Carbon Action Blog

EU ETS emissions down in 2011, permit glut grows

2012-05-17T13:44:53+00:00

The EU's emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) limits the
carbon dioxide emissions of the 27-nation bloc's factories
and power plants and covers nearly half of EU emissions.

Preliminary data in April showed a fall of 2.4 percent in carbon emissions in 2011, suggesting the bloc is on track to achieve its 2020 climate target to cut emissions 20 percent below 1990 levels.
Carbon prices were unmoved by the data but by 1414 GMT had edged down 1.35 percent at 6.59 euros a ton.

"The EU data was not much different to what came out in April so there is minimal reaction on the market," an emissions trader said.
Less than 1 percent of installations taking part in the EU carbon scheme did not surrender allowances covering all of their 2011 emissions by a April 30 deadline, the Commission said.
Only 2 percent of installations failed to submit verified emissions for 2011.

SUPPLY GLUT

Tuesday's data also points to a growing oversupply of carbon units, thanks to a record use of international carbon credits in the EU carbon scheme at a time of stagnant EU economic growth and flagging industrial output.
"Last year's record use of international credits has increased the buffer of unused allowances by some 450 million. This means more than 900 million more allowances have been put into circulation than were surrendered for compliance use over the period 2008-2011," the Commission said.
Carbon permits are handed out to installations in each reporting year. Each company must surrender enough allowances to cover its emissions by the end of April in the following year, otherwise fines can be imposed.
Polluting plants in the ETS can also use a certain number of U.N.-backed carbon credits for compliance, most of which are certified emission reductions (CERS) - credits issued to qualifying emissions-reduction projects in developing countries.

Cumulatively, the EU ETS has been responsible for the use of 456 million CERs, of which over half came from projects located in China and 17 percent from India.

REFORM

European carbon prices have shed around 60 percent of their value over the past year due to market worries about the growing supply glut and weak demand.
The benchmark carbon price hit a low of 5.99 euros a ton in April, well below the level needed to spur green investment.
To prop up low prices, the Commission said last month it would review its auctioning rules for the ETS, a proposal which would have to be approved by member states.
This could involve changing the timing of auctions, or delaying them, to limit supply in the short term, a process referred to as "backloading".

Before the Commission breaks for summer in August, it will outline more ways to boost prices and reform the ETS, with a legal decision expected by the end of the year, EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard told reporters on Tuesday in Brussels.

"It's not that one should expect backloading in itself will do the whole trick and then suddenly the price will be very much bigger," Hedegaard said.

"Options to a more structural addressing of the problem of the too-low price in the system...that's a more complicated process."

Such structural reform options would be part of an annual ETS review. They could include discussion on a lower emissions cut target and/or setting aside carbon permits from the third trading phase of the scheme which runs from 2013 to 2020.

EU officials, member states and lawmakers have been debating if and how to intervene in the market for some time, including a one-off move to withhold a certain number of carbon permits for the 2013-2020 period. Many in the market are expecting a decision on that this year or next.

($1 = 0.7789 euros)

17th May 2012 Reuters.com

Collaboration between Google Finances and CDP

2012-05-03T14:23:36+00:00

With a background in physics and sustainability, and a stint as a math teacher in Morocco, I never imagined I would end up at a technology company like Google. But as I approach my fifth anniversary here, I’ve been thinking back on all the projects I’ve been a part of as a member of the Energy team. One that I’m most proud of is a collaboration with the Google Finance team and the nonprofit Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) to put companies’ carbon disclosure ratings into Google Finance alongside financial data. Specifically, these ratings quantify how well a company measures and reports its greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to what degree it is aware of the risks and opportunities climate change poses to its business.
The scores -- which the Google Finance team just updated for 2011 -- are listed as “Carbon Disclosure Rating” and appear in the “Key stats and ratios” box on the right side of a company’s Google Finance page:

There are two things that made this an exciting project for me. First, what started out as an idea in the mind of one Googler became a live feature in a product used by millions of people every day. And second, the launch of this feature in April 2010 marked the first time that individual investors could freely access this kind of information in conjunction with financial data.

Why would investors be interested in a company’s carbon disclosure rating? We thought it would be useful because a company’s emissions, as well as climate change more generally, can pose financial risks -- and investors generally like to understand such risks. These risks can take several forms: from regulatory risks (e.g. legislation placing costs on carbon-intensive activities) to physical risks (e.g. sea-level rise threatening a company’s facilities) to market risks (e.g. consumers switching to another company’s products because they believe that company to be a better environmental steward). All of these factors (and others) go into CDP’s calculation of a company’s carbon score, so it can be a useful metric for investors.

As I begin my sixth year at Google, I’m excited that we’re making environmental information more universally accessible and useful, and I’m looking forward to the projects and challenges ahead.

http://googlefinanceblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/updated-carbon-disclosure-ratings-in.html

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

2012-04-10T09:31:31+00:00

Who or what is the IPCC?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was jointly established in 1988 by the
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
to assess in a comprehensive and transparent manner all the relevant scientific, technical,
and socioeconomic information to contribute in understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change,
the potential impacts, and the adaptation and mitigation options. Since 1990, the IPCC has produced a series of Assessment Reports,
Special Reports, Technical Papers, methodologies, and other key documents which have since become
the standard references for policymakers and scientists concerned by global warming.

The IPCC will issue, in June 2012, a special report on ways and ideas to manage the risks associated with increased extreme weather events and climate or weather induced disasters. The special report strives to contextualise the challenge of dealing with extreme weather and climate events as an issue in governmental and local authority decision making under uncertainty, analysing responses in the context of risk management. Incidentally, Risk Management is soon to be a publically available educational and practical course from Carbon Action using ISO 31000:2009 Risk management -- Principles and guidelines. ISO 31000:2009 can be applied throughout the life of an organization, and to a wide range of activities, including strategies and decisions, operations, processes, functions, projects, products, services and assets. The IPCC Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation is called, for short, SREX (for special report on extreme events).
The full citation for this forthcoming report is IPCC, 2012: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation.
Field, C.B.et al, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, and New York, NY, USA

To assist in grappling with the content of this report we have reproduced the key terms in Climate Change/Global Warming below:-
Climate Change: A change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean or averafe conditions and/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings, or to persistent man-made changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use.
Climate Extreme (extreme weather or climate event): The occurrence of a value of a weather or climate variable above (or below) a threshold value near the upper (or lower) ends of the range of observed values of the variable. For simplicity, both extreme weather events and extreme climate events are referred to collectively as ‘climate extremes.’
Exposure: The presence of people; livelihoods; environmental services and resources; infrastructure; or economic, social, or cultural assets or treasures (Pyramids, Stonehenge, in places that could be adversely affected.
Vulnerability: The propensity or predisposition to be adversely affected. Examples tajt spring to mind are Bangladesh, and Pacific Island States amongst others,
Disaster: Severe alterations in the normal functioning of a community or a society due to hazardous physical events interacting with vulnerable social conditions, leading to widespread adverse human, material, economic, or environmental effects that require immediate emergency response to satisfy critical human needs and that may require external support for recovery. An example possibly such as famine caused by crop failure due to extreme weather conditions
Disaster Risk: The likelihood over a specified time period of severe alterations in the normal functioning of a community or a society physical events interacting with vulnerable social conditions, leading to widespread adverse human, material, economic, or environmental effects that require immediate emergency response to satisfy critical human needs and that may require external support for recovery.
Disaster Risk Management: Processes for designing, implementing, and evaluating strategies, policies, and measures to improve the understanding of disaster risk, foster disaster risk reduction and transfer, and promote continuous improvement in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery practices, with the explicit purpose of increasing human security, well-being, quality of life, resilience, and sustainable development.
Adaptation: In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects, in order to moderate harm or take advantage of beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to new expected climatic conditions.
Resilience: The ability of a system (or country) and its component parts (Government, Civil Society, Businesses) to anticipate, absorb, accommodate, or recover from the effects of a hazardous event in an effective way by ensuring the preservation, restoration, or improvement of the societies’ essential basic structures and functions.
Transformation: The altering of fundamental attributes of a system (including value systems; regulatory, legislative, or bureaucratic regimes; financial institutions; and technological or biological systems).

Exposure of and vulnerability to extreme events are key determinants of disaster risk and of impacts when risk becomes reality. Again this implies less developed countries in high natural disaster prone areas are in the firing line when the global warming events become commonplace. The question is – how to respond, mitigate or avert such events. This IPCC report is an important step in opening our eyes to what needs to be done.
This IPCC report continues in the time-honoured and established scientific tradition of being replete with self-doubt about assumptions – a proof of its validity – I would suggest.
For example on flood prediction the report states “Confidence is low due to limited evidence and because the causes of regional changes are complex, although there are exceptions to this statement. There is medium confidence (based on physical reasoning) that projected increases in heavy rainfall would contribute to increases in local flooding in some catchments or regions” How can we not at least accept the bone fides of the authors?

In short – fellow earthlings – we need to act urgently.

U.K. Considers Environment Tax to Replace Carbon ‘Burden’

2012-03-23T16:00:12+00:00

U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said
today that he may introduce an
environmental tax to replace a carbon-reduction
program that’s become a “burden” on business.

Proposals for the new tax will be made in the fall should the government not be able to simplify the so-called Carbon Reduction Commitment to reduce its administrative expenses, Osborne told lawmakers in Parliament.

“We’re serious in making sure that green tax is effective and not a complicated burden on business,” Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said in a phone interview. “We’re determined not to tie the green sector up in red tape.”

In a budget with few environmental announcements, Osborne doubled a surcharge on carbon emissions by utilities starting 2014. He indicated support for
airport expansion near London, pledged measures to encourage investment in offshore oil and gas and reduced environmental regulation to cut business costs
by at least 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) over five years.

“It’s a bit like Sherlock Holmes’ dog that didn’t bark: although not a lot was said, in a way that might be seen as a good thing because many of the crucial policies are still being finalized,” Impax Asset Management Group Plc (IPX) Chief Executive Officer Ian Simm said by phone. They include reform of the electricity market, the government’s Green Deal program to insulate homes and details about how the “Green Investment Bank” is going to work, he said.
‘Nail in Coffin’

Green Party leader and lawmaker Caroline Lucas called today’s budget “the nail in the coffin” of the government’s pledge on entering office to be the “greenest ever.” The environmental group Friends of the Earth said the plans ignore Prime Minister David Cameron’s promise to build a clean future.

“The determination to plow ahead with growth-at-any-cost planning reforms and aviation expansion, throw money at North Sea oil and gas, and ignore the potential of green energy shows that this administration’s environmental policy is blue, not green,” Lucas said, referring to the color associated with Cameron’s Conservative Party.

Osborne has “fired the starting pistol for more roads, airports and gas power that will keep the U.K. hooked on costly fossil fuels for decades to come,” Friends of the Earth Executive Director Andy Atkins said in a statement.

Barker said his department hadn’t made any “major asks” of Osborne in this budget.
‘Harder for Business’

“What we wanted was a clear commitment to the renewables sector and we got that,” Barker said. One request the energy department had made and Osborne delivered was for the so-called carbon floor price to apply only to the emissions associated with electricity generation from combined heat and power plants, and not the heat produced, he said.

The U.K. solar power industry, already reeling from unscheduled cuts to subsidies, faces another hit because of restrictions imposed by the chancellor, according to David Symons, a director at global environmental consultancy WSP Environment & Energy.

The solar industry “faces a further 300 million-pound hit over the next five years as its capital allowances are restricted,” Symons said. “This will make it harder for business to invest in renewables because companies won’t be able to recoup their investment as quickly.”

The carbon-reduction commitment compeled 5,000 U.K. organizations to pay about 3.5 billion pounds over four years in fees for emitting carbon. Osborne in October 2010 turned the program into a tax instead of a system that redistributed money from those organizations that made the least progress in curtailing emissions to those that made the most.
‘Overly Burdensome’

“No amount of tinkering with this doomed tax on British business will ever make it work and therefore the government should scrap the scheme in the autumn,” Gareth Stace, head of climate and environment policy at the EEF manufacturers group, said. “The scheme is overly burdensome, costly and provides no guarantee of carbon reductions.”

Osborne today set the carbon price support at 9.55 pounds ($15.13) a metric ton for 2014, almost double the 4.94-pound cost that takes effect April 2013. The U.K. is introducing the tax on power production to encourage investment in nuclear and renewable power.

Businessweek.com 23.03.12

Delivering Sustainable Supply Chains

2012-02-10T15:30:56+00:00

Regulation, along with a drive to improve efficiency and
enhance corporate reputation, has encouraged the majority of large organizations to look at how they can measure and reduce carbon in their own business. As this becomes standard business practice, leading businesses are now focusing on how to make continual, ongoing improvements to their carbon footprint and taking steps to understand the wider impact of their indirect emissions.
Indirect, or “scope 3,” emissions are a consequence of the activities of the reporting company, but occur at sources owned or controlled by another organisation, for example raw materials extraction, distribution by a third party or from a customer’s use of a particular product. An important part of tackling scope 3 emissions is to understand which parts of a company’s operations are responsible for the greatest proportion of emissions.
Our research found that 40 percent of multinationals have taken steps towards addressing the indirect carbon emissions resulting from their extended value chain. Over the next three years, we expect this to increase to 84 percent and impact business of all sizes. If 2011 saw organizations starting to address this area, 2012 will see more widespread action as companies recognize that reducing carbon in supply chains is an effective way to improve business efficiency as well as enhance environmental performance.
To put this in context for an individual company, GlaxoSmithKline revealed in its 2010 Sustainability Report that 80 percent of its overall carbon footprint comes from indirect emissions – with 40 percent through the sourcing and manufacturing of its products and 40 percent resulting from the use phase of its products, such as propellants in inhalers.

As well as GSK, Carbon Trust Advisory is also working with other forward thinking companies including BT, Taylor Wimpey and Whitbread to help them identify carbon hotspots within their supply chains, to uncover reduction opportunities and quantify the value at stake, and to set targets for the reduction of their indirect carbon emissions. These companies recognize the business rationale for reducing indirect emissions, for example, security of supply, resource scarcity, commodity inflation, waste reduction, supply chain optimization, and enhanced customer value proposition.

As these leaders take action, public awareness and expectation of other businesses to do likewise is increasing, and becoming a factor in product differentiation and consumers’ buying decisions. Therefore, companies must be proactive in order to stay ahead of the competition.
If the world’s leading companies see an opportunity to reduce their environmental impact, enhance their reputation, and boost sales by acting on indirect emissions, this will have implications for the many other businesses which supply them. Multinationals will increasingly seek partners who can support their environmental goals, especially as consumer demand for low carbon products continues to grow. New regulations and the move to consumption-based accounting, together with voluntary schemes such as the Carbon Disclosure Project, are also encouraging companies to seek advice on addressing their indirect carbon emissions.

Our research also found that 50 percent of multinationals expect to select their suppliers based upon carbon performance in the future and 29 percent of suppliers could lose their places on “green supply chains” if they do not have adequate performance records on carbon. Conversely, 58 percent of multinationals will be prepared to pay a premium for lower carbon supplies in the future.

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/02/09/delivering-sustainable-supply-chains/

Guangdong Carbon Program to Be China’s Largest, New Energy Says

2012-01-27T15:19:40+00:00

A program to curb the increase of greenhouse gas emissions in China’s Guangdong province
will probably be the largest of the nation’s seven test climate- protection
systems, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Guangdong is seeking to cut the amount of carbon emitted per unit of production in its economy by 19.5 percent in the five years through 2015, New Energy Finance said yesterday in an e-mailed research note. Other regions have lower targets, with Chongqing and Hubei set reductions of 17 percent.

“At this stage, Guangdong is the one to watch, as it has an ambitious target and the highest emissions out of the seven pilot regions,” said Richard Chatterton, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London. “The planned pilots are currently light on detail, but the programs are likely to fit alongside non-market policies, potentially preventing fully fledged cap-and-trade,” he said today by phone.

China, the world’s most populous nation and biggest emitter, is testing emissions-trading programs after global greenhouse gas output from fuel burning advanced 5.3 percent to a record 30.4 million metric tons in 2010, according to data published November by the International Energy Agency in Paris.

Guangdong has emissions of about 465 million tons of carbon dioxide, New Energy estimated, based on 2009 data. That’s compared with 397 million tons for France, U.S. Department of Energy data show.

The Beijing region has yearly emissions of 117 million tons, while the Shenzhen area emits 90 million tons, New Energy estimated. Annual gross domestic product growth varies widely across the seven, from 8 percent for Shanghai to 16 percent for Tianjin, it found.

Implementation Plans

The likely success of the programs in curbing greenhouse- gas output in the five years is so far difficult to judge, Chatterton said. “We’ll know more when the regions submit their implementation plans in 2012,” he said.

Asia Development Bank will help fund one of the pilot carbon-trading markets that may evolve into a nationwide cap- and-trade program.

ADB is providing a $750,000 equivalent grant to Tianjin municipal area’s pilot system, which may begin operation as early as next year, Manila-based ADB said today in a statement on its website.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which set an emissions cap for more than 30 developed nations in the five years through 2012, was never ratified by the U.S. and does not require China and India, the world’s two most populous nations, to cut emissions. United Nations envoys have failed to decide how to extend or replace that agreement for the past 14 years.

Officials from almost 200 nations agreed on Dec. 11 at UN climate talks in Durban, South Africa, to seek a global deal by 2015, with the participation for the first time of the U.S., China and India.

By Mathew Carr - Jan 25, 2012

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2012-01-25/guangdong-carbon-program-to-be-china-s-largest-new-energy-says.html

Unavoidable European Aviation Emissions Trading

2012-01-13T16:17:34+00:00

Unavoidable European Aviation Emissions Trading – Comply or fly-by.

Over the past week we have seen growing opposition over the implementation of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme for the aviation industry. Airline operators are anxious that they may not be able to meet demands set out in the EU ETS directive with some arguing that compliance is a violation of international skies treaty’s while others stating that cost of compliance and penalties are much to stringent.

The trade group that represents China’s biggest airlines, China Air Transport Association, has announced that its members will refuse to cooperate with the emissions trading scheme. The Russian government have also publicly opposed the plan, and demanded that the introduction to the scheme be postponed at least 18 months – they have even hinted at a retaliatory system of charges for air craft crossing Russian airspace.

However resistance seems to be futile – in December the European Supreme Court threw out a challenge by a group of North American Airlines and trade Associations stating that the EU ETS directive did not in fact violate international law and open skies between the USA and Europe.

The aviation industry has known since 2008 that they would be included in the EU ETS directive. The legislation means that overall CO 2 emissions of the aviation industry will be capped. The cap is initially set at 97% of 2005 emissions levels, and from 2013 onwards at 95%. All operators flying to and from the EU will have to surrender one allowance for every tonne of CO 2 emitted on a flight to and from (and within) Europe. By doing so the ETS for aviation becomes the first global emissions trading scheme.

During the first year of the aviation ETS (2012) companies will get 85% of allowances for free, obliging them to pay for just 15%. The free allowances or credits are based on a benchmark relating to number of passengers and cargo using 2010 data as the base period.
According to PWC the aviation sector's emissions are expected to grow to 130% by 2012 (compared with 2005 levels), only about 60 % of the allowances the sector needs will be issued for free in 2012. This shortfall equals costs for entire sector of about 3.5 billion Euros per year assuming a price level of 30 Euro per allowance. These costs are likely to be spread unevenly amongst affected operators, as specific emission levels vary widely between aircraft.
All non-complying aircraft operators face a penalty of €100 per missing allowance on top of obligations to procure and surrender missing allowances. Airlines that do not pay face an operating ban in European countries all together. It will be interesting to following to see how the EU penalties are applied to those who do not comply with the regulations.

COP 17: Measuring, Reporting and Verifying Emissions Reductions

2011-12-22T15:27:39+00:00

At the COP17 meeting Durban there was important progress
made on the establishment of the Green Climate Fund.
The fund is set to mobilise $100 billion annually to aid developing nations reduce emissions and adapt to the negative effects of climate change.
During COP17 it was also agreed that the Green Climate Fund will have a facility to fund private sector initiatives.

A less publicly noted success to come out of the COP17 at Durban was the commitment to develop a common system for measuring, reporting and verifying emissions reduction. This will be essential for progress especially because lending from the Green Climate Fund may be results based. If the private sector is to invest at a substantial scale, then there must be a robust and internationally accepted framework for evaluating achievement. A consensus on measuring reporting and verification will likely increase flow of further private sector investment.

It was highlighted at the meeting that activities funded by the Green Climate Fund “will be regularly monitored for impact, efficiency and effectiveness” and “results measurement framework with guidelines and appropriate performance indicators will be approved by the board”.

A significantly advanced framework for the reporting of emissions reductions for both developed and developing countries was also agreed. Developed countries must prepare biennial reports on their emissions and on their projects to reduce emissions, in accordance with their national circumstances, with their first reports due at the start of 2014. Developing countries will go through a similar parallel process, with their first biennial update report submitted by December 2014; by March 5th next year they must also submit information about their nationally appropriate mitigation actions and low-emission development strategies, in order to obtain financial and technical support by developed countries.

Information sourced from: KPMG ‘COP17 – ‘One step closer to a low Carbon Future’

Emissions traders jailed for tax evasion

2011-12-22T12:08:31+00:00

Six people have been convicted of tax evasion in
Germany after an international probe into
carbon emissions trading involving Deutsche Bank.

The investigation is one of the biggest in the EU into how emissions traders created transactions to evade value added tax. German prosecutors are continuing to investigate 170 people and the suspected tax evasion amounted to €850M approx.

Six traders from Britain, Germany and France have been sentenced to between 3years and 7years 10months in prison.
No employees of Deutsche Bank have been charged in the inquiry but a prosecutor told the court this month that the VAT Fraud could not have been carried out without the involvement of the bank.

The probe is one of a number of problems to have beset the EU’s emissions trading system, which was set up in 2005 to create a price, and market, for CO2 and so help to reduce output of greenhouse gas.

www.ft.com December, 2011

Canada withdraws from Kyoto Protocol

2011-12-14T09:34:17+00:00

The Government of Canada has announced on 12 December
its formal withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol.
In a statement delivered in the Canadian House of Commons,
Peter Kent, Canadian Minister for the Environment, stated that "we are invoking our legal right to formally withdraw from Kyoto.
This decision formalizes what we have said
since 2006 that we will not implement the Kyoto Protocol."

Kent said that the Kyoto Protocol does not commit the two largest emitters, (US and China) to any emissions reductions, and thus it "will not work." He referred to the Durban Platform, as "a way forward that builds on our work at Copenhagen and Cancun." Kent added that Canada will work towards a legally binding agreement on climate change which will allow Canada to “continue creating jobs and economic growth" and said Canada is well on its way "to meeting the commitment made in Copenhagen by reducing green house gas emissions by 17 per cent over 2005 levels by 2020.

Carbon Action Carbon Courses Ireland and the UK

2011-12-08T09:36:28+00:00

1. Measuring your organisation’s Carbon Footprint ISO 14064-1
(Essentials Greenhouse Gas Inventories for Organizations)
This course provides the information for the first step organisations need to determine their carbon footprint and the ongoing management of GHG emissions.

2. Reducing Your Organisations Environmental Impact ISO 14064-2 Essentials – Greenhouse Gas Projects.
This course provides an introduction and the technical requirements to create GHG projects under the rules of ISO 14064 – 2. Projects that reduce emissions and enhance emissions are addressed.

3. Carbon Emission Reduction Expert ISO 14064-2 Expert - Greenhouse Gas Projects
In this course students apply their knowledge of ISO 14064-2 by creating an actual GHG Project through the use of a series of exercises and two detailed case studies to ensure a practical, hands-on approach to facilitate the learning process.

4. GHG Validation using ISO 14064
Validation is normally performed for GHG emission reduction projects before they are implemented and it helps ensure that the project conforms to the requirements of a standard or the rules of a GHG program.

5. GHG Verification using ISO 14064
Verification provides an independent assessment of the data associated with a GHG inventory or project and typically offers an opinion on the accuracy of the estimates or measurements, thus giving confidence to others interested in the results.

China starts carbon emission rights trading scheme

2011-11-28T11:27:49+00:00

China's top economic planner has confirmed that it has approved a pilot greenhouse gas emission rights trading scheme in seven provincial regions in an effort to encourage carbon emission reductions.
The municipalities and provinces given the green-light include Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Hubei and Guangdong, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission told Xinhua under the condition of anonymity. However, the official refused to elaborate on the pilot scheme. Details such as how the scheme will work and how long it will last are not available.

According to a statement posted on the official website of the Chongqing municipal government (www.cq.gov.cn), the pilot program is an important means for realizing China's emission reduction targets, while minimizing costs. Compared to levels in 2005, a total reduction of 1.74 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions occurred from 2006 to 2010 as the power sector adopted measures to reduce coal consumption while raising the efficiency of the use of electricity, according to a report on the sector's emission reduction which has been released.
In 2010, the country saw 1.6 million fewer tonnes of smoke emissions from electricity-generating utilities, marking a 31.9 percent reduction from 2009, said the report.
Additionally, sulfur dioxide emissions were reduced by 29 percent in 2010 compared with 2005 levels.
By 2020, the country has pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40 to 45 percent compared to 2005 levels.
According to a white paper China, the government will prioritize global climate change during its 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015).

China.org.cn

Do listed fossil fuel reserves take us to unburnable carbon?

2011-11-18T12:47:40+00:00

We estimate the fossil fuel reserves held by the top 100 listed coal companies and the top 100 listed oil and gas companies represent potential emissions of 745 GtCO2.
This exceeds the remaining carbon budget of 565 GtCO2 by 180 GtCO2. The potential emissions from listed fossil fuel reserves show that just over half the carbon comes from coal reserves, whilst only 5% is attributable to gas.

This has profound implications for the world’s energy finance structures and means that using just the reserves listed on the world’s stock markets in the next 40 years would be enough to take us beyond 2°C of global warming. This calculation also assumes that no new fossil fuel resources are added to reserves and burnt during this period – an assumption challenged by the harsh reality that fossil fuel companies are investing billions per annum to find and process new reserves.
It is estimated that listed oil and gas companies had CAPEX budgets of $798 billion in 2010.6 In addition, over two-thirds of the world’s fossil fuels are held by privately or state owned oil, gas and coal corporations, which are also contributing even more carbon emissions.
Given that only one fifth of the total reserves can be used to stay below 2°C warming, if this is applied uniformly, then only 149 of the 745 GtCO2 listed can be used unmitigated.
This is where the carbon asset bubble is located.

If applied to the world’s stock markets, this could result in a repricing of assets on a scale that would dwarf past profit warnings and revaluation of reserves.
How quickly would we reach unburnable carbon if emissions continue business as usual?
According to the latest IEA projections of energy-related fossil fuel CO2 emissions, unburnable carbon will be reached in just 16 years if energy consumption continues unfettered.7 This is based on global annual energy emissions increasing from 30.12 GtCO2 in 2011 to 37.58 GtCO2 in 2027, totalling 570.11 GtCO2 over the period.

Extract from “Unburnable Carbon – Are the world’s financial markets carrying a carbon bubble?” (From Carbon Track)

First Energy Efficiency Performance League Table Published

2011-11-09T11:38:55+00:00

The Environment Agency has published its first Energy Efficiency Performance League Table ranking 2,000 CRC organisations according to how they manage their energy use, including major supermarkets, retailers, restaurant chains, government departments, hospitals and councils.

Twenty-two organisations ranked joint first, with a weighted score of 202.95. More than 800 organisations ranked in the lowest possible position, with a weighted score of 402.

The scheme requires large organisations that use more than 6,000MWh electricity per year to measure and report carbon emissions. They gain credits for installing smart meters and complying with Carbon Trust - or an equivalent accreditation scheme - standards of energy management.

The league tables were initially designed to help government recycle the revenues raised through the CRC, but this element was controversially removed in last year's comprehensive spending review, meaning that the government now keeps the money.

However, the Department of Energy and Climate Change maintains that charging firms based on their energy use through the CRC will provide a financial driver for energy efficiency improvements, while league tables will provide a reputational incentive for companies to try to perform well.

Environment Agency director of environment and business Ed Mitchell said he is encouraged to see that six out of 10 organisations have taken steps to improve their energy management this year.

"This year, government will need to look more holistically at organisations' longer term environmental impact in order to get a clearer picture of our collective progress against the UK's 2020 targets." Ian Foddering, chief technology officer at Cisco UKI.

www.guardian.co.uk, 11/2011

Firms That Voluntarily Disclose GHGs

2011-11-07T16:46:43+00:00

Firms that voluntarily disclose GHGs have
Environmental Management Systems (uncertified and certified),
have higher corporate governance quality and publicly report to the CDP,
they tend to be large and in the energy, banking, power, FMCG, government,
Pharmaceutical, ITC, resources, mining and industrial sectors.

The credibility and extent of disclosures are related to the existence of a certified EMS, public reporting to the CDP, and use of the Robust Carbon or GHG reporting structures such as ISO 14064.
Carbon Action are key components in the education of GHG practitioners in these sectors along with our Strategic Alliance Partners who developed the ISO 14064 suite of training courses.

EU ETS Aviation Scheme

2011-11-04T11:35:30+00:00

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill making it
illegal for US airlines to comply with the controversial EU ETS Aviation scheme.
The move comes in the wake of the release of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) Advocate Generals opinion, which found the EU plan to extend its emission trading scheme (ETS) to aviation to be fully compatible with international law. Tensions have been escalating in recent months between the EU and a group of countries opposed to the initiative.

The group last month adopted a declaration in New Delhi demanding that the EU cancel the inclusion of aviation in the ETS. India has said that if the EU does introduce the measure as planned in January 2012 it will retaliate. China, which also opposes the scheme, has already blocked the order of Airbus A380s from Hong Kong Airlines.

International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Volume 11, 31 October 2011.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) governing council is expected to adopt New Delhi declaration as well as a set of resolutions calling on the EU to allow non-EU carriers to be exempt from the ETS when the Montreal-based organisation meets this Wednesday. Reuters reports that the ICAO has claimed that the ETS issue poses major challenges and risks for aircraft operators.

The recent developments out of Washington further complicate the dispute as if the bill is also approved by US Senate, thus becoming law, US-based airlines will be put in a difficult legal position. Should they continue to fly to Europe, they would be in breach of US law if they comply with the ETS and in breach of European law should they not. Some experts say the issue could lead to a trans-Atlantic trade war.

Policy and Corporate News

2011-10-27T11:01:39+00:00

Policy Update:

UK scraps Longannet CCS project funding
The British government has cancelled plans to fund a carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration project at Longannet in Scotland,according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

UK free EUA allocation to fall 65 pct in 2013:
The number of free EUAs the UK will hand out in 2013 will fall by 65 percent to 75.1 million carbon permits worth 853 million euros ($1.2 billion), as most power generators will be forced to pay for all the permits they need, a draft allocation list seen by Point Carbon News showed.

Corporate:

Investors worth $20 trillion call for binding climate treaty
A group of 285 investors representing $20 trillion called on G20 leaders and U.N. climate negotiators Wednesday for domestic legislation and a legal international climate agreement to attract private capital to stimulate low-carbon growth.

Finnish power sector emissions crash 13.4 pct
Emissions from Finland’s electricity sector plummeted 13.4 percent in the first nine months of the year as power consumption declined and more energy was sourced from nuclear and renewable plants, which will likely curb demand for CO2 permits.

www.pointcarbon.com , 2011

Global Carbon Budget

2011-10-21T10:50:39+00:00

Research by the Potsdam Institute calculates that to reduce the chance of exceeding a 2°C global warming to 20% or 1 in 5, the global carbon budget for 2000-2050 is 886 GtCO2.
Minus emissions from the first decade of this century, this leaves a budget of 565 GtCO2 of emissions for the remaining 40 years to 2050.
The fossil fuel reserves held by the top 100 listed coal companies and the top 100 listed oil and gas companies represent potential emissions of 745 GtCO2. This exceeds the remaining carbon budget of 565 GtCO2 by 180 GtCO2. This means that using just the listed proportion of reserves in the next 40 years is enough to take us beyond 2°C of global warming. On top of this further resources are held by state entities.

Given only 20% of the total reserves can be used to stay below 2°C, if this is applied uniformly, then only 149 of the 745 GtCO2 held by listed companies can be used unabated.
Oil, coal and gas investors are thus left exposed to the risk of unburnable carbon.

If the 2°C target is rigorously applied, then up to 80% of declared reserves owned by the world’s largest listed coal, oil and gas companies and their investors would be subject to impairment as these assets become stranded. The economic consequences of having fossil fuels with an emissions value of 180 Giga tonnes CO2 are thus much worse than even the current economic crisis.
Potsdam Institute, 2011

$23* For Every Ton Of Carbon Emitted

2011-10-14T14:06:32+00:00

Under a controversial plan passed in the Australian parliament, Australia’s 500 biggest greenhouse gas emitters
will pay $23* for every ton of carbon they emit. The carbon pricing scheme, which will go into effect next July after the Senate’s likely nod in November, has been a political hot button for the Australian government and for prime minister Julia Gillard.

Even though packed with “sweeteners” that pull in political support but dampen its likely effect, the bill is considered by many as a huge step for Australia, the world’s largest exporter of coal and a top leader in greenhouse gas emissions per capita.

The Government estimates the carbon price will cost Australian households an additional $10 per week. But the bill passed today will also return more than half of the revenue raised to people via tax credits and direct payments, producing payments to individuals and households that should be more than enough to cover rising commodity and energy prices.

By making burning fossil fuels more expensive and thereby encouraging efficiency, efficient technologies and renewables, the bill, according to Labor estimates, will reduce Australia’s carbon emissions by 159 million tons by 2020, cutting at least 5 percent from the country’s emissions by 2020.

Bloomberg, 2011

Choosing Suppliers Based on CO2 Emissions

2011-09-28T15:46:44+00:00

Half of multinational companies plan to select suppliers based on carbon performance, according to a study by Carbon Trust Advisory.

The research says that 29% of suppliers are likely to lose their places on green supply chains if they do not have adequate performance records on carbon. The research also finds that 58% of multinationals will in the future pay a premium for low carbon suppliers to reduce their overall corporate carbon footprints.

In the U.K., 56% of multinationals said that in the future they expect to drop suppliers based upon low carbon performance, compared to just 28% in the U.S.

The research consisted of 100 interviews carried out by Dynamic Markets. Respondents were from the senior manager level or above, working for companies with at least 1,000 employees and with operations, subsidiaries, or investments in more than two countries.

The research found that 40% of multinationals are addressing their indirect carbon emissions, compared to 93% for direct emissions. Among the companies not addressing supply chain emissions, 42% said they would do so within the next year, and another 42% within the next two to three years.

Next month Marshalls Plc, a supplier of hard landscaping, will be hosting a United Nations Global Compact Supplier event to educate first-tier suppliers on its approach to environmental issues.

In the Carbon Trust report, 74% of U.K. respondents said shareholder pressure would be a key driver for them in tackling carbon emissions, compared to just 24% in the U.S.

Environmental Leader, September 2011.

Carbon Action/CMSE Awarded The European Sustainable Energy Award for Prisons Programme

2011-09-08T11:35:21+00:00

The European Sustainable Energy Award for Prisons

Carbon Action/CMSE are delighted to have been awarded the European Sustainable Energy Award for Prisons project.
The European sustainable energy award for prisons encourages intelligent use of energy in multi-residential buildings, specifically prisons. This project involves a pilot study on energy management in prisons in the UK, Malta, Croatia, Latvia, Greece, Slovenia and Ireland.

The partner organizations in the consortium are: -

Severn Wye Energy Agency – UK
Projects in Motion Ltd - Malta
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture – Croatia
Ekodoma - Latvia
University Of Thessaloniki – Greece
Building and Civil Engineering Institute ZRMK – Slovenia
Her Majesty’s Prison Hewell – UK
Chris Mee Safety Engineering - Ireland

Prison sites consume a great deal of energy because of their size, building stock and constant usage pattern. As well as this the increasing cost of energy and focus on cost-effective services, point to a real need to use energy as efficiently as possible.

E-SEAP (European Sustainable Energy Award for Prisons) aims not only to address technical and practical energy issues to achieve savings but also;
to raise awareness, increase skills and improve access to support.
CMSE believe this is a great project and are delighted to be part of it. The project has been developed and is managed by Severn Wye Energy Agency, UK.
SWEA (Severn Wye Energy Agency) is a strictly not for profit, registered charity and Chris Mee Safety Engineering are proud to be contributing partners on this project.

As part of the E-SEAP project each participating prison will receive an award to show what level they are at.
Awards will be leveled at bronze, silver and gold and will be internationally recognised to enable the scheme to be pioneered on a European level.
E-SEAP is offered to prison services free of charge thanks to funding provided by the European Commission's 'IntelligentEnergyEurope' programme.

At present there are 14 participating prisons and there are approximately 800 prisons throughout Europe.

This programme will not only save money in prisons but also give people the skills and knowledge to practice these cost effective techniques outside of this area also.
Prison managers, staff and offenders will all receive training in order to show how vital this project is.
It is envisaged that this training may then be passed on to these participants families and therefore will encourage them to become more energy efficient at home.
This of course results in people saving money on their bills.

The targets of this project are based upon the direct experience and achievements of the UK pilot which has been carried out.
The pilot study consisted of 9 prisons in Wales and SW England. This study confirmed the value of working closely with the prison service to achieve a significant increase in energy awareness and energy savings.In the long term it is hoped that E-SEAP will become a model for energy saving that is referenced by institutions other than prisons in the development of their own strategies, e.g. hospitals, universities and military establishments.

Please email us at info@cmse.ie if you would like further information on this topic

Carbon Action in China

2011-03-04T10:31:04+00:00

Carbon Action has just returned from an intensive 3 weeks in China which included visits to hospitals, iron and steel mills, bitumen refinery's, an oil port, power stations and magnesium processing plants to advice on energy, Clean Developement Mechanism (CDM), carbon credit projects and the carbon foot printing of selected cities in China. Carbon Action also completed a serious of meetings with representatives from government and business. China is engaging in a series of projects to reduce energy consumption and develop a low carbon economy.

Carbon Action is well placed to assist China with these goals. All of our Quantification, Verification and Project work is based on ISO 14064 the only global standard in carbon measurement and management. ISO 14064 is scheme and country neutral so it cam be applied to any organisation, project in any country. As it is an independently audited system, an organisation can make robust claims about their carbon footprint or reduction projects.

The visit was completed when Carbon Action attended the UK Government Climate Change Project Office Carbon Trade Mission in Beijing. This mission brought together a range of UK companies who can assist China in delivering on its low carbon plan.

UK CRC Increases Job Vacancies for Qualified Carbon Consultants

2010-02-15T16:49:18+00:00

April 2010, the UK Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) legislation requires over 5,000 organisations and companies to fully disclose their energy use, and requires another 15,000 to begin collecting baseline data. This means these organisations will have to focus even more on managing and reducing their energy usage. At launch it is has been estimated that this market will be worth £750m in the UK. This new market will need to be serviced by new and existing companies and consultancies focused on calculating and reducing energy output. Carbon consultancies will become very busy servicing this new market, however evidence from the Carbon Show held in London October 2009 suggest there is currently a shortage of qualified and experienced professionals.

Carbon recruitment agencies were interested in acquiring details of trained professionals at the ISO 14064 training stand at the Carbon Show. The recruitment agencies outlined that onlin 4 open vacancies are currently being filled with candidates trained in carbon measurement , reduction and verification skills. The carbon recruitment agencies are struggling to fill these positions, this situation will be exacerbated by the introduction of the CRC legislation. They expect that the number of open vacancies will increase over the next 5 - 7 years unless the gap can be filled by trained professionals.

Companies who have an electricity expenditure over £500K per annum will require carbon measurement to be carried out annually and will create a huge need for trained and competent professionals. The employment opportunity for these individuals will be immense.

Carbon Quantification and Verification Consultancy- What You Need to Know

2009-11-19T00:05:01+00:00

The Carbon Quantification and Verification industry is becoming more relevant and structured daily, and there are challenges and opportunities for both organisations and practitioners in keeping current and complying with standards and developments. There is undoubtedly still confusion and uncertainty in the carbon consultancy industry due to the lack of a formal standard. However, at this point the ISO 14064 standard looks set to become the internationally agreed standard that is so desperately required.

Many progressive companies are implementing carbon management and are prepared for the change that is inevitable. It’s also clear that many firms to date are not actively reducing carbon emissions, and so therefore have not been recruiting or developing individuals in-house or contracting consultants. One thing is for sure- whatever about the social responsibility aspect of this- it is inevitable that companies will soon be compelled by legislative requirement to manage their carbon footprint. From a societal perspective, it is to be sincerely hoped that agreement will be reached at COP15.

In the UK market where the CRC becomes law in April 2010, some 8000 firms are registered as high energy users and shall be compelled to reduce their emissions. Today many of these organisations are not in a position to handle the CRC challenge robustly – in fact some research indicates up to 60% of firms may not yet be fully aware of their obligations under CRC. So when these factors change, what resources are available?

CRC firms will need to be able to quantify and report their emissions annually – with ISO 14064 they be assured and more importantly they can assure the Environment Agency that their footprint and annual reports are robust and verifiable. As only 20% of CRC will be audited, a firm using ISO14064 or the Carbon Trust Standards can expect to avoid an audit as they will have demonstrated best practice. As the Carbon Footprint Forum has stated on the growth of online transactions and data exchange, data warehouses serving financial transactions, government and NHS issues have doubled in energy requirements and emissions since 2000. Banks, NHS, Revenue, the aviation and travel sectors and other organisations dealing with mass markets use massive amounts of energy and emit very significant GHGs, and will face significant financial liabilities under the CRC.

In the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), uncertainty exists around the actual outcomes of COP15. A failure at Copenhagen may, according to some commentators, lead to a reduced use of CDM-type projects-this would be a backwards step as offsetting does reduce global emissions. In order to reinforce and make CDM–type initiatives more acceptable globally, it would enhance the carbon markets if everyone played on a level played field.

GHG emissions and reductions have today become a commodity with a clear need for an infrastructure to support carbon initiatives. An industry base of competent, credible GHG verifiers and GHG quantifiers is required to support emerging market mechanisms.

There is a major shortage of qualified carbon verifiers in the market, as the following survey highlights indicate:

80% said not enough professionals in this area
80% said likely Enron-type scandal could emerge
80% said area will be professionalized in next few years

This shortage of skilled and competent professionals is going to magnify in the medium term. The large consultancies DNV, SGS, KPMG, PWC, Ernst & Young, WYG, Mott MacDonald and many others are taking an interest in this area. As demand balloons, employment opportunities are likely to materialise within these organisations and within their larger client companies. Competent individuals would also be able to verify and provide consultancy services of their own accord.

So what is the process to demonstrate competence in this new field? Well, high quality training is available to help fill this skills gap in the main GHG sectors of:

GHG Inventories
GHG Projects
GHG Validation and Verification

If an individual obtains the necessary grade in ISO 16064 exams, they are provided with a Certificate of Distinction, which permits them to be considered as having the necessary knowledge to carry out Quantification, Projects or Verification Programme for any organisation in any location, in any jurisdiction in any industry sector, globally. This is the benefit of the ISO 14064 standard.

In addition GHG professionals having gone through a rigorous training program can apply for a Personal Certification qualification – recently developed by the Canadian Standards Association and approved by the American National Standards Association (ANSI). This is facilitated in Europe by Carbon Action.

Carbon Action trains carbon specialists to prepare them for professional work and to take Personal Certification Programs.

Thursday 15 October was World Standards Day - Special Focus on Fighting Global Warming

2009-10-19T00:48:03+00:00

Last Thursday was Global Standards Day with a special focus on fighting climate change. I guess we need standards to keep us on the straight and narrow - without standards people may tend to be a little relaxed about some important stuff. It's OK to be cool about the things that don't hurt us or our kids or friends- but we should try to protect our planet from over consumption and sloppy management of greenhouse gasses - issues which might be happening unless we are alert to what is going on.

Also Thursday 15th October was Blog Action Day 09 (BAD09) - which reached at least 17 million people.

At least three major world governments participated in this year’s blog event - which was all about global warming and climate change. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown posted the first Blog Action Day entry in Britain and was followed by Foreign Minister David Milliband and many others from the UK stationed around the world. The governing party of Spain hosted a bloggers event focused on climate change and transformed their website for the day to promote Blog Action Day. And late in the day, President Barack Obama’s White House blog joined in become part of the global movement of bloggers shaking the web.

Were you there? If not don't feel bad because tomorrow is another day and you can still make your voice count. As Gandhi said - whatever you do will be insignificant - but it is important that you do it.

We should try to be true to ourselves and think of those coming after us and those people living in low-lying islands in the Pacific who are at real risk of losing their entire countries to sea level rise caused by global warming. I think as well as needing technical standards such as ISO 14064 to keep us on the straight and narrow we need to think big and not be overly concerned with our individual selves ( I do it myself a lot!)

It is interestring that other civilisations failed because of environmental failures

-the Maya over farmed in their lands

-the people of Easter Island sent out a man to cut down their last tree

A book by Jared Diamond lists the five factors that drive societal failure:

*hostile neighbors - probably not a risk today

*loss of trading partners - also probably not an issue as trading partners are tripping over each other to trade

*environmental damage - a real problem

*climatic change - a real problem

and how societies respond to these potentially devastating environmental problems - this is the real problem as countries are argueing over who should do what about climate change - how can we ensure inter-generational as well as international equity in dealing with climate change, unless we all take responsibility?

The general assumption is that civilizations evolve from benign environments that sustain what we may consider a natural state of being, but where poor resource management will lead to certain failure. I think we are at the poor resource management stage today - the real question is what are you and I going to do about it?????

I will leave you with this thought from a long time ago- it asks us to think for ourselves and not to be inattentive of government but to be engaged and active. The gist of it is - we need to be watchful and cautious - Standards are essential!

"...There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. ... Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing." -- Daniel Webster, June 1, 1837

How do we Protect the new Commodity GHG Emissions from Becoming Discredited?

2009-10-08T16:30:40+00:00

Why do we need some mechanism to protect GHG reports from being devalued or adulterated . . . well let's think back to the time when we first created coins. Early silver and gold coins allowed trade to expand and flourish and increased prosperity for most people. Some merchants noticed the coins had smooth edges, so each time a coin passed his way - he "shaved" off a tiny amount of silver or gold from the edge of the coin and built up a stock of gold or silver shavings. This devalued and adulterated the coins. In response the kings and rulers made new coins with serrated or profiled edges to prevent "shaving". Today we can protect our tonnes of CO2 and other GHGs, by measuring and verification under a global harmonised standard - ISO 14064.

GHG emissions and reductions are becoming a commodity. There is a real need for trained and competent:

GHG quantifiers
GHG verifiers
Competent, credible firms working in this space

To support:

emerging market mechanisms, both voluntary and compliance markets,
non-market reporting schemes
corporate social responsibility initiatives

Confused by carbon?

2009-09-24T12:43:41+00:00

You don’t need to be. Use these five steps for carbon performance made simple.

Measuring and managing your company’s carbon footprint is a business best practice that is quickly becoming a requirement in today’s competitive marketplace.

Not only do you get to showcase your environmental stewardship and corporate social responsibility, but you also prepare for pending mandates and proposed cap and trade programs. Establishing your carbon footprint can help you reduce risk and potentially even help you ride out the recession. In fact, a new report from A.T. Kearny, Green Winners: the performance of sustainability-focused companies during the economic crisis, shows that companies with established and recognized sustainability practices are outperforming their peers that are not committed to sustainability during the current economic crisis.

So why isn’t everyone doing it? Why haven’t you done it yet?

Perhaps it’s because the carbon management world looks confusing—maybe even a little intimidating. It’s probably outside the core competency of your organization. You know it needs to be done, but how do you go about it?

What the C-Suite and senior management need to know are the basics of carbon performance. When you’re familiar with the ABCs, you can make informed decisions and lead your organization down the right paths.

It’s a step-by-step process
Just as it has with its ISO 9000 quality management family of standards, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has developed a comprehensive, usable, international standard for carbon management under its 14000 environmental management family: the ISO 14064 series (the author’s organization, the Canadian Standards Association, acted as World Secretariat for the development of ISO 14064).

ISO 14064-1 Part 1 Specification with Guidance at the Organizational Level for Quantification and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals provides principles and requirements for quantifying and reporting an organization’s carbon footprint. This standard breaks the process down into five steps:

1. Setting Organizational Parameters and Boundaries
2. Measuring GHG Activity
3. Choosing Methodologies
4. Reporting
5. Verification

* extract from article by Dr michel Girard, Director Canadian Standards Association. CSA is a strategic partner of CMSE