Full definition
PCAF Standard 2022. Covers 7 asset classes: business loans, real estate, motor vehicles, project finance, listed equities, sovereign debt and bonds. Becoming essential for financial actors’ scope 3 category 15 (‘Investments’).
Key figures
- 700+financial institutions signed up to PCAF worldwide (June 2026)
- $93,000bncombined assets of signatories when 600 institutions were reached (November 2025)
Questions and answers
Is PCAF mandatory for banks?
No, it is a voluntary standard, but it has become the de facto reference for scope 3 category 15 (financed emissions), required by CSRD, CDP and SBTi finance. Signatories commit to publishing their financed emissions within 3 years.
How does PCAF handle data quality?
This is its strength: each asset class has a data quality score from 1 (verified actual data) to 5 (sector estimates). Publishing the score alongside the figure makes comparisons honest and sets out an improvement roadmap.