Carbon accounting for banks, NBFCs, insurers and funds (BFSI)

Sixty branches sampled. Sixty bills ready.

1,200 branches, one Scope 2 number. Your assurance provider wants the bills behind it.

What do you run?
Work out your footprintBook a 20-minute call
Events and travel measured forDBS BankFireside Ventures
BRSR CORE · PRINCIPLE 6Working paper · FY 2026-27 run-rate
Ref.
BRSR-P6-WP03
Branches
1,200 × 36,000 kWh
Offsite ATMs
2,600 × 3,000 kWh
Data centre
2.5 MW, 21,900 MWh
DG diesel
4,80,000 litres
Flights
9,000 domestic returns
Total
53,132 t
Scope 2
49,208 t
Scope 1
1,278 t
Scope 3
2,647 t
Bill for every site

Example. Illustrative bank, scheme and fund.

The short answer

How does a bank calculate its own carbon footprint for BRSR Core?

Add every branch, ATM, office and data centre’s electricity and multiply by the CEA grid factor (0.675 t per MWh for 2025-26). Add diesel for Scope 1 and travel for Scope 3. Keep a bill behind each site, because BRSR Core assurance tests a sample.

Last verified 3 October 2026. Sources at the end.

Sound familiar?

Banks and NBFCs

Every branch pays its own power bill. I get one expense line and a deadline.

AMCs and insurers

Compliance asks for the 65% every month. I rebuild it in Excel every month.

VC and PE funds

Our LP wants Scope 1 and 2 for every company by March. Most of them have 40 people.

Paraphrased from our conversations with banks, AMCs and funds.

The auditor’s sample.

Your assurance provider will test a sample. Here’s how often it lands on a branch with no bill.

Free operational footprint calculator

Your branches, in tonnes.

Set branches, ATMs, the data centre, diesel and travel. See Scope 1, 2 and 3, and what moves them.

0

How this is worked out
  • Grid: 0.675 t CO2 per MWh, India’s weighted average for 2025-26 (CEA CO2 Baseline Database v22). It is CO2 only and is shown in the CO2e total.
  • Diesel: 2.66 kg CO2e per litre (DEFRA/DESNZ 2026).
  • Flights: DEFRA 2026 short-haul (domestic proxy) 0.07559 or 0.12786 with radiative forcing; international (non-UK) economy 0.06449 or 0.10916. Hotels in India 58.9 kg a night.
  • Data centre: average facility load × 8,760 hours.
  • Branch, ATM and data centre figures are illustrative. Edit them to your numbers.
  • Your own footprint only. Financed emissions are a separate calculation.
A bank’s own offices are the small number.
What it lends to is, on average, over 700 times bigger.

CDP, April 2021: of 332 financial institutions disclosing in 2020, only 25% reported portfolio emissions. For those that did, portfolio emissions were on average over 700 times their own. RBI’s draft would ask for financed emissions from FY 2027-28; it isn’t final.

Why now

Who’s asking, and by when.

Top 1,000

BRSR Core assured

Assessment or assurance of BRSR Core covers the top 1,000 listed entities from FY 2026-27.

65%

ESG schemes’ floor

AMC ESG schemes must hold 65% in companies with assured BRSR Core, from 1 October 2024.

Every year

Green deposit checks

Banks raising green deposits need yearly third-party verification and an impact assessment.

FY 2027-28

Financed emissions, proposed

RBI’s draft proposes financed emissions disclosure from FY 2027-28. It isn’t final yet.

Answer the assurance request with bills.

Your assurance provider’s information request. Same question, two answers.

Assurance_Info_Request_FY27.xlsxSheet: GHG · item 6
Item 6 For FY 2026-27, give Scope 1 and 2 emissions with: (a) branch-wise electricity for a sample of 60 branches, with bills; (b) DG fuel purchase records; (c) the emission factors used, with source and version.

Wording modelled on BRSR Core assurance requests.

  • Pass the sample. Every branch linked to its bill, before the auditor asks.
  • Show the LP. Portfolio and GP numbers in the template they sent.
Straight answer: we prepare the numbers and the evidence. SEBI bars the assurance provider from also preparing them, so your assurer must be someone else. RBI’s financed-emissions rules are still a draft. We follow PCAF methods, and we aren’t a PCAF signatory.
How it works

From the expense ledger to the assurance file.

Carbon-OS reads your ledger, bills, fuel cards and travel desk. The same data feeds BRSR, LP returns and a first financed-emissions baseline.

  1. Connect

    Expense ledger, utility bills, fuel cards, travel desk.

  2. Match

    Every branch, ATM and site to a bill or a flagged estimate.

  3. Calculate

    Scope 1, 2 and 3 by site, with versioned factors.

  4. Hand over

    Assurance-ready workpapers and BRSR Principle 6 tables.

Method and boundary

Boundary
GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, operational control: branches, ATMs, offices, data centres.
Scope 2
Location-based on CEA v22. Market-based where you hold renewable contracts.
BRSR Core
Principle 6 energy and GHG KPIs, with evidence per site.
Travel
DEFRA 2026 by haul and cabin. Radiative forcing shown both ways.
Financed
Readiness baselines following PCAF methods: attribution by outstanding amount over EVIC, data quality 1 to 5.
Funds
Scope 1, 2 and optional Scope 3 per portfolio company, in your LPs’ template.
Factors
More than a million emission factors, including CEA, DEFRA and US EPA.
Already on Climes

Events and travel, measured.

Banking

Climes delivered carbon-neutral events for DBS Bank.

Venture capital

Climes measured Fireside Ventures’ business flights and events.

Glossary

Eight terms, in plain words.

BRSR Core
The part of SEBI’s sustainability report that must be assessed or assured.
Reasonable assurance
An auditor’s positive opinion that the numbers are fairly stated, based on tested evidence.
Location-based Scope 2
Electricity times the average grid factor where you use it.
Financed emissions
Your share of the emissions of what you lend to or invest in.
PCAF
The Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials. It writes the standard for financed emissions.
EVIC
Enterprise value including cash. It sets your share of a listed company.
Data quality score
PCAF’s grade from 1 (verified data) to 5 (sector averages).
EDCI
A common set of ESG metrics private equity LPs ask GPs for.
Where are you today?

Three questions. Your first steps.

See where we'd start with you.

What are you?

What’s due first?

Where does branch energy data live today?

Questions BFSI teams ask.

Do banks need BRSR Core assurance?

Yes, if they’re listed and in the top 1,000 by market cap. SEBI’s glide path covers the top 1,000 from FY 2026-27, through assessment or assurance.

Is RBI’s climate disclosure framework final?

No. RBI published a draft on 28 February 2024. We found no final circular as of October 2026, and Business Standard reported a likely deferral in January 2026.

When would financed emissions be due under the RBI draft?

The draft proposes metrics and targets, including financed emissions, from FY 2027-28 for scheduled commercial banks, AIFIs and top and upper-layer NBFCs.

What is PCAF?

A global standard for measuring financed, facilitated and insurance-associated emissions. Its India chapter launched in September 2025.

How is a bank’s share of a borrower’s emissions worked out?

For listed companies, PCAF uses the outstanding amount divided by EVIC, times the company’s emissions.

What do SEBI ESG mutual fund schemes need?

At least 65% of assets in companies with comprehensive BRSR and assured BRSR Core, from 1 October 2024.

What do RBI green deposits require?

Yearly third-party verification of how funds were allocated, and an impact assessment, using indicators such as GHG emissions avoided.

What do PE and VC LPs ask for?

Often the EDCI metrics: Scope 1, Scope 2 and optional Scope 3 per portfolio company, plus renewable energy share.

Which grid factor should Indian bank branches use?

CEA’s CO2 Baseline Database v22: 0.675 t CO2 per MWh for 2025-26, the weighted average.

Is a bank’s own footprint its main number?

Not usually. CDP found that among institutions reporting them, portfolio emissions averaged over 700 times direct emissions.

Can Climes also assure our BRSR Core?

No. We prepare the numbers and the evidence. SEBI bars the assessment or assurance provider, and its associates, from also providing consulting or other non-assurance services to you or your group.

Does Climes work with banks?

Yes. Climes delivered carbon-neutral events for DBS Bank, and measured Fireside Ventures’ business flights and events.

Bring one month of branch bills. We’ll show you the sample.

Twenty minutes. Your branches, your ATMs, your data centre. You leave knowing what an auditor would find.

Book the 20-minute callor write to carbon-os@climes.io

Sources

  1. SEBI circular, 28 March 2025: BRSR Core glide path to the top 1,000 in FY 2026-27
  2. SEBI ESG schemes circular, 20 July 2023: 65% rule
  3. RBI draft disclosure framework on climate-related financial risks, 2024: scope and dates, financed emissions
  4. Business Standard, 29 January 2026: likely deferral
  5. RBI Climate Finance and Management of Climate Change Risks Directions, 28 November 2025: green deposit verification and impact assessment
  6. PCAF India chapter: launch, September 2025
  7. PCAF Standard Part A, 3rd edition: attribution and data quality
  8. CDP, 28 April 2021: 700 times
  9. ILPA, ESG Data Convergence Initiative: EDCI metrics
  10. CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 22: grid 0.675
  11. DESNZ/DEFRA GHG conversion factors 2026: diesel, flights, hotels

Facts on this page last verified 3 October 2026. Interactive figures are illustrative unless a source is named.

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