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Are capital goods emissions amortized?

Capital goods, amortization

Sarah Shoemaker avatar
Written by Sarah Shoemaker
Updated over a week ago

No, and this makes this category lumpy over time. You account for the emissions from a capital goods purchase in the year you made the purchase. So if you bought a freight truck in a single year, your emissions will be higher for that year as compared to years when you’re not buying heavy machinery. Unlike in financial accounting, greenhouse gas accounting considers that the environmental impact of the purchase is realized all at once. All of the emissions it took to make that truck are already in the atmosphere. It doesn’t make sense to distribute them into the future. 

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