As a proven leader in addressing global climate change, California is poised to prove that cutting greenhouse gas emissions and growing the economy go hand-in-hand. Getting there depends on companies being able to effectively measure and manage their emissions, and integrating this knowledge into their core business strategies. When done well, corporate carbon management should increase business competitiveness by lowering climate risk and driving investment into new and emerging low-carbon technologies and strategies. Ensuring our climate-smart companies do well in California is a key to building a more resilient and affordable economy—and to showing the world what climate leadership looks like.
CA FWD is meeting this moment by convening some of California’s anchor industries—like agriculture, energy, concrete, steel, and more—around a shared, voluntary commitment to transparent carbon accounting that drives credible, real-world decarbonization.
CA FWD’s Carbon Management practice is part of our broader Climate-Smart Economy work. It starts from the premise that good accounting matters because of what it makes possible.
The practice helps companies and the state move from disclosure to decarbonization, connecting better data with the decisions and programs that turn measurement into action. As a neutral convenor, CA FWD convenes industrial leaders and technical experts around a common, voluntary standard of practice and effective policy. The practice is pragmatic by design, and it stays focused on what produces real reductions at scale. The program portfolio includes the following suite of activities and initiatives:
The Carbon Accounting Working Group: CA FWD is building a cross-industry coalition that convenes California’s industrial companies around a shared, voluntary commitment to transparent and credible carbon accounting. Rather than imposing a single methodology, the working group serves as a neutral convenor and trusted table where companies, technical experts, and standards bodies work through the practical questions of measuring emissions consistently and in ways that drive real change. The goal is a common standard of practice that companies can adopt with confidence, and that gives investors, regulators, and communities a clearer picture of real progress.
Decarbonization Pilots: CA FWD designs and advises on decarbonization pilots that California companies run themselves, testing whether better emissions data changes a real business decision, such as how a company sources materials or prices carbon into a capital investment. The pilots are built to surface what works, so other companies can learn from and build on them.
Regional Integration: California’s regions are rich in resources and diverse in their economic strength. CA FWD connects carbon management to the state’s regional economic strategies and leaders, helping ensure that emissions-reduction work strengthens—rather than competes with—regional priorities around jobs, investment, and industrial competitiveness. By grounding carbon accounting in the places where industry operates, the practice supports a more resilient and affordable California economy.
Standards and Thought Leadership: Carbon accounting standards are still evolving, and California has both the industrial diversity and the policy ambition to help shape where they go. CA FWD engages with emerging methodologies and best practices and contributes a pragmatic, practitioner-informed perspective through publications, convenings, and ongoing dialogue with companies and policymakers.