Purpose

Carbon Commons (CC) is a new collaboration to improve supply chain carbon accounting. 

Today’s carbon accounting methods often rely on inconsistent and incomplete data, which can result in fragmented, incomparable, and often unrealistic emissions estimates across complex supply chains. CC will help create a transparent, unified, usable, and fit-for-purpose approach towards a harmonised methodology, and principles for calculating hybridised emissions factors. 

Role

The CC Steering Group, provides independent governance, oversight and direction by convening non-commercial stakeholders to guide and validate priorities and outputs. It will ensure delivery of fit-for-purpose reporting that is practical, realistic, robust, comparable, and complete. 

Date: 26 January 2026 10:00-12:00 GMT

Location: online

Co-Chairs: Gavin Starks (Icebreaker One) and Duncan Oswald (Sage, interim co-chair pre-launch)

Secretariat: IB1

Meeting Aims: 

  1. Explain Carbon Commons and its governance processes
  2. Discuss targets and launch ideas
  3. Agree on Membership proposal and reach out to prospective members

Minutes:

  • It was agreed that:
    • the governance model and membership terms be adopted
    • the vision, mission, and values be adopted, subject to the addition of ‘five principles’
  • It was noted that:
    • for-profit organisations cannot sit on the Steering Group (n.b.  DO will step down as interim co‑chair and there will be a selection process for the new co-chair)
    • CC is positioned to aid harmonisation and compliance, not as a competing standard. The SG will determine its scope – e.g. data set(s), defining criteria for CC-compliant factors and methods, enabling comparability across products, companies and sectors.
    • the SG will approve a definition of ‘fit-for-purpose’ for CC
    • the role of technical and academic expertise is essential in safeguarding methodological quality 
    • governance is key to enable adoption and reduce risk
    • carbon accounting is increasingly important in procurement, taxation, cross-border adjustment mechanisms (CBAM), and financial decisions, but the data quality is not fit for purpose or system complete
    • product‑level emissions factors are an initial priority area for impact and alignment
  • It was discussed that:
    • there is a need to coordinate with government and parallel initiatives (e.g. WRI, UK Government) to ensure incremental development and avoid duplication of effort
    • clear communication and storytelling are critical: CC participants must be able to understand and explain what it is and what it is not (e.g. via product-level use cases) in plain language, for practitioners, SMEs and related stakeholders

Next meeting: March 2026 [date to be confirmed]

Formal records, including attendees, are maintained by the secretariat.  These are confidential to the Steering Group Members.