Emissions Accounting: Embracing a New Era of Radical Simplicity

June 12, 2026August 29, 2026 Karl H RichterLeave a comment

“The fossil fuel industry is not the enemy – it is the emissions” declared Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados.

If that’s the case, then every organisation must manage their emissions as relentlessly as cashflows. Yet emissions accounting is prohibitively complicated and expensive – it is done by only a handful of companies. It also lacks the rigour and auditability of financial accounting. The resulting approximations may help companies or governments know where to start – but they’re not enough to decarbonise our complex market economy.

The False Conflict Holding Back Emissions Accounting

February 18, 2026August 29, 2026 Karl H RichterLeave a comment

“The fossil fuel industry is not the enemy — it is the emissions” says Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados. This provocative truism is at the heart of an inglorious brawl between unlikely foes — emissions accountants themselves. I hope they make amends when they meet later this month in Aspen, Colorado.

Leveraging Private Capital for a Sustainable Competitive Advantage

January 1, 2026August 29, 2026 Karl H RichterLeave a comment

To align private capital with policy priorities requires us, firstly, to understand the different strategies investors use when they claim to be impact investors or to integrate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors within decision-making. The terms “impact”, “environmental”, “social”, and “governance”, all imply goals beyond financial objectives alone. In other words, positive contributions towards people and planet — this can be true, but not always.

Busting the Myths of Carbon Accounting: A New Era of Radical Simplicity

September 1, 2024August 29, 2026 Karl H RichterLeave a comment

Carbon accounting is evolving rapidly – it’s becoming easier, faster, cheaper, and more accurate. In fact, it’s becoming radically simple. If you’ve ever tried using traditional methods – or outsourced the task – you’d be forgiven for thinking that “carbon accounting” and “radically simple” don’t fit together. But the reality is, a new playbook is emerging – a fundamental paradigm shift.

We need an internet of impact – here is my proposal for a data science construct that can enable it

January 20, 2021February 13, 2021 Karl H RichterLeave a comment

The Aggregate Confusion Project at MIT has done a great job of analysing why there is a tremendous divergence between different sources of impact data (sustainability data). They conclude that the biggest contributing factor is that different people fundamentally measure impact in different ways. Furthermore, people organise the various attributes according to different scopes, and assign different weights to each attribute. These three categories of measurement, scope, and weights provide a good starting point for fixing the problem.Read More »

Mega-trending towards zero – what next?

March 22, 2020August 22, 2024 Karl H Richter4 Comments

Three long-term economic trends all point towards zero: 1- official interest rates (5,000 years); 2- dividends from stock markets as a proportion of total returns (70 years); and 3- economic growth rates (2,000 years). What are the potential consequences for our economic model if these mega-trends are correct and if they persist – what next?

I wrote this text in 2018 as a thought experiment. It was never published at the time because I was not sure how such a heretical narrative might be beneficial… but now, as the COVID-19 pandemic triggers a global financial calamity, I hope people find it useful as they navigate the crisis and contemplate the systemic changes that may be necessary.Read More »

What is a market-rate of return on our data?

November 20, 2018May 28, 2019 Karl H Richter1 Comment

To find the answer, we need to go back to the origin of the word “data”. ‘Etymology can give a startling new perspective on many of the phrases we frequently toss around in business’, says Gillian Tett in her FT column Language matters: the real meaning of Big Data. The word “data” comes from the Latin verb “to give”, and could therefore be translated to mean “a gift”. If the original meaning of words is important, then we should be careful how we use them or risk distorting the effects they have, without even realising it.Read More »

Triple Entry Bookkeeping & Sumptuous Accounting Principles

October 6, 2018June 7, 2026 Karl H Richter2 Comments

Sumptuous Accounting™ is an intellectual provocation, taking a light-hearted approach to a very serious issue – fixing capitalism.

The working paper Sumptuous Accounting™ uses the sci-fi genre and a story-telling narrative to explore how capitalism could be evolved. Sci-fi allows us the creativity to explore an alternative reality. It frees us from preconceptions and the inertia of habit. Good sci-fi is rooted in practical feasibility – it is not fantasy.

This thought experiment allows us to ask: ‘‘how can capitalism be improved by upgrading our socio-economic construct?‘

Read the full paper at www.sumptuousaccounting.org