Postgraduate Course: Carbon Accounting (CMSE11151)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 15 |
ECTS Credits | 7.5 |
| Summary | The course aims to provide students with an understanding of the range of measurement, calculation, reporting and auditing - in short, accounting - requirements and challenges imposed by climate change and the policy responses to climate change. Students will come away from the course with specific skills in the calculative practices associated with carbon accounting. |
| Course description |
The course provides an overview of the different forms of carbon accounting, and their different purposes. Why does carbon accounting mean different things to different people? The course explains the ways in which carbon accounting is interpreted by different actors. We will discuss why this matters, and how disagreements in carbon accounting affect carbon markets and carbon disclosure, and hence carbon finance and investment.
Syllabus
Introduction to Carbon Accounting: why does carbon accounting mean different things to different people?
Carbon Accounting at the Firm Level
Carbon Accounting at the Project Level
Carbon Accounting for Products and Supply Chains
Carbon Auditing
Carbon Disclosure and Reporting
Carbon in the Financial Accounts
Benchmarking Performance
Tax Treatment
Accounting for Stored Carbon
Student Learning Experience
The course includes a large number of guest speakers, both in person and via Skype for overseas speakers. This provides useful real-world insights alongside the more theoretical aspects of the course.
The course will be taught through weekly lectures and some weeks will include a case study, group exercise or other interactive discussion component in the seminar session.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | For Business School PG students only, or by special permission of the School. Please contact the course secretary. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
150
(
Lecture Hours 25,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
120 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
70 %,
Coursework
30 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Group coursework exercise - 30%
The group coursework exercise involves drafting a wiki entry on a greenhouse gas accounting standard; and peer-reviewing another group's draft. The final wiki entries will be publicly available online.
The weightings of the individual coursework components are as follows:
Group work on wiki peer-to-peer marking: 25% (7.5% of total course mark)
Written review of wiki entry: 50% (15% of total course mark)
Final wiki entry: 25% (7.5% of total course mark)
Exam - 70% |
| Feedback |
Assignment feedback will be provided on a feedback form in the appropriate format. Assignment marks and feedback will be made available a maximum of 15 working days after assessment completion.
Feedback will comprise general & peer feedback for non-assessed group exercises and presentations, and formal feedback on the coursework exercise and exam. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and critically discuss the range of measurement, calculation, reporting and auditing requirements and challenges imposed by climate change and the policy responses to climate change
- Understand and critically evaluate the main drivers for carbon accounting, and have an appreciation for how they may change over time
- Explain and discuss the relationship between conventional accounting and carbon accounting
- Critically discuss the ethical questions raised by carbon accounting, and the risks associated with different accounting practices
- Understand and critically evaluate the difference between attributional greenhouse gas inventories and consequential assessments of change
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Reading List
Ascui, F. and Lovell, H. (2011) As frames collide: Making sense of carbon accounting. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 24 (8): 978-999.
World Resources Institute (WRI)/World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) (2004) The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. Revised edition. Pages 6-33. Available at: http://www.ghgprotocol.org/standards/corporate-standard
Gray, R. and Bebbington, J. (2001), Accounting for the environment, 2nd ed., Sage Publications, London. Chapters 5 (environmental audit and management systems), 6 (accounting for energy) and 7 (accounting for waste).
Kolk, A., Levy, D. and Pinske, J. (2008), Corporate responses in an emerging climate regime: The institutionalization and commensuration of carbon disclosure, European Accounting Review 17 (4): 719-745.
World Resources Institute (WRI)/World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) (2004) The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. Revised edition. Pages 34-85. Available at: http://www.ghgprotocol.org/standards/corporate-standard
Carbon Disclosure Project (2011) CDP Global 500 Report 2011: Accelerating Low Carbon Growth. Read the executive summary and browse the remainder of the report. Available at:
https://www.cdproject.net/en-US/Pages/global500.aspx
Carbon Disclosure Standards Board (2009), The Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) Reporting Framework: Exposure Draft, Carbon Disclosure Project, London.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (2009) Typico plc Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report. This document is an example of reporting GHGs according to the CDSB.
Graafland, J. J, Eijffinger, S. C. W. and Smid-Johan, H. (2004) Benchmarking of corporate social responsibility: Methodological problems and robustness. Journal of Business Ethics 53 (1): 137:152.
Tucker, F. G., Seymour, M. Z., and Camp, R. C. (1987) How to measure yourself against the best. Harvard Business Review 65 (1): 8-10.
Carbon Disclosure Project (2011) CDP Global 500 Report 2011: Accelerating Low Carbon Growth. Examine one sector within the report. Available at:
https://www.cdproject.net/en-US/Pages/global500.aspx
ENDS Carbon (2009) 2009 UK Supermarkets carbon benchmark. Available at:
http://bit.ly/supermarketscarbon-presscopy
Gray, R. and Bebbington, J. (2001), Accounting for the environment, 2nd ed., Sage Publications, London. Chapter 9 (LCA).
British Standards Institution (BSI) (2008), PAS 2050:2008. Specification for the assessment of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services, British Standards Institution, London.
WRI/WBCSD (2011) Corporate Value Chain (Scope3) Accounting & Reporting Standard. Available at: http://www.ghgprotocol.org/standards/scope-3-standard
WRI/WBCSD (2011) Product Life Cycle Accounting & Reporting Standard. Available at: http://www.ghgprotocol.org/standards/product-standard
Kane, M. A. (2009) Tax and efficiency under global cap-and-trade, in Stewart, R. B., Kingsbury, B. and Rudyk, B. (eds) Climate Finance: Regulatory and Funding Strategies for Climate Change and Global Development, NYU Press, New York and London, pp. 300-304.
Margoliath, Y. (2009) Tax consequences of carbon cap-and-trade schemes: Free permits and auctioned permits, in Stewart, R. B., Kingsbury, B. and Rudyk, B. (eds) Climate Finance: Regulatory and Funding Strategies for Climate Change and Global Development, NYU Press, New York and London, pp. 305-310.
Cook, A. (2009) Emission rights: From costless activity to market operations, Accounting, Organizations and Society 34: 456-468.
Lovell, H. et al. (2010) Accounting for Carbon. London, UK: The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
KPMG (2008), Accounting for carbon: the impact of carbon trading on financial statements, KPMG, London.
PricewaterhouseCoopers and IETA (2007), Trouble-entry Accounting Revisited, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), London.
Fogel, C. (2005), Biotic carbon sequestration and the Kyoto Protocol: The construction of global knowledge by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, International Environmental Agreements 5: 191-210.
UNFCCC (2009) Clean Development Mechanism Validation and Verification Manual (version 01.1).
Available at: http://cdm.unfccc.int/Reference/Manuals/accr_man01.pdf
Brander, M., Carstairs, S. & Topp, C.F.E., 2014. Global protocol for community scale greenhouse gas emissions: a trial application in the West Highlands of Scotland. Greenhouse Gas Measurement and Management, 0(0), pp.1¿17. Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/20430779.2013.877313
Brander, M, Ascui, F, Houston, K, Gillenwater, M & Kerr (2014) A Response to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol¿s
Consultation on Draft Scope 2 Guidance. http://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/response-to-the-greenhouse-gas-protocols-consultation-on-draft-scope-2-guidance(94af6125-fdd2-4a4e-8101-008d937baad3).html
Searchinger, T. et al., 2008. Use of U.S. croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land-use change. Science, 319(5867), pp.1238¿40.
WBCSD/WRI, 2014a. GHG Protocol - Policy and Action Standard - Executive Summary, Geneva, Switzerland and Washington, DC, USA. Available at: http://www.ghgprotocol.org/files/ghgp/Policy and Action Standard - Executive Summary.pdf. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive Skills:
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Critically evaluate carbon accounting statements, whether in the financial accounts, footprinting reports, carbon disclosure reports etc.
Critically evaluate alternative approaches to carbon accounting.
Conceptualise key strategic considerations associated with carbon accounting.
Cooperate with others from different professional, educational and cultural backgrounds to produce group analysis and present the results of group work.
Peer review colleagues written work.
Subject Specific Skills:
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Undertake a firm, project or product/supply chain carbon footprint.
Use climate change reporting standards and protocols to report on carbon emissions and benchmark performance.
Understand new developments in carbon accounting, and evaluate the implications for business.
Be able to evaluate the pros and cons of carbon accounting alternatives.
Be able to understand, speak and write in the language of carbon accounting. |
| Keywords | CarbAcc |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Gbenga Ibikunle
Tel: (0131 6)51 5186
Email: Gbenga.Ibikunle@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Ashley Harper
Tel: (0131 6)51 5671
Email: Ashley.Harper@ed.ac.uk |
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