GHG Protocol Appoints Alexander Bassen as First Independent Standards Board Chair

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol named Professor Alexander Bassen of the University of Hamburg as the inaugural Chair of its new Independent Standards Board, the body overseeing the update of the Corporate Standard, Scope 2 Guidance and Scope 3 Standard. Bassen joins from roles on the EU's EFRAG Sustainability Reporting Board and the German Advisory Council on Global Change.

Professor Alexander Bassen holds the Chair in Capital Markets and Management at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Hamburg and serves on the EU's European Financial Reporting Advisory Group Sustainability Reporting Board, which oversees the European Sustainability Reporting Standards. He is also a member of Germany's WBGU advisory council, an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Oxford's Smith School and a Visiting Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University and the University of Reading. His appointment was effective from December 2023.

Pankaj Bhatia, Global Director of GHG Protocol, described the appointment as a historic moment for the 25-year-old initiative and said Bassen would play a crucial role in the standards update process. WBCSD Executive Vice President Dominic Waughray highlighted that GHG Protocol standards underpin the growing number of mandatory climate disclosure regimes globally. WRI Managing Director Craig Hanson noted that updated standards would enable companies to better manage emissions and achieve ambitious climate goals.

The Independent Standards Board reports to the Steering Committee and works with the GHG Protocol Secretariat, jointly hosted by WRI and WBCSD. Applications for remaining Independent Standards Board membership positions were still open until 15 January. Once fully constituted, the board will provide formal approval of standards and guidance developed by Technical Working Groups, adding a layer of independent oversight that GHG Protocol had previously lacked, and that major disclosure regulation frameworks increasingly require of standards bodies.

Key figure — 25 years — GHG Protocol's tenure as global standard for corporate GHG accounting at time of ISB launch