@inproceedings{TeublerKuehlert2020, author = {Teubler, Jens and K{\"u}hlert, Markus}, title = {Financial carbon footprint : calculating banks' scope 3 emissions of assets and loans}, booktitle = {Industrial efficiency 2020 - decarbonise industry! : 14-17 September 2020 ; ECEEE Industrial Summer Study proceedings}, publisher = {European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy}, address = {Stockholm}, url = {https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:wup4-opus-75872}, pages = {381 -- 389}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Financial institutions play a crucial role in achieving the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. They can manage capital flows for financing the required transformation towards a decarbonized industry. Currently established policy programs and regulations at European and national level increasingly address financial institutions to make their climate warming impact measurable and transparent. However, required science-based assessment methods have not been sufficiently developed so far. This paper discusses methodological opportunities and challenges for measuring carbon footprints of financial institutions. Based on a scientific case study undertaken with the German GLS Bank, the authors introduce an innovative method for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from a bank's asset with a focus on loans. The authors apply an input/output database to calculate greenhouse gas (GHG) intensities and allocate them with bank's loans and investments. Moreover, the paper provides insights of calculating avoided GHG emissions initiated by a bank's investment and loans. In conclusion, a high degree of consistent and standardized assessment methods and guidelines need to be developed and applied to promote comparability and transparency.}, language = {en} }