Back to Financials

Audit-Ready Carbon Reporting for Capital Markets Firms

Track office energy, business travel, and data center emissions for trading desks. Disclose facilitated emissions from equity and debt underwriting transactions.

Book Demo Start Free Trial

The Industry Hotspot: Office Energy and Business Travel

10-35 tCO2 per employee

Investment banks have smaller direct carbon footprints than commercial banks (no extensive branch networks) but high per-employee emissions. A 500-person trading floor consumes 5-10 GWh/year for servers, monitors, and HVAC (10-20 tCO2/employee from Scope 2). Business travel adds 5-15 tCO2/employee (pitch meetings, roadshows, conferences). Facilitated emissions from underwriting oil & gas IPOs or bond issuances are Scope 3 Category 15 but reporting methodology is nascent. NetNada tracks office energy by sqm, travel by expense codes, and optionally calculates facilitated emissions from underwriting league tables.

SASB Industry Definition

The Investment Banking & Brokerage industry includes entities that underwrite, issue, and distribute securities; provide merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory services; facilitate securities trading on behalf of clients; and provide brokerage services to institutional and retail investors. These entities earn revenue from underwriting fees, advisory fees, trading commissions, and market-making spreads. Unlike banks and asset managers, investment banks do not hold large loan portfolios or manage client assets long-term.

View SASB Standard →

Industry-Specific Carbon Accounting

No generic solutions. Metrics, data sources, and reporting aligned to Investment Banking & Brokerage operations.

Office and Trading Floor Energy Tracking

Import utility bills for headquarters and regional offices. Allocate energy by sqm occupied: Trading floor (high density, 300 kWh/sqm/year), Office space (150 kWh/sqm/year), Data centers (1,000+ kWh/sqm/year). Apply grid emission factors. Report Scope 2 location-based and market-based (if RECs purchased).

Energy per sqm tracked

Business Travel Emissions Calculation

Extract travel from expense system: Airline (route, class), Hotel (nights, location), Car rental (days, vehicle class). Calculate: Flight emissions using ICAO distance × class multiplier (business 2.5x economy). Hotel 20-40 kgCO2/night. Aggregate to tCO2/employee for benchmarking.

Travel emissions per employee

Facilitated Emissions Methodology (Optional)

Emerging practice: Calculate emissions 'facilitated' by underwriting services. Methodology: (1) Identify equity/debt issuances (via league tables). (2) For each deal, estimate company annual emissions × (Deal size ÷ Company market cap) × Bank's underwriting %. (3) Allocate over 1-year period. PCAF developing standard (currently no consensus).

Facilitated emissions calculated

Green vs Fossil Fuel Underwriting Mix

From deal data: Sum underwriting fees from renewable energy deals (solar, wind, battery IPOs) vs fossil fuel deals (oil & gas, coal). Report ratio: 'Green revenue ÷ Total underwriting revenue'. Track YoY shift. Leaders: 20-30% of underwriting from climate solutions.

Green revenue tracked

Data Center and Server Efficiency

For proprietary trading desks with on-premise servers: Track PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness). Industry average 1.6, best-in-class 1.2. Lower PUE reduces Scope 2 per trade executed. If using cloud (AWS, Azure): Request customer carbon footprint reports.

PUE tracked

Product Features for Investment Banking & Brokerage

Use Carbon Data Uploader to import expense data for business travel and utility bills for office energy—automated emissions calculation per employee and per sqm. Learn more →

The Activity Calculator applies emission factors for air travel routes, hotel nights, and office energy consumption—generating Scope 1-3 footprints for capital markets firms. Learn more →

Related Solutions

See our Carbon Accounting solution for end-to-end emissions tracking from trading floor energy through business travel and optional facilitated emissions.

View solution

Investment Banking & Brokerage Case Studies

How entities in this industry use NetNada to solve carbon accounting challenges.

Mid-Tier Investment Bank (1,200 employees, 3 office locations)

Challenge

AASB S2 required Scope 1-2-3 disclosure. High per-employee emissions from air travel (average 40 flights/year for managing directors). Landlord-controlled office buildings made Scope 2 data collection difficult.

Solution

Deployed NetNada with expense system integration. Extracted 100% of flight bookings (route, class), car rentals, hotel nights. Requested utility data from landlords for sqm-based allocation. Calculated Scope 3 Category 6 (business travel) and Category 8 (leased assets).

Result

Baseline: 12,500 tCO2e total (10.4 tCO2/employee). Breakdown: 55% business travel, 30% office energy, 15% other Scope 3. Implemented travel policy: Economy class for domestic, train for <3hr routes. Reduced per-employee emissions 18% over 2 years.

Global Bulge Bracket Bank (Equity Capital Markets Division)

Challenge

Investor questionnaire required disclosure of 'facilitated emissions' from underwriting. No industry standard methodology. Needed to differentiate fossil fuel vs renewable energy underwriting exposure.

Solution

Used NetNada custom methodology: Extracted league table data (IPO and bond issuances). For each deal, matched issuer to emissions database. Calculated facilitated emissions as % of company emissions attributed to capital raised. Segmented by sector.

Result

Calculated facilitated emissions: 15 million tCO2e from underwriting activities (experimental metric, disclosed with methodology caveats). Renewable energy deals represented 22% of underwriting revenue but <5% of facilitated emissions. Fossil fuel deals 8% of revenue, 40% of facilitated emissions.

SASB Disclosure Topics for Investment Banking & Brokerage

Material sustainability topics beyond emissions that investors and stakeholders expect disclosed per SASB standards.

Energy Management

environment

Track electricity consumption from trading floors, data centers for high-frequency trading, and office HVAC. Report kWh per sqm and % from renewable energy.

Business Travel Emissions

environment

Monitor air travel for pitch meetings, roadshows, and conferences. Track hotel nights and ground transportation. Report tCO2e per employee and YoY trends.

Facilitated Emissions (Underwriting)

business model

Disclose methodology for calculating facilitated emissions from equity and debt underwriting. Report underwriting fees from fossil fuel companies and renewable energy companies.

Employee Diversity and Inclusion

social

Report gender and racial diversity of managing directors, deal teams, and board. Disclose pay equity analysis and diversity recruiting initiatives.

Regulatory Compliance and Ethics

governance

Track regulatory fines, settlements, and compliance training completion rates. Report insider trading controls and conflicts of interest policies.

Transition Risk in Underwriting Pipeline

business model

Disclose % of M&A advisory fees from oil & gas sector. Report climate-related financial product innovation (green bonds, sustainability-linked loans, carbon credit trading).

NetNada tracks all SASB material topics, not just emissions. Our platform supports disclosure across environmental, social, governance, and business model topics relevant to your industry.

Investment Banking & Brokerage FAQs

Common questions about carbon accounting for this industry

What are 'facilitated emissions' and should investment banks report them?
Facilitated emissions = emissions attributable to capital markets transactions (underwriting equity/debt, M&A advisory). Methodology is emerging: Some banks calculate emissions associated with capital raised (e.g., if underwrite $500M bond for oil company with $10B market cap and 5M tCO2 emissions → 5% × 5M = 250k tCO2 facilitated). PCAF developing standard but currently optional. Most banks disclose underwriting sector mix (% fees from fossil fuels vs renewables) instead of emissions.
How do you allocate office energy emissions when sharing a building with other tenants?
If landlord provides whole-building utility data: Allocate by sqm occupied (Your sqm ÷ Total building sqm × Total energy). If landlord provides sub-metered data: Use actual consumption. If no data: Use building class benchmarks (Class A office: 150-200 kWh/sqm/year, trading floor 300+ kWh/sqm/year). Report as Scope 3 Category 8 (leased assets). If you control energy procurement (gross lease), report as Scope 2.
Should we include client trading emissions in our Scope 3?
No. Client trades executed on your platform are not in your operational control or financing scope. You provide intermediation service (brokerage fee), not financing. Analogous to: Airlines don't report Scope 3 for passengers' destination activities. Exception: If you operate proprietary trading desks using firm capital, those portfolios' financed emissions would be Scope 3 Category 15 per PCAF (same as asset manager).
How do investment banks differ from commercial banks in carbon accounting?
Key differences: (1) Investment banks lack large loan portfolios → minimal financed emissions from lending (unlike commercial banks' 90-95% footprint). (2) Higher per-employee emissions from travel (roadshows, pitch meetings). (3) Revenue from underwriting → optional 'facilitated emissions' disclosure (nascent metric). (4) Trading desk energy intensity higher (servers, data centers). Similarities: Both track Scope 1-2 (offices, travel), both report Scope 3 Category 6 (travel) and 8 (leases).
Can we get credit for underwriting green bonds and renewable energy IPOs?
Climate-positive underwriting is not 'negative emissions' in carbon accounting. Report separately: (1) Scope 1-2-3 emissions (actual footprint). (2) Green revenue metric (% of underwriting fees from climate solutions). (3) Optional: 'Emissions financed' for fossil fuel deals vs 'Renewable capacity financed' (GW) for clean energy deals. Marketing claim: 'Our underwriting supported 5 GW of new solar capacity in 2026' (not a carbon offset).

Track Investment Banking Emissions from Offices and Travel

See how capital markets firms measure per-employee carbon footprints, disclose business travel emissions, and optionally report facilitated emissions from underwriting.

Book a Demo Start Free Trial