The most important GHG accounting concept you may not have heard of: the attributional-consequential distinction
Since publishing this article, GHGMI now recommends the use of the term allocational instead of attributional. The justification for this change is explained in our “What is GHG Accounting?” series, which rigorously addresses the forms, definitions, and purposes of GHG accounting.
Too often environmental professionals, policy-makers, and standard-setters fail to distinguish between two major types of GHG accounting methods[1] – which are appropriate for fundamentally different purposes. Using the wrong type of method can lead to bad decision-making – and unfortunately, this happens all too often.
Many GHG accounting practitioners will be familiar with ‘attributional’ type methods, which create inventories of emissions—for example, corporate GHG inventories, national GHG inventories, and traditional product life cycle assessments. Often practitioners mistakenly assume that attributional is the only type of method, and try to use such methods to answer questions that they cannot and should not be used to answer – like how much a mitigation action reduces emissions.
A fundamentally different type of GHG accounting method is ‘consequential’, which aims to quantify the change in emissions caused by decisions or interventions. Examples include project-level accounting and consequential life cycle assessment. This type of method is also sometimes called ‘intervention’ accounting.
Figure 1 provides an overview of most GHG accounting methods and indicates whether they are attributional or consequential.
Figure 1. Categorisation of physical GHG accounting methods as ‘attributional’ or ‘consequential’
To give a real-world example for why the distinction matters: The Scottish whisky industry has started using the grain residues from its distilling processes as a fuel because it substitutes for their use of fossil fuels. With this change in fuels, the GHG emissions reported in their corporate GHG inventories decrease. However, livestock farmers who previously used the grain residues as animal feed now have to buy more soy meal, which increases the cultivation of soy and contributes to deforestation in countries expanding their agricultural output. The decision to switch fuels might look good within an attributional inventory of a single company, but such an attributional accounting method will not inform you of any changes in emissions caused by the decision that occur outside the corporate inventory boundary.
Appropriate purposes of attributional and consequential methods
Attributional methods are appropriate for allocating ‘carbon budgets’ to entities as, in theory, they can be ‘summed’ to equal total global emissions (e.g., the sum of all national inventories should approximate to total global emissions and the sum of all sub-national scope 1 emissions should approximate total direct national emissions) without double counting or omissions. Attributional methods generally provide clear rules for identifying a specific set of sources and sinks and allocating ‘ownership’ or ‘responsibility’ to different entities. For example, for national emission inventories, the boundary rule is all emissions/removals physically occurring within the country’s territorial borders. Such a rule can be applied with a high degree of certainty and is therefore appropriate for regulatory compliance or legally binding targets.
Consequential methods do not define a scope of responsibility concerning an entity in this way, as they are instead concerned with the impacts of specific decisions.
Problems arise when attributional methods are used to inform decisions aimed at reducing GHG emissions because attributional methods do not tell us about consequences that occur outside the entity’s defined inventory boundary. As a result, decisions can be blind to indirect impacts and actors can be misled into implementing actions that lower their entity’s attributed emissions while inadvertently increasing global emissions.
Instead, consequential methods should be used for informing decisions aimed at reducing emissions, as they provide information on the system-wide or global change in emissions caused by the decision or intervention (e.g., they set the accounting boundary as large as it needs to be to capture all material direct and indirect impacts). Returning to our Scottish whisky industry example, a proper application of consequential GHG accounting to estimate the impact of using grain residues for bioenergy would entail expanding the assessment boundary to include indirect effects, including those mediated through markets, and excluding from the assessment sources and sinks unaffected by the decision.
Table 1 provides a summary of the key features, limitations, and uses of each type of method.
Table 1. Summary of key features and appropriate uses of attributional and consequential methods
Common Issues
What is striking is that the attributional-consequential distinction is still not recognized widely enough by GHG management practitioners. Too often governments or companies implement climate change mitigation actions because doing so reduces emissions within an attributional boundary, without proper consideration of the system-wide consequences.
Another mistake that sometimes occurs is mixing elements of attributional and consequential approaches within a single method or analysis, such as including values for avoided emissions within what should be an inventory of actual emissions and removals. For example, a mistake that used to be present in the United Kingdom (UK) government guidance for corporate GHG accounting was the use of a negative emissions factor for recycled waste due to the avoidance of emissions from landfills. The results are problematic as they are inappropriate for managing carbon budgets as they do not sum to total emissions, and neither do the inventory results show the total system-wide change caused by specific decisions or interventions.
Conclusion
Importantly, BOTH attributional and consequential methods are needed – with each used for their appropriate purposes. Attributional methods can be used for allocating responsibility, setting reduction targets, and tracking progress towards the achievement of those targets within specified boundaries. But any actions aimed at reducing emissions should be checked with a consequential method to ensure they do not unintentionally increase emissions outside the inventory boundary. Further, you should be sceptical of any claims regarding or implying that actions taken led to “emission reductions” that are based solely on attributional GHG inventory reporting. Such claims should be supported with impact estimations using an appropriately chosen consequential method.
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Acknowledgments
I am thankful for the insightful comments from and discussions with my colleagues Michael Gillenwater (GHGMI) and Derik Broekhoff (SEI).
Author
Matthew is a Senior Lecturer in Carbon Accounting at the University of Edinburgh Business School, where he teaches on the MSc in Climate Change Finance and Investment. He has worked since 2006 in greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and climate change policy appraisal, in consultancy and academia.
He has participated in the development of numerous international standards for GHG accounting, including the revision of ISO 14064 parts 1 and 2, ISO 14067, and as chapter lead author for the GHG Protocol’s Policy and Actions Standard. He is a member of the Woodland Carbon Code’s Advisory Board, and is on the peer-review panel for the UK Government’s conversion factors for company reporting. He has a PhD in Carbon Accounting from the University of Edinburgh.
Recommended Citation
Brander, M., (2021). The most important GHG accounting concept you have never heard of: the attributional-consequential distinction. Seattle, WA. Greenhouse Gas Management Institute, April 2021. https://ghginstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Consequential-and-Attributional-Accounting-April-2021.pdf
[1] This paper focuses on GHG accounting, but the attributional-consequential distinction can be applied to all forms of social and environmental accounting.
This is possibly the best (because most intuitive) explanation of the attributional vs consequential debate that I have so far come across.
Thank you Max. Please share the post widely. We need to educate as many colleagues as possible to innoculate them against muddled thinking.
Very well put together!
There are, however, some further issues to consider:
In the whisky example the farmers may have started using another distillery’s grain residues that otherwise would have left to decay with methane emissions. And that would turn the assessment outcome upside down.
I agree that we should be sceptical “ of any claims regarding or implying that actions taken led to “emission reductions” that are based solely on attributional GHG inventory reporting”. However, I would me more sceptical of claims mostly based on the emissions reduced from the “consequential” sources. For example, an action is to reduce the use of aluminium in beer cans making each of them lighter. The one apply could claim emissions reductions due to the reduced aluminium production.
Thanks very much for the comments Oleg.
That’s right – if the baseline use of the grain residues was different (e.g. left to decay in anaerobic conditions) then using the residues as fuel would avoid the methane emissions from decay. A consequential method always measures change relative to a baseline.
I’m not sure I follow the point that we should be more sceptical about claims based on consequential sources? Do you mean claims when the reduction occurs through indirect or market-mediated effects – which are uncertain?
The important point is that consequential methods are the appropriate methods to use for quantifying change caused by decisions (and that attributional methods are not appropriate for this purpose).
Oh wow! Easy to read and provides the clear distinctions. Question: for countries currently doing their LTS, do you advise using both methods? The LTS sets different long term policy measures with the ultimate objective of net zero emissions within countries but I wonder the implications of such measures on other sectors regionally/globally?
Thanks very much for the comment and question. Yes – I would definitely recommend that countries assess the total change in emissions caused by their policies and actions – to avoid actions that reduce emissions within their national GHG inventories, but increase emissions elsewhere.
This is great. Thanks!
Thanks so much for this great article! It is indeed disingenuous to claim reductions when only looking at attributional type emissions.
A question: If a company were to report on their Scope 1 and 3 emissions, am I right in thinking that this would then account for both these types of accounting (attribution also and consequential) and this problem would be resolved?
Thanks very much for the comments and question.
That’s an important question to ask as the answer is definitely ‘No’ – accounting for scopes 1 and 3 (and 2) won’t necessarily capture the total system-wide change in emissions caused by company actions. The distillery example is a good one for illustrating this, i.e. the distillery’s scope 1 and 3 emissions will go down, but total emissions will go up.
There is often a mistaken view that ‘If we have complete scope 1, 2, and 3 accounting that will tell us everything’. But it won’t tell us about changes that occur outside of scope 1, 2, and 3.
The key point is that companies, governments, or any entity undertaking mitigation action needs to use consequential methods to assess the total change in emissions caused by their actions.
This article did great at explaining the distinctions. Certainly clear about it now.
Thank you Matthew.
Very clear and helpful explanation, and very much needed currently when many actors are making decisions with the reduction of GHG emissions as a target. So please be aware we need to reduce global emissions, not just your own organization ones.
This is extremely very useful and it has really opened me up on this issue . Thanks for the elaborate paper.
Thanks for sharing this post, it is very helpful article.
I think this is really informative! Thank you for this!
Great Work on this article. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful post!
Nice article! thanks for sharing the post!
Problems arise when attributional methods are used to inform decisions aimed at reducing GHG emissions because attributional methods do not tell us about consequences that occur outside the entity’s defined inventory boundary. As a result, decisions can be blind to indirect impacts and actors can be misled into implementing actions that lower their entity’s attributed emissions while inadvertently increasing global emissions.
SO TRUE! Great article, very helpful. Useful in a debate about how cloud compute providers ‘measure’ emissions for their users (spoiler alert – it’s all attributional).
Thanks very much for the comment – I’m glad it’s useful.
This article dives deep into the complex world of greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, focusing on the attributional-consequential distinction. The author’s expertise in the field is evident, and the article effectively explains a vital but often overlooked concept. It serves as an eye-opener for those involved in environmental accounting and sustainability efforts, emphasizing the importance of considering indirect consequences in GHG accounting. This is a must-read for professionals in the sustainability and environmental sectors.
Thanks very much for leaving this comment – I’m really glad this post has been useful.
Thanks for informing us about the ghg accounting concept.
In Kidderminster, a town known for its rich industrial heritage, the distinction between ‘attributional’ and ‘consequential’ GHG accounting methods is crucial. Attributional methods, like corporate or national GHG inventories, often lead to a narrow focus. However, Kidderminster, like many other places, needs consequential methods to measure the impact of specific environmental interventions accurately.
Accounting is a very important aspect of a business. Thanks for posting this content
Your write up is appreciated. I am involved in an agroforestry project where emissions reduction is expected to be estimated. Baseline and emissions as a consequence of intervention. It hadn’t seemed quite right to use methods for national greenhouse gas inventory while explaining the process now I have the right words. Thank you.
The distinction between attributional and consequential GHG accounting mirrors the solar industry’s approach, where the focus extends beyond immediate carbon savings to include full life cycle impacts.
This emphasizes the need for consequential accounting in truly understanding the environmental footprint of technologies like solar panels, ensuring that sustainable solutions lead to genuine reductions in net emissions 😀
Thanks for your comment Georgette – it’s great to hear that consequential methods are being recognised and used. I still run into lots of cases where attributional methods are used, when they aren’t the appropriate method.