Tag: Carbon Accounting

WRI Releases Greenhouse Gas Protocol for U.S. Public Sector

The World Resources Institute (WRI) and LMI have released a protocol entitled the “GHG Protocol for the U.S. Public Sector: Interpreting the Corporate Standard for U.S. Public Sector Organizations”. This protocol outlines how federal, state and local governments can account for their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and serves as a resource for U.S. public sector organizations implementing Executive Order 13514, which requires federal agencies to report and reduce their GHG emissions.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) and LMI have released a protocol entitled the “GHG Protocol for the U.S. Public Sector: Interpreting the Corporate Standard for U.S. Public Sector Organizations”. This protocol outlines how federal, state and local governments can account for their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and serves as a resource for U.S. public sector organizations implementing Executive Order 13514, which requires federal agencies to report and reduce their GHG emissions.

The protocol interprets and applies the GHG accounting principles established by WRI’s “Corporate Standard” to the unique structures of the public sector.  The term “public sector” is a broad one that includes any organization owned, controlled or operated by the government and includes government agencies, school systems, quasi-governmental organizations and utilities, as well as public-private partnerships. The protocol aims to help managers of organizations at all government levels design and develop a GHG inventory. For organizations that have already created GHG inventories through voluntary or mandatory programs that are based on the Corporate Standard, the protocol provides useful information on key accounting issues.

The protocol was developed in response to the need of public organizations for tailored guidance on interpreting the Corporate Standard for the public sector. 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. For organizations that already monitor and report energy use and other environmental metrics, GHG emissions reporting represents a new and integrative performance indicator.

As stated by the WRI, the objectives of the protocol are as follows:

•         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.

While the protocol was developed primarily for U.S. government organizations, the principles contained in the protocol can be applied to governments worldwide since it is based on the internationally accepted Corporate Standard.

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Background on the GHG Protocol Initiative

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative was launched in 1998 with the objective of developing internationally accepted GHG accounting and reporting standards. Designed as a multi-stakeholder partnership of businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and governments, it was convened by the WRI and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

The cornerstone document of the GHG Protocol Initiative is the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (Corporate Standard, 2004), which provides a step-by-step guide for quantifying and reporting GHG emissions. 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 programs, and tools based on the concepts of the Corporate Standard, two accompanying documents were developed:

•         Measuring to Manage: A Guide to Designing GHG Accounting and Reporting Programs (2007); and

•         Designing a Customized Greenhouse Gas Calculation Tool (2007).

GHG Audit

Beyond the requirements of current and pending GHG reporting regulations, due diligence and financial evaluations of your business will increasingly need to consider the costs and risks associated with GHG emissions. As part of the process for preparing your risk management strategy or carbon neutrality strategy, GHG Accounting Services offers a comprehensive and cost effective GHG audit service that will help you develop and manage these strategies. The audit report prepared by our team of experts will identify the GHG emission characteristics of different branches or products and services of your business, evaluate potential costs and regulatory risks as well as identify cost and emissions reduction opportunities.

GHG Reporting

With the implementation of new reporting legislation and pending regulations in several jurisdictions, it is important to determine and understand your reporting obligations. This will enable you to comply with regulatory requirements and any specified reporting standards. The starting point is accounting for your actual greenhouse gas emissions, i.e. determining their source and the amount from each source, and calculating your total emissions based on accepted protocols.

Through the use of recognized international greenhouse gas accounting standards and our diverse team expertise, GHG Accounting Services can help you clarify your reporting obligations and work with you to fulfill these reporting obligations in an efficient and cost effective manner.

In addition to tracking, calculating, and reporting greenhouse gas emission using the requisite factors and protocols, GHG Accounting Services’ comprehensive approach will also allow you to effectively translate data into emission reduction plans and tangible energy savings, leading to overall improved business performance and cost reductions.

GWP

 

GWP is the acronym widely used to refer to “Global Warming Potential“.

The Global Warming Potential of a greenhouse gas indicates to what extent functionally, in regards to their green house gas effect on a 100 year time line, it is functionally equivalent to a certain amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

In colloquial terms, it describes the heat trapping ability of a greenhouse gas in the atmospheric cover of a planet. And it does that in relation to the heat trapping ability of CO2 by assigning a factor. The global warming potential, for example, of CO2 is 1 and the global warming potential of methane is 21. So methane has a 21 times higher heat trapping ability than CO2 on a 100 year time line/ time horizon.

For the purpose of GHG accounting, the global warming potential of a certain greenhouse gas provides the conversion factor to convert a specific amount of greenhouse gas emissions into CO2e (CO2 equivalent) emissions.

Global warming potentials for greenhouse gases

(Source: Environment Canada)

IPCC Global Warming Potentials – 100-Year Time Horizon
Greenhouse Gas

Formula

Second Assessment Report

Fourth Assessment Report
Carbon dioxide CO2 1 1
Methane CH4 21 25
Nitrous oxide N2O 310 298
Sulphur hexafluoride SF6 23 900 22 800
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
HFC-23 CHF3 11 700 14 800
HFC-32 CH2F2 650 675
HFC-41 CH3F 150
HFC-43-10mee C5H2F10 1 300 1 640
HFC-125 C2HF5 2 800 3 500
HFC-134 C2H2F4
(Structure: CHF2CHF2)		 1 000
HFC-134a C2H2F4
(Structure: CH2FCF3)		 1 300 1 430
HFC-143 C2H3F3
(Structure: CHF2CH2F)		 300
HFC-143a C2H3F3
(Structure: CF3CH3)		 3 800 4 470
HFC-152a C2H4F2
(Structure: CH3CHF2)		 140 124
HFC-227ea C3HF7 2 900 3 220
HFC-236fa C3H2F6 6 300 9 810
HFC-245ca C3H3F5 560
Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)
Perfluoromethane CF4 6 500 7 390
Perfluoroethane C2F6 9 200 12 200
Perfluoropropane C3F8 7 000
Perfluorobutane C4F10 7 000 8 860
Perfluorocyclobutane c-C4F8 8 700
Perfluoropentane C5F12 7 500
Perfluorohexane C6F14 7 400 9 300

1 IPCC Second Assessment Report (1996)
2 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (2007)

ISO 14064

 

ISO 14064 is the acronym used to refer to a group of ISO Standards specifying the quantification, reporting, monitoring validation and verification of greenhouse gas.

Part 1 (ISO 14064-1): Specification with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals

Part 2 (ISO 14064-2): Specification with guidance at the project level for quantification, monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emission reductions or removal enhancements

Part 3 (ISO 16064-3): Specification with guidance for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas assertions

ISO 14064-1
The ISO 14064-1 standard (Greenhouse gases – Part 1: Specification with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals) provides guidance on the elements needed to implement an auditable GHG inventory. It offers a framework for designing, developing, managing and reporting organizational or company-level GHG inventories. It includes requirements for determining organizational boundaries, GHG emission boundaries, quantifying an organization’s GHG emissions and removals, and identifying specific company actions or activities aimed at improving GHG management. It also includes requirements and guidance on inventory quality management, reporting, internal auditing and the organization’s responsibilities in verification activities.

ISO 14064-2
The ISO 14064-2 standard (Greenhouse gases — Part 2: Specification with guidance at the project level for quantification, monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emission reductions or removal enhancements) specifies the principles and requirements and provides guidance at the project level for quantification, monitoring and reporting of activities intended to cause GHG emission reductions or removal enhancements. It includes requirements for planning a GHG project, identifying and selecting GHG sources, sinks and reservoirs relevant to the project and baseline scenario, monitoring, quantifying, documenting and reporting GHG project performance and managing data quality.

ISO 14064-3
The quality of data is also essential to effective emissions mitigation. To ensure that GHG emissions data is accurate and complete, a validation or verification process is carried out by an independent party to ensure quality assurance. A GHG validation/verification process will assess the following:

  • accuracy and completeness of GHG data;
  • reliability of procedures and controls that are in place to manage the data;
  • adherence to a specific set of criteria (such as an ISO 14064 standard).

The ISO 14064-3 standard (Greenhouse gases – Part 3: Specification with guidance for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas assertions) details the principles and requirements for verifying GHG inventories, and validating or verifying GHG projects. It can be applied to entity-wide and offset project GHG quantifications. It provides requirements and guidance for those conducting GHG validations and verifications. It specifies the general requirements for selecting GHG audit team members, establishing the level of assurance, objectives, criteria and scope, determining the auditing approach, assessing GHG data, information, information systems and controls, evaluating GHG assertions, and preparing audit statements.