Asia Pacific Steps Up to Professionalise Carbon Accounting Amid Rising Demand

Asia Pacific is moving from voluntary disclosure to regulated, assured climate reporting, creating a surge in demand for qualified carbon accountants, new credentials and stronger assurance.

Across the Asia–Pacific region, climate disclosure is shifting from “good to have” to “have to do”. Stock exchanges and regulators are phasing in ISSB-aligned reporting, while audit and ethics boards have set global assurance baselines. The result: carbon accounting is no longer a cottage industry of spreadsheets and best efforts — it is becoming a regulated profession with standards, qualifications and oversight.

The regulatory wave pushing carbon accounting into the mainstream

Australia has legislated mandatory climate-related financial disclosures for reporting periods beginning 1 January 2025, with phased implementation and standards set by the AASB and AUASB. Directors are being briefed to expect alignment with the ISSB climate standard via the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards.

Hong Kong will require IFRS S2-based climate disclosures from 1 January 2025, with a phased rollout including Scope 1 and 2 for all issuers and scaled requirements for Scope 3. A broader sustainability reporting roadmap follows.

Singapore has set a national roadmap: all listed issuers report ISSB-aligned climate disclosures from FY2025, with plans to extend to large non-listed companies in a later phase. SGX has issued guidance to support implementation.

Japan’s Sustainability Standards Board (SSBJ) issued its inaugural sustainability disclosure standards in March 2025, incorporating key ISSB elements to ensure comparability.

New Zealand was first in the region: mandatory climate disclosures apply for financial years beginning 1 January 2023, with independent assurance on GHG elements phased in for later periods.

Malaysia is also aligning: Bursa Malaysia amended its listing rules to require reporting using the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards from 2025, as part of a broader National Sustainability Reporting Framework profiled by the IFRS Foundation.

These moves sit within a broader global trend of jurisdictions adopting or planning to adopt the ISSB standards, with the IFRS Foundation profiling APAC markets — including Australia, Hong Kong SAR and Malaysia—on their adoption pathways.

Assurance and ethics: the new guardrails for trust

With mandatory reporting comes a demand for independent assurance over emissions data and climate metrics. Two global standards now anchor this work:

ISSA 5000 from the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board sets the general requirements for sustainability assurance engagements —framework-agnostic and topic-agnostic.

IESSA from the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants establishes ethics and independence requirements for sustainability assurance, complementing ISSA 5000 and addressing greenwashing risks.

On the measurement side, practitioners are grounding inventories in established technical standards such as ISO 14064-1 (quantification and reporting at the organisation level) and ISO 14064-3 (verification/validation of GHG statements). Accreditation requirements for verification bodies (e.g., ISO 14065 and ISO/IEC 17029) add another layer of professional infrastructure.

The talent crunch and the race to upskill

Regulation is outpacing workforce capacity. Global and regional studies consistently flag shortages of accounting and sustainability skills, with green-talent demand growing faster than supply. In APAC’s accounting profession specifically, industry bodies report persistent shortages and escalating demand for ESG and climate skills.

Governments and professional bodies are responding:

Singapore has launched a Sustainability Reporting Body of Knowledge to guide training providers in building ISSB-aligned programmes; the national accountancy body (ISCA) now offers sustainability professional certificates covering Scope 1–3, transition planning and reporting/assurance.

CPA Australia and others across the region have rolled out micro-credentials and resources to equip finance teams for climate disclosures and assurance.

Internationally recognised programmes — such as ICAEW’s Sustainability Certificate — are being adopted by Asia-based teams to build common foundations.

Universities and institutes are also adding short courses in carbon accounting and GHG management, reflecting a pivot toward practical, work-ready training for non-specialists entering sustainability roles.

Software, data and the expanding vendor ecosystem

Professionalisation is also reshaping the tools of the trade. Carbon accounting software adoption is accelerating as companies automate data capture and improve audit trails. Analysts expect the Asia Pacific carbon accounting software market to grow at a ~25% CAGR (2025–2030), with cloud deployments dominant and India among the fastest-growing markets.

Financial institutions and large corporates are partnering with technology providers to scale measurement and financed-emissions reporting (e.g., SMBC’s alliances with Asuene and earlier with Persefoni/IBM in Japan). For banks, frameworks like PCAF provide category-specific methods to calculate and disclose financed emissions, further standardising practice.

Emerging hallmarks of professional practice

From interviews with practitioners and a review of regulatory guidance across APAC, several hallmarks are defining credible carbon accounting functions:

Standards-based inventories anchored in GHG Protocol and ISO 14064-1, with clear organisational and operational boundaries, activity-data hierarchies, and robust estimation methods for hard-to-measure Scope 3 categories. Independent verification follows ISO 14064-3.

Governance and controls comparable to financial reporting: documented methodologies, version-controlled emission factors, evidence trails, and internal controls over data systems — ready for external assurance under ISSA 5000 and IESSA.

Capability pathways that blend finance, engineering and supply-chain skills, supported by accredited training (ISCA/ICAEW/CPA) and practical short courses to upskill non-specialists.

Technology enablement to scale data collection from ERP, meters and suppliers; scenario analysis tools aligned with ISSB expectations; and supplier-engagement programmes to improve primary data quality over time.

Sector-specific methods for high-impact categories (e.g., financed emissions via PCAF), with transparent assumptions and periodic recalculation when methodologies or boundaries change.

Friction points to watch

Scope 3 data quality remains the Achilles’ heel — especially for complex supply chains and downstream use-phase emissions. Early assurance often surfaces inconsistency in activity data and emission factors. New ethics and assurance standards are meant to curb selective reporting and green-hushing.

SME readiness: many suppliers lack resources or tools to measure emissions. Large buyers in APAC are beginning to sponsor training and software access for key suppliers, but coverage is uneven. (This is where national capacity-building efforts, like Singapore’s SR Body of Knowledge, can accelerate progress.)

Skills bottlenecks: even as micro-credentials proliferate, the demand for practitioners with both accounting discipline and climate literacy continues to outstrip supply across the region.

The road ahead: from compliance to competence

For Asia–Pacific companies, the next 12–24 months will bring the first cycles of ISSB-aligned climate reporting in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia — many for the first time under assurance. Boards and CFOs who treat carbon accounting like financial accounting—complete with internal controls, auditor-ready documentation and a multi-year skills plan—will find compliance less painful and more valuable to strategy.

In APAC, carbon accounting is becoming a licensed craft — governed by standards, enforced by assurance, and enabled by an expanding skills and technology ecosystem. The organisations that professionalise early will not just pass audits; they’ll make better capital decisions in a decarbonising economy.