Glossary›Emissions accounting and measurement›GHG Protocol Corporate Standard
Glossary term
Cluster D · D20
Tier 1 · differentiator
GHG Protocol Corporate Standard
Definition
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, revised edition 2004, is the international standard for measuring an organisation’s greenhouse gas emissions. It defines the three scopes, sets the consolidation approaches for drawing an inventory boundary, and establishes the accounting principles. Australian standards require emissions to be measured in accordance with it.
· paragraph 29(a)(ii), Appendix B paragraphs B23 to B25 · in force, by reference to the 2004 revised edition
On this page
In practice
For a captured Australian entity this document is not a best-practice reference. It is the measurement basis the standard names, and the way AASB S2 names it has three consequences that are easy to miss and expensive to miss.
It is named by year. Paragraph 29(a)(ii) requires measurement in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (2004). Not “the GHG Protocol” generally. A basis of preparation citing the GHG Protocol without the edition has not said which document it applied.
AASB S2 overrides it where they conflict. Appendix B paragraph B23 states that an entity applies the requirements in the 2004 standard only to the extent they do not conflict with AASB S2. The worked example in the standard itself is Scope 3: the Corporate Standard does not require Scope 3 disclosure, AASB S2 does, and AASB S2 wins. The practical rule is that the GHG Protocol supplies the measurement method and AASB S2 supplies the disclosure obligation, and where the two disagree the Australian standard governs.
There is a jurisdictional carve-out. Appendix B paragraph B24 permits an entity required by a jurisdictional authority or a listing exchange to use a different measurement method to use that method for the part of the entity to which the requirement applies. For Australia that other method is the NGER Measurement Determination, which is why two captured entities of identical size can report on different measurement bases and both be compliant. Paragraph B25 closes the obvious gap: a jurisdictional requirement covering only part of the entity, or only some scopes, does not exempt the entity from disclosing Scope 1, 2 and 3 for the entity as a whole. And Appendix B paragraph B28 requires an entity using another method to disclose that method and the reasons for choosing it.
What the document actually contains, and what it does not, matters when writing a basis of preparation.
In the 2004 Corporate Standard
Not in it
The three scopes; the consolidation approaches; the accounting and reporting principles; base year and recalculation guidance; the treatment of biogenic CO2 as a separate line
The fifteen Scope 3 categories, introduced by the separate Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard in 2011; the dual location-based and market-based Scope 2 methods, which came from the 2015 Scope 2 Guidance
Anyone producing a categorised Scope 3 figure or a market-based Scope 2 figure is applying documents beyond the 2004 Corporate Standard, and the basis of preparation should name them.
On the revision programme, and why it changes nothing for now. The GHG Protocol is consolidating four workstreams (Corporate, Scope 2, Scope 3, and Actions and Market Instruments) into a single Corporate Standard version 3.0, developed with ISO. Per the Standard Development Plan of 29 July 2026, the consolidated draft goes to public consultation in Q2 2027 and publication is expected in Q4 2028, delivered in parts. The Australian obligation does not move with it. Paragraph 29(a)(ii) fixes the reference by name and year, so a new GHG Protocol edition does not flow through automatically: the AASB would have to amend AASB S2 to point at it. The practical effect is that the gap between global practice and Australian compliance will widen for a period after version 3.0 lands, which is another reason a basis of preparation should cite the edition applied rather than the family name.
What the assurer does with it
The assurer’s interest is whether the named standard is the one the model actually follows, and the tells are structural rather than arithmetic.
They read the basis of preparation for which documents are cited and with what editions. Then they look for the fingerprints. Fifteen Scope 3 categories in an inventory whose basis cites only the Corporate Standard means the Scope 3 Standard was applied and should be cited. A market-based Scope 2 figure means the Scope 2 Guidance was applied. A boundary approach named that the model does not follow means the citation is decorative.
Where an entity relies on the paragraph B24 jurisdictional carve-out, they test the scope of that reliance carefully, because it is a partial permission and is routinely over-claimed. NGER methods apply to the part of the entity subject to the NGER requirement. They do not license a different method across the whole group, and paragraph B25 makes that explicit.
They accept a basis of preparation naming the 2004 Corporate Standard with the edition stated, naming any supplementary standards applied, naming the consolidation approach with reasons, and matched by the model. They reject a generic “in accordance with the GHG Protocol” with no edition, a Corporate-Standard-only citation supporting a categorised Scope 3 figure, an NGER method applied group-wide on the strength of a partial obligation, and any position where the 2004 document has been followed in preference to AASB S2 on a point where the two conflict.
Commonly confused with
The Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard, which is the 2011 supplement containing the fifteen categories and is a different document. Also confused with the Technical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions, which is calculation guidance rather than a standard: citing it as the governing standard in a basis of preparation is a small but visible error. And confused with ISO 14064-1, which is an alternative inventory standard and is not what AASB S2 points to.
Timing and relief
Appendix C paragraph C4(a) permits an entity that used a different measurement method in the annual reporting period immediately preceding its first application of AASB S2 to continue using that method in its first period. Under paragraph C5 it may keep relying on that relief when presenting the relieved period as comparative information in later periods, so the entity is not forced to reconstruct a GHG Protocol comparative for a year it measured on another basis. Appendix B paragraph B28 requires the alternative method and the reasons for it to be disclosed.
Sources
1
2
Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (2004 revised edition)
GHG Protocol
3
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Disclosure requirements applying AASB S2, educational material (August 2025)
AASB
Review status
Review required
Last reviewed
15 September 2026
Editorial pass, unsigned
Reviewer required
Carbon accounting specialist and registered company auditor
Next scheduled review
1 July 2027
Part of
Cluster D, Emissions accounting and measurement
49 terms from the head term carbon accounting down to individual Scope 3 categories and the mechanics of factors, boundaries and data quality. The largest cluster in the glossary.
Related terms
The process the Corporate Standard governs
The 2011 supplement that supplied the fifteen categories
The alternative inventory standard AASB S2 does not point to
Related questions
Where do Australian emission factors come from?
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The National Greenhouse Accounts Factors, published each year by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. They give Scope 1 factors by fuel and Scope 2 electricity factors by state and territory. NGER-registered corporations must use NGER measurement methods for their NGER reporting.
We report under NGER. Does that automatically capture us?
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It can. If you are a corporation registered under the NGER Act and your Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are at or above the 50,000 tonne CO2-e publication threshold, you are in Group 1. Every other registered NGER corporation sits in Group 2, regardless of size.
What evidence do we need for each emissions number?
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Every reported number needs a source document you did not create for the report, the activity data drawn from it, the emission factor and its published edition, and the calculation joining them. Fleet fuel needs litres from fuel card statements, electricity needs kWh by site from retailer invoices with the matching state factor, and refrigerants need kilograms by gas type from service records.
Where this sits commercially
Carbonhalo names the 2004 edition and every supplementary standard applied in the basis of preparation, which is the citation an assurer can actually test the model against.
Other terms in this cluster
GHG Protocol Corporate Standard