Topic: ghgp

RELEASE: C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and World Resources Institute Partner to Promote City Transit Solutions

James Anderson — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 22:44:03 -0500

The World Resources Institute, led by its sustainable transport center, EMBARQ, and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) established a partnership today that will further their mutual goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from urban transportation. The partnership focuses on scaling up solutions and enhancing C40 cities transport efforts related to sustainable urban planning, bus rapid transit systems, and non-motorized transit initiatives.

Together, these organizations will tackle a transport sector that accounts for roughly 13 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

“This new partnership with EMBARQ and its global network of transportation expertise will accelerate the work cities are doing to implement more efficient and effective transit systems,” said C40 Chair and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “By combining the forces of two organizations that know how to get things done we will help provide greater transit options that will help us build a more sustainable planet.”

For over ten years, EMBARQ has catalyzed and implemented sustainable transport solutions to improve the quality of life in cities in terms of pollution, public health, and safety. Similarly, C40 works to implement innovative, replicable transit solutions that reduce GHG emissions at the city level.

“Mayor Bloomberg and the leaders of other C40 cities are committed to shifting to a low-carbon future – and this partnership will help them to get there,” said Andrew Steer, President, World Resources Institute. “The world’s middle class is booming and people are more mobile than ever before. We need smart, people-focused transportation solutions that will help create better cities and a more sustainable world.”

C40 and the World Resources Institute cemented a long-standing relationship through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding that will encourage the two entities to collaborate on the following:

Supporting climate mitigation and adaptation measures through sustainable and equitable transportation policies in C40 cities;
Leveraging C40 networks, or working groups of peer C40 cities (e.g. Sustainable Urban Development Network and Bus Rapid Transit Network), to develop and share integrated transit and urban development planning in and among C40 cities; and
Collaborating to support and promote low-carbon urban development in C40 cities, with particular attention paid to bus rapid transit and non-motorized transport.

EMBARQ is already actively working in the following C40 Cities: Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo (Brazil); Mexico City (Mexico); Lima (Peru); Istanbul (Turkey); Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore (India).

“By combining our vast networks and deep technical capacity, C40 and EMBARQ are positioned to make a significant contribution to reducing city-level emissions and creating better transport systems,” said Holger Dalkmann, director, EMBARQ. “Mayor Bloomberg is a proven leader by transforming New York City and raising the ambition of mayors around the world. Now, we need to more cities to follow C40’s lead by scaling up transportation and low-carbon solutions that create a healthier and safer world.”

The two organizations have collaborated in the past. C40 is currently working with EMBARQ’s parent organization, WRI, to establish a single standard for measuring city emissions – the Global Protocol for Community-scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Additionally, Mayor Bloomberg’s philanthropic foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, also collaborates with and provides support for EMBARQ’s international activities to improve road safety.

Media Contacts:

World Resources Institute: Michael Oko, moko@wri.org; (202) 246-9269
C40: Mike Marinello, mmarinello@c40.com

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About C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40)
The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) is a network of large and engaged cities from around the world committed to implementing meaningful and sustainable climate related actions locally that will help address climate change globally. C40 was established in 2005 and expanded via a partnership in 2006 with President William J. Clinton’s Climate Initiative (CCI). The current chair of the C40 is New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. To learn more about the work of C40 and our Cities, please visit www.c40.org, follow us on Twitter @c40cities and like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/C40Cities.

About EMBARQ—WRI’s Center for Sustainable Transport (EMBARQ)
EMBARQ, the World Resources Institute’s center for sustainable transport, catalyzes and helps implement sustainable transport solutions to improve quality of life in cities. Since 2002, the EMBARQ network has expanded to Mexico, Brazil, China, India, Turkey and the Andean Region, collaborating with local and national authorities, business and civil society to reduce pollution, improve public health, and create safe, accessible and attractive urban public spaces. http://www.embarq.org

WRI 2010 Organizational Greenhouse Gas Inventory

Sarah Parsons — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:24:20 -0400

WRI’s 2010 inventory revealed emissions of 4,309 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (mt CO2e). This is 2.3 times the 2009 inventory of 1,326 mt CO2e. This increase is mainly attributed to the inclusion of scope 3 accounting, based on WRI’s recently published GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard. Previous inventories included emissions from select scope 3 categories (namely business travel and employee commuting), but the 2010 inventory has been expanded to include all relevant scope 3 catego¬ries including purchased goods and services, waste generated in operations, fuel- and other energy-related activities, and end-of-life treatment of sold products. Emissions from these four additional categories account for 67 percent of WRI’s 2010 inventory.

This report also introduces WRI’s new abso¬lute greenhouse gas reduction targets. As the 2010 inventory is WRI’s most comprehensive thus far, 2010 will be used as the base year for our new 2020 emissions reduction targets:

50 percent reduction in scope 2 emissions from purchased electricity;
20 percent reduction in scope 3 emissions from business travel; and
20 percent reduction in all other scope 3 cat¬egories (specifically, purchased goods and services, employee commuting, waste generated in operations, fuel- and other energy-related activities, and end-of-life treat¬ment of sold products).

Finally this report describes examples of WRI’s other sustainability initiative activi¬ties, including our first nitrogen footprint assessment. WRI’s 2009 GHG inventory is included as an appendix in this report, and previous inventory reports can be found in the “Downloads” section above.

STATEMENT: Project Launches to Measure and Manage GHG Emissions for Agriculture in Brazil

Michael Oko — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 23:35:54 -0400

The World Resources Institute (WRI) and the British Embassy are launching a two year partnership to measure corporate and farm-level emissions in Brazil. Agricultural emissions account for nearly 20 percent of Brazil’s emissions, with agricultural production on the rise. The project, based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, will develop GHG Accounting Guidance for Brazilian Agriculture, filling an important gap, since Brazil does not presently have a methodology for corporate and farm-level accounting, reporting, and monitoring. This project will support Brazil in meeting its targets set in the National Plan on Climate Change, including measuring agricultural emissions, both up and down the value chain, and from land use.

“It is an honor to announce the launch of a new project that marks the continuation of a fruitful partnership between the World Resources Institute, the UK government, and Brazil, which has been contributing to measuring, reporting and managing Brazilian greenhouse gas emissions,” said British Ambassador to Brazil, Alan Charlton. “The UK Government is glad to have contributed to this initiative, which is part of an effort to establish a low-carbon economy worldwide.”

The announcement was made during an event at Rio+20 on the Green Economy: Driving Business Value and Competitiveness, hosted by WRI, which will bring together business experts, national policy makers, and global policy specialists to discuss strategic opportunities in the green economy, including tools for companies and policymakers to measure and manage their emissions impact.

Currently, more than 90 Brazilian companies voluntarily report their corporate emissions through the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program, created by Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV), WRI, the Federal Ministry of Environment, and the Brazilian Corporate Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS). During 2010 and 2011, WRI and FGV conducted a series of scoping workshops with participating Brazilian companies to better understand the need for agriculture-specific guidance.

“Brazil is one of the most important countries when it comes to sustainable development, with agriculture playing a major role in its economy as well as its emissions,” said Manish Bapna, Interim President, WRI. “By measuring and controlling their emissions, Brazilian companies can help lower their environmental impact, while identifying new opportunities for economic growth and cost savings.”

The event will feature a keynote address by Carlos Klink, National Secretary on Climate Change and Environmental Quality, Ministry of the Environment, Brazil.

“Today’s announcement marks an important step forward in helping Brazil to meet its emissions goals,” said Secretary Klink. “Agriculture forms the backbone of our economy, and we will continue to work with Brazilian businesses to move toward healthy, robust and sustainable future.”

The objectives of the agricultural guidance project are to:

Establish nationally-recognized methodologies for the measurement and management of agricultural GHG emissions at the farm- and corporate-level;
Build capacity among Brazilian businesses and provide methodologies to develop emissions reduction strategies for agriculture; and
Integrate methodologies for agriculture into the GHG Protocol Brazil Program and emerging mandatory (e.g., Amapá, Pará, Pernambuco, and Mato Grosso) and voluntary (e.g., Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, and Paraná) GHG emissions registries and reporting programs.

Over the next year, GHG Protocol experts will work closely with Brazilian businesses to adapt international guidance to address Brazil-specific emissions issues.

Companies interested in conducting a GHG inventory and developing and pilot testing the agricultural guidance are invited to contact GHG Protocol’s Stephen Russell: srussell@wri.org.

ADVISORY: WRI Hosts Panels on Business Strategies, Climate Change and Green Economy at Rio+20

Michael Oko — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 08:24:08 -0400

The World Resources Institute (WRI) will host a series of panel discussions, featuring leaders in business, government and civil society, that will focus on how businesses can advance low-carbon and climate goals in the context of Rio+20.

The three panels will take place on Sunday, June 17, from 1:30 – 6:00 p.m. BRT, at Copacabana Fort in Rio de Janeiro.

Topics include: moving forward with “next practices” in business strategy, developing clean technology policies, and measuring and managing greenhouse gas emissions.

Note: The third panel will include a major announcement by the British Ambassador to Brazil about a new project to manage Brazil’s agriculture sector emissions.

WHAT
Panel discussions, with high-profile leaders in business, government, and civil society, on The Green Economy: Driving Business Value and Competitiveness

WHO

Welcome & Keynote (1:30 p.m.)
Manish Bapna, Interim President, WRI

Panel #1 (2:00 – 3:15 p.m.)
Peter Madden, CEO, Forum for the Future
Kersten-Karl Barth, Director, Sustainability, Siemens
Robert ter Kuile, Senior Director Environmental Sustainability – Global Public Policy, PepsiCo
Andrew Hobday, Chief Sustainability Officer, Mars
Jennifer Morgan, Director, Climate and Energy Program, WRI

Panel #2 (3:30 – 5:00 p.m.)
Jochen Flasbarth, President, German Federal Environment Agency
Michael Liebreich, Chief Executive Officer, Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Dr. Emilio La Rovere, Head of the Center for Integrated Studies on Climate Change and the Environment at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Chief Scientific Advisor to CDKN, Brazil
I.H. Reham, Director, Social Transformation, The Energy and Resources Institute, India
Priya Barua, Research Fellow, WRI

Panel #3 (5:00 – 6:00)
Carlos Klink, Brazilian National Secretary on Climate Change and Environmental Quality
Alan Charlton, British Ambassador to Brazil
Wee Kean Fong, GHG Protocol, WRI
Kaleigh Robinson, GHG Protocol, WRI

WHERE
Copacabana Fort
Espaço das Ideias Circulantes
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

WHEN
Sunday, June 17, 2012;
1:30 – 6:00 p.m. BRT

-ENDS-

Read a blog post by Jennifer Morgan on climate change and Rio+20.

To schedule interviews, please contact: Michael Oko; Tel. (local cell): + 55 21 81 710258; moko@wri.org

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.