Equifax UK has unveiled its new Financed Emissions Calculator™—a first-to-market solution built on a fully cloud-native infrastructure that aims to streamline sustainability reporting and deliver more precise, timely data. The innovative tool, developed in partnership with environmental data technology firm CienDos, is designed to help lenders align their net-zero targets with lending and investment strategies.
The Calculator™ seeks to revolutionise the often manual, labour-intensive and error-prone process of calculating financed emissions, automating procedures to ensure robust regulatory compliance. By integrating Equifax’s commercial credit insights with CienDos’ advanced emissions data methodologies, the solution assigns a transparent, auditable carbon value to each credit line across banks, lenders and other financial institutions—based on sector-specific emission factors.
Financed emissions refer to the greenhouse gas emissions indirectly attributed to financial institutions via their lending and investment activities. These emissions stem not from the institutions themselves, but from the companies and projects they finance, and can constitute up to 95 per cent of a financial institution’s total carbon output—forming a major component of their Scope 3.15 reporting obligations.
With rising climate-related disclosure mandates such as IFRS S2, many banks have relied on traditional, high-level manual estimations to manage financed emissions. However, these methods often lack the granularity, accuracy and traceability required to monitor real-time emissions or project future scenarios. The Financed Emissions Calculator™ is set to address these limitations, enabling financial institutions to report, manage and ultimately reduce their carbon footprint with improved precision.
Brad Davies, ESG Product Manager at Equifax UK, remarked, “The role of financial institutions in combating climate change is receiving increasing attention, yet tracking indirect financed emissions associated with loans and credit lines remains one of the most complex challenges. By integrating environmental data with leading financial risk assessments, the Financed Emissions Calculator™ empowers UK lenders to accurately measure and mitigate their climate impact. We’re delighted to partner with CienDos to bridge the knowledge gap for our clients with this pioneering solution.”
Julia Salmond, Chief Executive at CienDos, added, “Equifax and CienDos share a vision to simplify the complex reporting requirements surrounding financial firms’ carbon footprints. Equifax’s extensive commercial credit data, combined with our market-leading emissions technology, will transform how financial institutions manage their portfolio emissions—delivering enhanced accuracy and precision for their financed emissions reporting needs.”
