Air Liquide, Linde, BASF, Honeywell, and CF Industries are among the companies joining the Carbon Measures coalition, which pledges to use “sound science” and the “principles of financial accounting” to help create a better carbon accounting system.

They say the proposed “ledger-based” system will be more accurate, eliminate double counting, and help businesses differentiate their products and governments make “informed” policy decisions.

Details of the proposed mechanism remain thin.

However, the group calls for a standardised, product-level carbon intensity standard for key products like steel, cement, fuel, electricity and chemicals, that would allow companies and regulators to compare products on equal terms.

It’s positioned as a replacement for the current carbon accounting framework – made up of a patchwork of estimates and self-reported numbers – as companies face rising carbon prices and increasing pressure for transparency.

Critics of existing carbon systems say it allows double-counting of carbon dioxide molecules, while proponents suggest existing accounting could raise the chances of multiple players reducing their emissions.

Former head of sustainability at accounting and auditing firm Ernst & Young, Amy Brachio, has been named as CEO of the group, vowing that it would create a system to “unleash” markets and competition, while accelerating emissions reduction.

“Good data leads to good decisions, but for decades, precise and comparable data has proven something of a holy grail in emission tracking,” she said.

For hydrogen, the ledger-based system could make low-carbon and clean hydrogen claims verifiable, and potentially inform subsidies.

Air Liquide CEO François Jackow said the group could “collectively drive emissions down and meet society’s growing needs.”

Other members include ExxonMobil, ADNOC, Port of Rotterdam, Banco Santander, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Mitsui & Co., with more to be announced.