GHG accounting, from AP export to audit-ready ledger

GHG accounting is the process of turning business records into a greenhouse gas inventory under the GHG Protocol: every invoice line, meter reading and fuel receipt classified to a scope, matched to an emission factor, and posted to a ledger that can be audited. Here is exactly how Carbonaccounting.ai runs that process.

02 The six steps

Greenhouse gas accounting, step by step

Six steps, shaped like month-end close

Set the boundary

Choose the entities and sites that count as you (operational control, for most first inventories) and the reporting year. The boundary is recorded with the ledger, because every later number depends on it.

Live in the demo: the year and factor-region selectors set this per run.

Import what already exists

The accounts-payable export from your ERP, utility bills, fuel-card statements. CSV in. No questionnaires and no retyping: if finance already has it, it is a source document.

Live in the demo: paste AP lines as vendor, description, amount, currency.

Classify every line

AI drafts a GHG Protocol classification per line: Scope 1, 2 or 3, the Scope 3 category where it applies, and whether the line supports activity-based or spend-based estimation. Every draft carries a stated confidence.

Live in the demo: this is the pass you watch post row by row.

Apply factors, honestly labelled

Metered lines (kWh, therms, gallons, refrigerant kg) get physical combustion and grid factors. Everything else gets a sector spend factor from the region's factor family: EPA USEEIO, EXIOBASE-style EU, or UK DEFRA. The basis is stored per line, never averaged away.

Live in the demo: switch the factor region and watch the figures move.

Review the tail

A human reviews the low-confidence lines, which is where the real judgment lives. Overrides are recorded events with owners; the AI drafts, the reviewer decides. This workflow is the planned platform's core loop.

Planned: the review queue ships with the platform, not the demo.

Close and export

Totals by scope and category are summed deterministically from the classified lines, hotspots come with a concrete next data-collection action, and the basis-of-preparation note is drafted in disclosure register. Export the pack: ledger, totals, note.

Live in the demo: the totals bar, hotspots and drafted note under every run.

03 Methods

GHG emissions accounting methods

Spend-based, activity-based, supplier-specific

A defensible inventory uses all three, in that order, and says which sits behind every line.

Method	Input	Right for	Limit
Spend-based	AP lines × sector factor (kg CO2e per $)	Complete first screening; finding hotspots; setting the boundary	Coarse; insensitive to supplier choice
Activity-based	Quantities (kWh, litres, tonne-km) × physical factor	Scope 1 and 2 always; the biggest Scope 3 lines next	Data collection effort; only worth it where the tonnes are
Supplier-specific	The supplier's own footprint, allocated to what you buy	Top vendors by estimated emissions; where reduction must show up	Depends on supplier maturity; needs a request workflow

The greenhouse gas accounting standards behind all of this are the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard (Scopes 1 and 2) and the Corporate Value Chain Standard (Scope 3 and its 15 categories). What each disclosure regime then asks of the numbers is on the carbon accounting standards FAQ, and the deeper method reading is in our Scope 1 and Scope 2 guide.

04 Try it

Live demo · Scope Classifier

No signup needed

See your own spend classified to GHG Protocol scopes in about a minute.

01 Amazon Web Services Cloud infrastructure, annual $184,000 S3 20,240 kg

02 Con Edison Electricity, 82,400 kWh metered $14,600 S2 31,312 kg

03 Delta Air Lines Team offsite + client flights $32,500 S3 24,375 kg

Try the demo

See your own footprint classified in about a minute.

Run the live demo on a sample or on your own spend lines. If it earns it, request early access.

Try the demo