Ashley Jones, Communications Specialist at GHG Protocol, sat down with Alexander Bassen, the Chair of Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s Independent Standards Board to learn more about him, his career and his advice for those pursuing a career in GHG Accounting. 

Outside of your professional credentials, how would you describe yourself? 

I think it's quite difficult to distinguish between what you're doing as a professional and as a private person because, especially if you're an academic, it's very close. You're thinking about the things you're doing at the job when you're not in the office.

I think I'm very open. I'm curious to learn things, although this is something that is important for me as an individual, and as an academic. I also like sports a lot, especially water sports. I’m often sailing or kite surfing. If it’s not freezing, then I’ll go to the North Sea year-round, whenever I have time and there’s wind.  

In your role as a professor of capital markets and management at the University of Hamburg you teach courses in finance and investment, ESG and capital markets and reporting. You are teaching the next generation of leaders, what advice do you have for your students about pursuing a career in these fields? 

If you are interested in the field of climate, it makes sense to have a good basis. Education in your bachelor's program in either business, or probably even better something in natural sciences. 
And then continue with a master's degree that covers aspects like accounting and finance in relation to sustainability.

But my most important recommendation is that students should focus on things they really like. Topics will change — if you look at different sustainability topics, they have changing priorities now on a global basis in different countries. Therefore, I think it's always important that students are happy with what they are doing, that they are passionate. 

What originally drew you to your career specialty? 

After I finished my masters, I had different opportunities. I thought about going to work for corporates in Europe or starting a PhD. And then I thought, well, okay, if it's a PhD, then it's linked to real world problems, then it's something that is interesting for me. So that was the main driver.

This combination of thinking about things as deeply as possible, that's what you have to do as an academic. To really make sure that what we are doing really creates an impact on both business and on society. That was my main driver to stay in academics and give 100% or 120% to get the real explanation of things and to deliver an impact for society with my research. 

What inspired you to apply for GHG Protocol’s Independent Standards Board/Steering Committee? 

My main driver was that I've been working in the field of climate change for almost 20 years. I wrote the CDP report for three years, and I did a lot of research in that field. I’m also very close to standard setting – I developed a sustainability code for German-speaking countries, and I was a member of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) to develop a mandatory sustainability reporting standard in Europe – so the whole idea of climate in combination with standard setting was extremely interesting for me.  

How do you view your role as the Chair of the ISB? 

I think it's very important that we have a variety of different members in the Independent Standards Board with different skills and with different backgrounds, and I think this is one very important aspect of the success of the updating process in the ISB.

I think my role as the Chair of the Independent Standards Board is to come to or close to a compromise if there are different opinions. So, I see my role more as a moderator in this process. I'll work to come to the best solution for all the different stakeholders that are using Greenhouse Gas Protocol. That means academics, civil society, politicians and corporates. Then we will be successful and that's only possible if you take all of the different opinions and viewpoints into account during this process. 

What changes in greenhouse gas accounting have you seen over the course of your career? 

Well, the main change is that it became mandatory in the last couple of years. If you look at the beginning of greenhouse gas accounting, it was something companies did on a voluntary basis. They had a huge problem with data collection.

Now it has become more mainstream, as it's mandatory in a lot of jurisdictions on a global basis. Of course, the quality of data and also the question of where the data is coming from have become increasingly important.

Plus, the acceptance of corporates to use GHG protocol has also increased in the last few years. It has become more and more common that companies set their own reduction targets and net zero targets. An accounting system for that is very helpful. 

If you look at the discussions right now on a global basis, we do see that there is a little bit of backlash on sustainability reporting in general, but I don't think this will be the case for greenhouse gas accounting because there is, in most parts of the world, a common understanding that this is something that companies need a strategy for and that this is something they do need data on. 

How do you see GHG accounting and reporting as being connected to sustainable finance? 

Quite often I have research projects where colleagues say if you're doing accounting and reporting, this is not part of sustainable finance. But for me it is because if you want to make financial decisions then you need reliable information and especially information about the impact of companies on climate and the impact of climate on companies. Therefore, you need rigorous greenhouse gas accounting and reporting to reduce information symmetries and to increase the decision usefulness for investors and other stakeholders.  

What have you read, listened to, or watched recently that taught you something new? 

Well, this is something I do almost every day. When I'm reading academic articles, there is always something new in there in terms of methodology and content. It's difficult to pick one out of these papers because there is always something you can learn when you read academic papers. 

I don't watch any TV, but recently I watched some YouTube videos to improve my skills in kite surfing.