Climate-focused investment management firm Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, announced that it has joined the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF), is a global partnership of financial institutions with a mission to develop and implement a harmonized approach to assess and disclose the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with their loans and investments.

Hannon Armstrong Chairman and CEO Jeffrey W. Eckel, said:

“Seven years ago, we became one of the first capital providers to evaluate the carbon efficiency of our investment portfolio utilizing CarbonCount, our proprietary scoring tool. By joining PCAF, we are pleased to partner with other financial institutions in developing a global and transparent standard on financed emissions that will enable investors the ability to measure the efficiency with which their capital is reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change.”

The PCAF is a global collaboration of nearly 80 financial institutions representing total financial assets of more than $13 trillion, with a mission to develop and implement a harmonized approach to assess and disclose the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with their loans and investments. The organization has recently announced the addition of prominent members, including NatWest, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Citi.

Ivan Frishberg, First Vice President Sustainability Banking at Amalgamated Bank and a member of the PCAF Steering Committee, said:

“We are very pleased that Hannon Armstrong has taken a leadership position by joining PCAF Measuring the carbon impact of loans and investments is a fundamental building block for further climate action and is of growing importance to investors. As we work towards COP26 next year and further align the finance sector with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, we believe that PCAF and member financial institutions will play an important leadership role in that work.”

Earlier this summer, the PCAF publicly released its new standard for financial institutions to measure and disclose the greenhouse gas emissions impact of investments and loans. In addition to assessing and disclosing emissions data, the introduction of the standard is expected to enable financial institutions to better set climate targets and asses climate transition risks from their activities. The PCAF has opened a public consultation on the new standard, which will run through September 30, 2020, and the final version of the standard is expected to be released in November 2020.

According to Hannon Armstrong, the firm has long been recognized as a leader among U.S. companies in terms of GHG reductions and transparent disclosures. In 2013, the company developed CarbonCount, a tool for evaluating investments in U.S. based renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate resilience projects to determine the efficiency by which each dollar of invested capital reduces annual carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions. In 2017, Hannon Armstrong became the first U.S. public company to commit to TCFD and was among the first companies to integrate TCFD recommendations into its financial filings beginning in 2018.