Amy Brachio is the CEO of Carbon Measures. Carbon Measures is a global business coalition committed to accelerate innovation by developing a globally adopted framework for product-level carbon accounting, and advocating for mandatory product carbon intensity standards. Together, these efforts are designed to unlock durable market demand for lower-carbon products, and reduce emissions at scale. This essay is part of the 2026 Global Energy Agenda.

The global economy is being rewritten. For decades, companies and economies found that transparent, well-functioning markets rewarded performance, drove innovation, and created global prosperity. However, prosperity now depends on adaptability: identifying where new shared infrastructure is genuinely necessary and building it with precision. Carbon measurement is one of those critical systems. It is arguably one of the most consequential drivers of economic competitiveness, but leaders are not yet treating it as such.

The infrastructure needed to unleash markets for low carbon production is a globally accepted, product-level carbon accounting framework, paired with government-mandated carbon intensity standards. A rigorous common foundation that any company, regulator, or trading partner can trust—one that builds on existing frameworks and ensures competition and innovation are incentivized across supply chains.

The key to unlocking markets

I say this not as an idealist, but as a certified public accountant and pragmatist. Global carbon emissions are not declining at the pace or scale necessary to make a meaningful impact. The primary reason is not a lack of ambition or a lack of will, but a lack of the right market incentives. Companies across industries are investing in lower-carbon production, but the market has no reliable way to recognize it. Without credible, comparable data at the product level, those investments can’t be differentiated, rewarded, or replicated at scale.

Markets are powerful engines of innovation and efficiency, but only when buyers can compare and competition can function. When the relevant information is visible and verifiable, markets allocate capital efficiently and drive improvement over time. Carbon intensity should function the same way. Right now, it cannot.

Existing disclosure frameworks have done important work. Corporate sustainability reporting has brought a degree of transparency to how companies calculate and disclose their emissions. That progress is real and should be preserved. But transparency alone, no matter if through voluntary or mandatory disclosure frameworks, will not drive emissions reductions at the scale that is needed for meaningful change.

Competition is what will incentivize the corporate sector, activating its core strength: innovation. And the way to achieve that competition is to enable accurate product differentiation and comparability. This path runs through establishing product-level carbon intensity data—the granular, comparable information that markets need to identify and reward lower-carbon performance. Without it, buyers can’t confidently differentiate products, investors can’t fully assess transition risk, and governments can’t design effective policies. Disclosure got us visibility. Product-level data is what turns visibility into competition and innovation. And it’s what will drive meaningful action.

The missing layer

Data alone, however, is not enough. The full potential of product-level carbon accounting will be achieved when it enables governments to set effective policies that drive economic prosperity and market growth. With decision-grade, product-level emissions data in hand, regulators could set national targets for carbon intensity. This mandatory, performance-based tool would set the maximum permitted carbon intensity of a product to be traded into a market. 

Government-mandated, product-level intensity standards, underpinned by accurate, verifiable, and comparable carbon emissions data, would be transformative across the entire value chain. It is a system that would make competition on carbon intensity possible and improve economic performance. Aligning market dynamics with public policy goals helps ensure prosperity is both sustainable and economically viable.

Fueling innovation and progress

There is a reason the world’s most innovative industries have consistently outperformed expectations: When rules are clear and applied equally, companies face real competitive pressure—and competition drives progress.

Companies that have invested in lower-carbon production deserve to realize benefits from that investment by differentiating their products and competing on the merit of their performance. When those conditions exist, innovation accelerates, capital flows toward results, and the market drives emissions reductions at a pace that disclosure or policy alone have not yet achieved.

The underlying principle is not new: Open systems that are built on common information serve everyone’s interests precisely because they level the playing field. The goal was never to tilt the field—it was to build one.

The path forward

The case for a global economic and market infrastructure that is precise, science-based, and built where it is genuinely needed is as strong as ever. Next-generation systems will be sparser than what came before, but they must be more precise.

Carbon accounting is the catalyst. Governments will set standards. And competition will do the rest.

The Global Energy Center develops and promotes pragmatic and nonpartisan policy solutions designed to advance global energy security, enhance economic opportunity, and accelerate pathways to net-zero emissions.

Image: Photo by Ali Mkumbwa on Unsplash