U.S. Moves Closer to Establishing National GHG Registry

May 1st, 2008

The federal government is now debating the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and with that debate comes the need for policymakers to find a way to collect the emissions data necessary to support efforts to address climate change.

We all know that you can’t manage something that you can’t measure. Without data, we can’t make or assess policies.

Last December, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes a provision to direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from everywhere in the economy. So that points to the development of a national greenhouse gas registry.

The emissions registry will be a database that will collect, verify and track data from both facilities and companies. U.S. corporations have long had voluntary GHG emissions reporting because they want to be in a position of leadership on sustainability initiatives. But a mandatory registry will serve two further purposes: It will support regulatory compliance tracking and public disclosure, which can be an effective tool to promote cooperation.

To be effective, a mandatory registry should do several things:

• Collect data at the facility level on a mandatory basis;
• Make that data transparent, consistent and verified in accordance with international standards;
• Collect emissions data even from facilities covered by a cap and trade program;
• Provide a common infrastructure for reporting from emission sources not covered by cap and trade program regulations, and from facilities before a cap and trade system becomes operational;
• Collect both indirect and direct emissions data and make that data available to the public.

Only from that specific data can the EPA compile a national database to find out whether we are achieving the U.S.’s climate control objectives.

Tags: climate control compliance emissions registry epa ghg ghg emissions greenhouse gas emissions sustainability

Entry Filed under: Sustainability, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Corporate Social Responsibility