The Global GHG Accounting and Reporting Standard for the Financial Industry, developed by the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF), provides a unified methodology for financial institutions to measure and disclose greenhouse gas emissions linked to their lending, investing, and insurance activities. Designed to bring consistency and credibility to climate reporting, the standard enables banks, asset managers, insurers, and other financial players to better understand the real-world climate impact of their portfolios and integrate emissions data into decision-making.

The 2025 update of the standard significantly expands its scope and usability. It introduces new methodologies covering a broader range of asset classes, including project finance, securitized assets, public-sector debt, and additional insurance products such as treaty reinsurance and project insurance. The update also adds guidance for measuring insurance-associated emissions and optional approaches for reporting financed avoided emissions and forward-looking metrics. Together, these enhancements improve transparency, support alignment with regulatory and reporting frameworks like IFRS S2 and CSRD, and help institutions set science-based climate targets and assess climate-related risks more effectively. This updated standard is a key enabler for the financial sector’s role in the net-zero transition.