WRI Publications Feed: Greenhouse Gas Protocol

Greenhouse Gas Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard

Maggie Barron — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:58:31 -0400

The GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard (referred to as the Product Standard) provides requirements and guidance for companies and other organizations to quantify and publicly report an inventory of GHG emissions and removals associated with a specific product. The primary goal of this standard is to provide a general framework for companies to make informed choices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the products (goods or services) they design, manufacture, sell, purchase, or use. In the context of this standard, public reporting refers to product GHG-related information reported publicly in accordance with the requirements specified in the standard.

Related Standards

New! Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard

Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard

As awareness about climate change increases and concerns grow, investors are demanding more transparency, and consumers are seeking greater clarity and environmental accountability. Companies are increasingly receiving requests from stakeholders to measure and disclose their corporate GHG inventories, and these requests often include a company’s products and supply chain emissions. Companies must be able to understand and manage their product-related GHG risks if they are to ensure long-term success in a competitive business environment and be prepared for any future product-related programs and policies.

This standard focuses on emissions and removals generated during a product’s life cycle and does not address avoided emissions or actions taken to mitigate released emissions. This standard is also not designed to be used for quantifying GHG reductions from offsets or claims of carbon neutrality.

Ultimately, this is more than a technical accounting standard. It is intended to be tailored to business realities and to serve multiple business objectives. Companies may find most value in implementing the standard using a phased approach, with a focus on improving the quality of the GHG inventory over time.

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Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard

Maggie Barron — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:57:38 -0400

The primary goal of this standard is to provide a standardized step-by-step approach to help companies understand their full value chain emissions impact in order to focus company efforts on the greatest GHG reduction opportunities, leading to more sustainable decisions about companies’ activities and the products they buy, sell, and produce. The standard was developed with the following objectives in mind:

Related Standards

New! Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard

Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard

To help companies prepare a true and fair scope 3 GHG inventory in a cost-effective manner, through the use of standardized approaches and principles
To help companies develop effective strategies for managing and reducing their scope 3 emissions through an understanding of value chain emissions and associated risks and opportunities
To support consistent and transparent public reporting of corporate value chain emissions according to a standardized set of reporting requirements Ultimately, this is more than a technical accounting standard. It is intended to be tailored to business realities and to serve multiple business objectives. Companies may find most value in implementing the standard using a phased approach, with a focus on improving the quality of the GHG inventory over time.

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Corporate Greenhouse Gas Inventories for the Agricultural Sector: Proposed Accounting and Reporting Steps

admin — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 12:07:38 -0500

Corporate inventories of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions provide a firm foundation for emissions management by business. But they rarely include agricultural emissions, often because of confusion about the best practices needed to address unique aspects of agricultural sources. This paper suggests accounting and reporting procedures based on the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. The objective is to stimulate and inform discussion amongst stakeholders towards a common understanding of best practices.

Summary

Agricultural activities cause greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a diverse range of sources. An equally diverse range of issues affects whether and how these emissions should be included in corporate GHG emissions inventories. This paper provides a preliminary assessment of these issues and how they can be addressed within the framework provided by the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (Corporate Standard). The key findings are:

The Corporate Standard outlines generic accounting procedures that are directly applicable to many of the organizational and operational structures common in the agricultural sector, such as co-operatives, leasing arrangements, and commodity production contracts.
Accounting for the GHG emissions from equipment and machinery on farms is relatively straightforward. But the emissions from non-mechanical sources, such as soils and livestock, are more challenging. Specific challenges include the variability in GHG emission rates over time and space, the difficulty in disentangling the effects of current management practices on GHG emissions from those caused by natural factors, and the reversibility of carbon stocks and the long timescales over which carbon stocks change.
Consensus best practices for dealing with these challenges do not yet exist, but such best practices might include:

Separately reporting GHG data on mechanical and non-mechanical sources within inventories
Reporting carbon stock information using data on both stock size and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes
Allocating long-term changes in carbon stocks evenly across multiple reporting periods
Reporting the current impact of historical changes in land management practices on carbon stocks. Companies should adopt a time threshold to determine when historical management changes are relevant
Reporting all GHG emissions from land use change under an appropriate scope and not as a separate memo item.

This paper concentrates on core GHG accounting and reporting issues, but a range of other issues are also relevant to the creation of GHG inventories. For instance: What business goals do agricultural companies have for addressing climate change and how are GHG inventories useful in meeting these goals? How can companies acquire the activity data needed to calculate GHG emissions? And what gaps exist in emissions calculation methodologies and how should these gaps be handled within GHG inventories? The GHG Protocol intends to develop a consensus-based GHG accounting and reporting protocol for the sector. A crucial next step is to conduct broad stakeholder consultations on this paper and identify remaining questions.

About the GHG Protocol

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is a decade-long partnership between the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. It works with businesses, governments, and environmental groups around the world to build a new generation of credible and effective standards for the accounting and reporting of GHG emissions at the corporate, project, and product levels.

First International GHG Protocol-based Programs Workshop Report: Key Challenges and Recommendations

Maggie Barron — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:46:22 -0500

Introduction

Corporate GHG inventory programs have played a significant role in encouraging and enabling businesses and other organizations to respond to climate change. By developing and disseminating standards and tools to formulate inventories that are consistent with international best practices, these programs have laid a foundation of technical and institutional capacity to measure and manage GHG emissions. In so doing, they have also promoted transparency and access to information by making GHG data publicly available in GHG registries and mobilized coalitions of private sector actors to engage constructively on the climate issue.

This progress notwithstanding, new developments are driving the need for GHG accounting programs to evolve more efficiently, more effectively, and at a greater scale. On the business side, there is a trend toward managing GHG emissions along the value chain. Companies are looking up and down the supply chain and throughout the product life-cycle for GHG management opportunities. Identifying these opportunities requires exponentially more extensive GHG data than is now readily available. Further, climate policy is becoming a reality not only in industrialized countries, but also in growing numbers of developing countries around the world. Most major emerging economies have adopted voluntary national GHG mitigation targets and are exploring portfolios of policies and measures to achieve them. International negotiations have emphasized the need for mitigation to be measurable, reportable, and verifiable, which has called new attention to the importance of GHG accounting. These trends point to the need for greatly enhanced GHG accounting capacity and tools at a global scale. Existing GHG inventory programs have a tremendous potential to inform a global strategy for building this capacity.

In March 2010, the World Resources Institute (WRI) convened a two-day meeting of approximately 50 experts from more than ten GHG inventory programs around the world to share lessons learned and discuss opportunities for collaboration. The event was organized around six major themes: accounting and quantification, reporting and public disclosure, quality assurance, training and capacity building, going beyond the inventory, and the relationship between voluntary programs and climate change policy. Participants generated several recommendations for advancing work in these areas (see Appendix 1).

While the discussion and suggestions covered a wide range of topics, taken together, they point to a need to develop future work in three areas: (1) dramatically increasing the scale of corporate GHG accounting capacity in terms of geography, sector, and scope; (2) moving companies and governments along the path from GHG measurement to GHG management; and (3) enhancing the coordination between programs on a range of issues as GHG accounting practice becomes more widespread and complex.

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol for the U.S. Public Sector: Interpreting the Corporate Standard for U.S. Public Sector Organizations

Maggie Barron — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:28:05 -0400

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative was launched in 1998 with the mission of developing internationally accepted greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and reporting standards and to promote their broad adoption. Designed as a multistakeholder partnership of businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and governments, it was 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 international companies.

The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard

The cornerstone document of the GHG Protocol Initiative is the revised edition of the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (Corporate Standard, 2004), which provides a step-by-step guide for quantifying and reporting GHG emissions.

Published first in 2001 and revised in 2004, the Corporate Standard has been widely accepted and adopted around the globe by businesses, NGOs, and governments. Widespread adoption of the Corporate Standard is attributable to the fact that it is robust, practical, and builds on the experience and expertise of numerous practitioners. The Corporate Standard was designed to be program and policy neutral, allowing users the flexibility to adapt the core methodology and concepts to specific accounting and reporting needs. To provide guidance on how to build GHG policies, reporting programs1, and tools based on the concepts of the Corporate Standard, the GHG Protocol Initiative developed two accompanying documents:

Measuring to Manage: A Guide to Designing GHG Accounting and Reporting Programs (2007), and
Designing a Customized Greenhouse Gas Calculation Tool (2007).

Why A GHG Protocol For The U.S. Public Sector?

Government organizations worldwide have identified the need to start tracking and managing their GHG emissions, both to demonstrate environmental leadership and to prepare for future reporting policies and regulations.

While the Corporate Standard provides the basic means by which any type of organization can create a GHG inventory, many public organizations have sought tailored guidance to interpret the Corporate Standard specifically for the public sector context, especially when coordinating GHG reporting requirements across multiple government organizations. All stakeholders benefit from accounting and reporting GHG emissions in a way that makes it easier to calculate, track, and compare progress over time. In the United States, public sector activities often involve shared resources between multiple organizations and leasing arrangements for buildings, vehicles, and land that can pose challenges attributing ownership or control of GHG emissions. Public organizations have asked for case studies reflecting the experiences and challenges of public sector GHG accounting and reporting, acknowledging the ways decision-making approaches and priorities differ in the public sector versus private sector (e.g., greater public accountability and freedom of information requirements) and providing examples of best practices. For governments that already monitor and report energy use and other environmental metrics, GHG emissions reporting represents a new and integrative performance indicator.

Interpreting the Corporate Standard

As reflected in its title, The GHG Protocol for the U.S. Public Sector: Interpreting the Corporate Standard for U.S. Public Sector Organizations does not include substantively new or different accounting or reporting requirements from the Corporate Standard and does not constitute a separate or different “standard.” Instead, it interprets the content and structure of the Corporate Standard for the context of the public sector. It is referred to interchangeably in this document as the U.S. Public Sector Protocol.

Much of the text in the U.S. Public Sector Protocol is taken from the Corporate Standard, but most chapters and diagrams include modifications in wording, examples, or structure in order to improve clarity and applicability to the public sector.

Focus on the United States

The structure and responsibilities of the public sector vary widely across countries and the time and resources available for the development of this protocol did not permit a comprehensive engagement with public organizations and other stakeholders worldwide. The recent emergence of GHG reporting programs and policies for government organizations in the United States further elevated the priority of this region. Therefore, this U.S. Public Sector Protocol was developed primarily for U.S. government organizations. However, since it is based on the internationally accepted Corporate Standard, it should have applicability to governments worldwide.

Objectives of the U.S. Public Sector Protocol

This U.S. Public Sector Protocol was designed with the following objectives in mind:

To help public organizations prepare a GHG inventory that represents a true and fair account of their emissions, through the use of standardized approaches
To simplify the process and reduce the costs of compiling a GHG inventory
To provide public sector organizations with information for use in building an effective strategy to manage and reduce GHG emissions
To support voluntary and mandatory GHG reporting
To increase consistency and transparency in GHG accounting and reporting among public sector organizations and GHG programs.

How This Protocol Was Developed

To engage the public sector and provide a robust interpretation of the Corporate Standard principles, in 2008 WRI partnered with the LMI. LMI is a not-for-profit consulting company that primarily serves U.S. government organizations. Throughout this process, LMI worked with the Department of Energy Federal Energy Management Program and EPA Climate Leaders to ensure that this protocol could function as the background for U.S. Federal government GHG reporting requirements related to Executive Order 13514.

Like the Corporate Standard, this protocol was developed through a multi-stakeholder process. The U.S. Public Sector Protocol involved the input of over 60 experienced public sector managers, technical experts, and consultants across a range of organizations (see the Contributors section). Several government organizations also “road tested” the protocol, including many U.S. federal agencies whose participation was coordinated by LMI and the Department of Energy.

Who Should Use This Protocol?

The “public sector” is a broad term that includes any organization owned, controlled or operated by the government, including government agencies, school systems, quasi-governmental organizations and utilities, as well as public-private partnerships. This protocol is applicable to all levels of government in the United States, including federal, state, regional, and municipal/city government. The protocol will help managers of organizations at all government levels design and develop a GHG inventory. Policymakers developing new regulations and organization- level GHG management strategies can also look to the case studies highlighting successes in implementing and administering GHG management programs. For organizations that have already created GHG inventories through voluntary or mandatory programs that are based on the Corporate Standard, this protocol can provide useful background information and clarify the rationale behind key accounting issues.

This report was written with LMI, a government consulting firm committed to helping government leaders and managers reach decisions that make a difference. As a not-for-profit organization, LMI is a trusted advisor to the government—free from commercial or political bias and dedicated to the mission of advancing government management.

Designing a U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Registry

Tim Herzog — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:05:07 -0500

With the federal government now debating the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a national scale, policymakers must also address the need to collect the emissions data necessary to ensure the success of U.S. climate change policies. The fi rst step in reducing emissions is to measure them. Without accurate and complete data on the sources of emissions and the amount they emit, the success of U.S. climate policies may be compromised.

In December 2007, Congress passed and President Bush signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008. The law includes a provision directing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to require mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from appropriate sources in all sectors of the U.S. economy. This policy brief explains the critical need for such a mandatory greenhouse gas emissions registry and reporting program and outlines key design elements to include in such a registry.

Summary Recommendations

A federal greenhouse gas emissions registry and reporting program will provide the foundation for effective climate change policies at the national, regional, state, and local levels. In the context of a cap-and-trade program, a registry is integral to the program’s success. A well-designed registry should:

Collect data at the facility level on a mandatory basis;
Collect accurate, complete, transparent, consistent, and verifi ed data in accordance with international standards;
Collect emissions data from all facilities covered by a cap-andtrade program;
Provide the infrastructure to support reporting from emission sources not regulated by a cap-and-trade program to support other policies and programs;
Collect high-quality emissions data before a cap-and-trade program becomes operational;
Collect information on both direct and indirect emissions;
Harmonize with voluntary corporate-wide registries, such as the Climate Registry; and
Make all emissions data available to the public.

Measuring to Manage: A Guide to Designing GHG Accounting and Reporting Programs

Laura Lee Dooley — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:34:11 -0500

As concern about climate change climbs to unprecedented levels, one of the most important steps that a country, region, or state can take to address it is to establish a sound and credible platform to account for and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from corporations.

Over the past decade, many efforts to design and implement programs to promote the measurement and management of corporate GHG emissions have emerged around the world. These programs are being developed at different geographic scales – including national, regional, state or provincial, and municipal – and support different functions – such as voluntary reporting of GHG emissions, GHG regulatory systems, and tracking progress towards GHG reduction targets – but all are based on a corporate-level GHG accounting and reporting platform.

As such, a common set of questions arises regarding their design and implementation:

What type of GHG program is needed to meet which objectives?
What geographic area should a program cover?
What should its accounting, calculation, and reporting specifications include?
How can the quality of reported information be ensured?

This publication aims to help interested groups, such as governments, industry associations, and environmental organizations, address these questions to design and implement effective GHG programs based on internationally accepted standards and methodologies for GHG accounting and reporting.

Drawing on the experience of WRI and WBCSD in working with partners to advise and implement GHG programs around the world, this guide aims to facilitate GHG program designers in developing customized accounting and reporting specifications to meet their needs and objectives.

Guidelines for Quantifying GHG Reductions from Grid-Connected Electricity Projects

admin — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

These guidelines supplement the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for Project Accounting, published in December 2005 by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. These guidelines are particularly useful to:

Project developers that want to quantify GHG reductions that do not fall within a particular GHG offset program or regulatory system. The guidelines provide procedures to account for GHG reductions resulting from individual project activities.
Designers of initiatives, systems, and programs that include grid-connected GHG projects. These users will find guidance for deriving marginal grid emission factors for determining the GHG emissions displaced or avoided by different types of project activities.

The guidelines are program- and policy-neutral, and are flexible in the choice of procedures and calculation methods. At the same time, they provide rigorous, comprehensive, transparent, and credible accounting of GHG reductions.

Designing a Customized Greenhouse Gas Calculation Tool

admin — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400

The Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry Guidance for Greenhouse Gas Project Accounting

admin — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 01:00:00 -0400

The Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) Guidance for GHG Project Accounting (LULUCF Guidance) was developed by the World Resources Institute to supplement the Greenhouse Gas Protocol: The GHG Protocol for Project Accounting (Project Protocol). This document provides more specific guidance and uses more appropriate terminology and concepts to quantify and report GHG reductions from LULUCF project activities. The LULUCF Guidance was written in consultation with and reviewed by many stakeholders, similar to the process used to develop the Project Protocol.

The LULUCF Guidance is intended to be used in conjunction with – not in place of – the Project Protocol, so project developers should read the Project Protocol first in order to become familiar with the general framework for GHG project accounting, as most of this information is not repeated in the LULUCF Guidance.

The format of the LULUCF Guidance is similar to that of part II of the Project Protocol. Although the LULUCF Guidance may be used for all LULUCF project activities, it focuses on two project types: reforestation and forest management. This guide also can be used for avoided deforestation project activities, although they are not explicitly discussed.

The LULUCF Guidance has no requirements, it simply describes and illustrates, using one example: how the requirements in the Project Protocol for reforestation and forest management project activities should be fulfilled. It highlights those elements for which LULUCF project activities may need approaches slightly different from those in the Project Protocol. In addition, this document points out areas where GHG programs may improve the practicality of these methodologies, by reducing the uncertainty and transaction costs of developing GHG projects while at the same time enhancing the projects’ environmental integrity.