Guiding Principles

The AIM Platform Guiding Principles serve as the North Star throughout the development of standards and guidance


The AIM Platform Guiding Principles outline the core principles that underpin AIM’s work in developing the AIM Platform Standard and Guidance. AIM conducted a public stakeholder consultation from November to December 2023 on the draft guiding principles, after which the Governing Committee revised and adopted the final version.

While these principles provide valuable insight, the Governing Committee emphasizes that they do not address all questions regarding the final Standard and Guidance. To assist with understanding, the Governing Committee would like to offer a few additional notes upfront:

1) The term “intervention” is used to refer to any action taken by a company to address its scope 3 emissions, i.e., indirect emissions from its value chain, including, for example, monetary support for a discrete decarbonization project and the purchase of an environmental attribute certificate, regardless of the accounting approach implicated (i.e. project based or inventory accounting).
 
2) The concept of “within the value chain[1]” is used broadly to refer to the type of good or service contained in a company’s scope 3 GHG inventory, not necessarily to a specific value chain partner (e.g. supplier).  Further clarity on when an intervention could be considered “within the value chain” will be provided in subsequent AIM Platform outputs.

The AIM Platform Standard and Guidance is being developed with the goal of driving value chain interventions that:

1 Contribute to the decarbonization of sectors, activities and emissions sources included in the reporting company’s scope 3 GHG inventory.
2 Contribute to meeting a company’s climate targets[2], including through the use of market-based[3] methods.
3 Result in emissions impacts that are transparently reported within a public GHG emissions report.[4]
4 Use credible and appropriate accounting and reporting approaches[5], respecting the principles of transparency, completeness, measurability, accuracy, consistency, conservativeness and comparability.
5 Strike a balance between supporting broad sectoral decarbonization and individual company value chain decarbonization.
6 Are complementary to supplier engagement as part of a company’s climate strategy.
7 Utilize best practice monitoring, reporting and assurance systems and procedures.
8 Avoid negative and contribute to positive social and environmental impacts.
9 Invest in technologies and/or processes that avoid locking in levels of GHG emissions, technologies or carbon-intensive practices that are incompatible with the objective of achieving net zero GHG emissions by mid-century.
10 Contribute to a shared evidence base in order to inform improvement of the AIM Standard and Guidance and drive greater value chain mitigation over time.

[1] Taking place “within the value chain” is expected to be the central requirement but not the only requirement that must be met in order for an intervention to count towards climate targets, according to the AIM Platform Standard and Guidance.  Additional requirements will be elaborated.

[2] Including but not limited to targets validated under the Science Based Targets initiative.

[3] The term “market-based method” used here refers to the decoupling of a physical good or service from its environmental attributes to enable them to be purchased or acquired and accounted for separately. It does not necessarily indicate the trading of such units on an open market or exchange.

[4] A public GHG emissions report includes but is not limited to inventory emissions. The required and optional information for such a report is contained within Chapter 11.1 and 11.2, respectively, of the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard.

[5] While use of inventory accounting approaches aligns with existing guidance, the AIM Platform Governing Committee is exploring how and when project-based methods may be appropriate, and the implications of using such approaches on reporting results in relation to achievement of or progress towards a climate target. 

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