Carbon Reduction/Reporting
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative is a multi-stakeholder partnership of businesses, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), governments, and others convened by the World Resources Institute (WRI), a U.S.-based environmental NGO, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a Geneva-based coalition of 170 international companies. Launched in 1998, the Initiative’s mission is to develop internationally accepted greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and reporting standards for business and to promote their broad adoption. The GHG Protocol Initiative comprises two separate but linked standards:
• GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (this document, which provides a step-by-step guide for companies to use in quantifying and reporting their GHG emissions)
• GHG Protocol Project Quantification Standard (forthcoming; a guide for quantifying reductions from GHG mitigation projects)
A well-designed and maintained corporate GHG inventory can serve several business goals, including:
• Managing GHG risks and identifying reduction opportunities
• Public reporting and participation in voluntary GHG programs
• Participating in mandatory reporting programs
• Participating in GHG markets
• Recognition for early voluntary action.
This corporate standard is written primarily from the perspective of a business developing a GHG inventory. The GHG Protocol Initiative encourages the use of the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard by all companies regardless of their experience in preparing a GHG inventory. The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard has been designed to be program or policy neutral. However, many existing GHG programs use it for their own accounting and reporting requirements and it is compatible with most of them, including:
• Voluntary GHG reduction programs, e.g., the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Climate Savers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Climate Leaders, the Climate Neutral Network, and the Business Leaders Initiative on Climate Change (BLICC)
• GHG registries, e.g., California Climate Action Registry (CCAR), World Economic Forum Global GHG Registry
• National and regional industry initiatives, e.g., New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development, Taiwan Business Council for Sustainable Development, Association des enterprises pour la réduction des gaz à effet de serre (AERES)
• GHG trading programs,4 e.g., UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS), Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), and the European Union Greenhouse Gas Emissions Allowance Trading Scheme (EU ETS)
• Sector-specific protocols developed by a number of industry associations, e.g., International Aluminum Institute, International Council of Forest and Paper Associations, International Iron and Steel Institute, the WBCSD Cement Sustainability Initiative, and the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA).
Since GHG programs often have specific accounting and reporting requirements, companies should always check with any relevant programs for any additional requirements before developing their inventory.
The Climate Registry, is a new GHG registry that serves all of North America. It is the sister organization of the California Climate Action Registry . View a comparison of the California Registry and The Climate Registry. The General Reporting Protocol (GRP) is the protocol for both. The Climate Registry voluntary reporting program is supported by: California Climate Action Registry
Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management
Science Applications International Corporation
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
U.S. EPA Climate Leaders
- World Resources Institute