signatories take an important step to assess climate-related risks, set targets in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and develop effective strategies to decarbonize our society.
