Future Super aims to set carbon reporting standard

Ethical superannuation fund Future Super is setting up a new industry standard for carbon reporting to measure business carbon emissions.

Future Super’s Carbon Transparency methodology aimed to track the emissions created by our money.

The fund said it would lay the foundation for businesses to be more transparent in how they calculate their carbon use and the impact this has on the environment.

“For too long, there’s been no consistent approach or standardised metric to reporting on an investment fund’s net carbon footprint,” the fund said.

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“This has led to distorted data, confusion and businesses simply putting it into the ‘too-hard to do' basket.”

Future Super had been carbon negative since 2018 and aimed to use these learnings to help other businesses achieve the same result.

Its member base more than doubled in 2020 as consumers switched to ethical finance options and voted with their wallets.

“The year 2020 needs no introduction. We lived through catastrophic bushfires, a devastating pandemic and the worst flooding in over a hundred years,” the fund said.

“This global heightened awareness around the fragility of our world and climate highlighted the importance of taking action now to protect it.

“Scores of global and national enterprises made commitments to shift to net zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

Part of the calculation used in the formula was the net carbon position of a portfolio (i.e. emissions less abatement), financed emissions of a portfolio (i.e. the emissions made by investments, apportioned for the share of these companies we own), and financed abatement of a portfolio (i.e. the emissions abated by displacing carbon intensive energy using environmentally friendly sources).

“Despite all net-zero by 2050 promises, most Aussie businesses still don’t even report their climate impact,” the fund said.

“And, when they do, there’s no standardised way of calculating carbon. That’s a problem. There’s been a need for consistent and clear carbon measurements to track progress on business net zero goals for a long time.”