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Greenhouse Gas Emissions |
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rev. 13/06/2011
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Greenhouse Gas Emissions |
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rev. 13/06/2011
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Responding to climate change, governments around the world have either adopted or are moving quickly to introduce Cap and Trade emissions systems.
Cap and Trade is a flexible market-based mechanism used to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, and help the transition to a low-carbon economy, by encouraging technological innovation. In Cap and Trade, governments set limits that will steadily reduce the total amounts of GHGs that can be emitted. Organizations that can reduce emissions below their own limits will have credits that can be sold or banked for future use. |
For Cap and Trade to work, there must be a robust inventory and reporting process in place. Organizations covered by the regulations are required record their own emissions and report them in a similar way that they report financial numbers to regulators and tax authorities. GHG reporting will have to stand up under audit.
The connection to facility energy use is clear. GHG emissions result from energy use, and most organizations use most energy at their facilities. Energy accounting is a critical foundation of emissions reporting.
The Future of GHG Reporting
Nobody know exactly what the future holds. The standards are being developed, extending into fleet vehicles, employee travel, process emissions and even the extended supply chain. Once tested with the biggest emitters, regulations will be pushed down to smaller emitters until any organization of significant size will be managing a full emissions reporting regime in parallel with their financial accounting system.
Where ManagingEnergy Fits
ManagingEnergy provides basic GHG reporting capability for energy used in your facilities, automatically incorporating the latest published electrical generating mix data.
For complete GHG reporting involving other enterprise activities, we have developed interfaces to integrate with purpose-built emissions tracking and reporting systems.
Electricity is generated by various means (hydraulic, coal, nuclear, wind, natural gas, etc.), each with its own emissions characteristics. The mix of generating technologies varies by jurisdiction and also from one year to the next. ManagingEnergy provides the electrical generation mix for North American jurisdictions since 2000, automatically incorporating them into GHG calculations and reports. |
