An established framework for the measurement and management of greenhouse gas emissions, the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, breaks down emissions into three distinct categories known as scopes 1, 2, and 3. 

Scope 1 concerns direct emissions created from the operations owned or controlled by an entity; scope 2 emissions come from purchased electricity, heat, steam, and cooling;  and scope 3 emissions include all other indirect emissions both up and downstream in an entity’s value chain.

Carbon accounting is the process of calculating, analyzing, measuring and reporting an organization's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions so that it is fully auditable. It’s sometimes called greenhouse gas accounting, carbon auditing, a carbon inventory or greenhouse gas inventory. Organizations, businesses, cities and many other entities use carbon accounting to manage their carbon footprint.

Carbon accounting quantifies the amount of GHGs produced by private and public organizations to better understand how much carbon they are emitting. It also measures which part of their operations is responsible for those emissions.

1. And you may ask yourself, "Well... how did I get here?" (Tell us your journey?)