Your MSME borrowers' emissions, traced to their bills.
For banks, NBFCs and factors. With only turnover on file, an MSME loan scores 4 on PCAF's scale; with only the loan amount, 5. A borrower who reads its electricity bills and fuel invoices into Senseible can give you a figure from its own energy use, with the bill behind every line. Senseible does not lend, rate or guarantee finance. The credit decision stays with you.
The PCAF score follows what you hold
- Score 1: The borrower reports its emissions and an independent third party has verified them. Rare for an MSME. Needs an outside verifier. Senseible's own check does not count here.
- Score 2: The borrower reports its emissions without verification, or they are worked out from the borrower's own energy use (electricity and fuel) with factors for that energy. Where bill-based records put a borrower: units from each electricity bill and fuel invoice, each with its factor.
- Score 3: Worked out from the borrower's production volume with a factor per unit of output. Possible when you know tonnes or pieces made but have no energy data.
- Score 4: Estimated from the borrower's revenue with a sector factor per unit of revenue. Where an MSME loan sits when the file holds its turnover and nothing from the plant.
- Score 5: Estimated from the loan amount or the borrower's assets with a sector factor, when even revenue is not known. The fallback when the file holds only the loan amount.
Senseible's Verified status means its checks passed. It is not independent verification, so a bill-based figure stays at 2.
What one bill becomes
- Units: kWh from the bill, or litres and kg from a fuel invoice
- Factor: CEA grid factor for the bill's financial year, or the fuel's factor
- Source: Named on the line, with the method version
- Fingerprint: SHA-256 of the file, so one bill is never counted twice
- Status: Verified when every check passes, flagged when a number is unclear
What the borrower's finance evidence shows
- Verified tonnes, the number of documents and the months they cover
- Months between the first and last electricity bill that no bill covers
- Scope 1, 2 and 3 split
- Electricity units and the factor they imply
- Emissions per thousand rupees of invoice spend
- The largest supplier's share of emissions
- How many records carry a fingerprint, a named factor source and a fixed method version
The green loan evidence pack
Bank report
- Who the borrower is, and the period
- Baseline for direct emissions, electricity and the value chain, from its own documents
- What is missing, said plainly instead of filled in
- Its reduction target, when it has set one
- Every figure traced to its document fingerprint, activity data and factor
- Write a loan KPI only against figures marked Evidenced
Not a credit assessment, a rating or a statement of eligibility for any facility.
Verified Emissions Certificate
- Verified emissions from the borrower's source documents
- Coverage: verified documents out of all recorded, and their share of emissions
- A quality grade with its pass rate
- Who checked it, stated once: Verified by Senseible, expert-supervised
Not an accredited third-party verification or a statutory filing.
Green loan file
- The schemes and cover that fit the project
- Bills before the project for the baseline, bills after it for the saving
- Papers to attach, as a checklist
- What a lender asks for after the loan
Banks, SIDBI and scheme bodies decide. Senseible does not lend, arrange or approve loans.
Start your MSME book in a spreadsheet
The free PCAF loan book workbook takes one row per borrower and works out the attribution factor (outstanding amount divided by total equity plus debt, or EVIC if listed), the financed emissions and a data quality score for the book, weighted by outstanding amount. No sector factors or sample figures are included.
Questions credit teams ask
Does Senseible lend, rate or guarantee a loan?
No. Senseible does not lend, rate, arrange or guarantee finance. It prepares the emissions evidence. The credit decision and the terms stay with you.
What PCAF data quality score does a bill-based figure get?
Usually 2: emissions worked out from the borrower's own energy use with factors for that energy. Score 1 needs an independent third-party verifier. Senseible's Verified status means its checks passed. It is not that verification.
Which emission factors are used?
Grid electricity uses the CEA CO2 Baseline Database factor for the bill's financial year. Fuels use the factor named on each line. Every line shows its factor and source.
How does a borrower get its figures to us?
The borrower uploads its bills and fuel invoices, checks them, and downloads the bank report and certificate to send you. Nothing reaches you unless the borrower sends it.
Do Indian lenders have to report financed emissions?
RBI issued a draft disclosure framework on climate-related financial risks in February 2024 that proposes it on a phased road map. Check rbi.org.in for what applies to your institution, and from when.
Can a borrower with no bills on file still go in the workbook?
Yes. The workbook takes any figure. For a borrower with no data, use your own sector estimate and give it a score of 4 or 5.
See partner options, how MSMEs use verified records, green loans for MSMEs, compared and the free green loan check.