In response to the needs of its member local governments, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA (ICLEI was originally established as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) has released a draft Community-Scale GHG Emissions Accounting and Reporting Protocol for public comment. The deadline for comments is February 11, 2011 and a final Protocol will be established and adopted no later than August 2011.
Rationale for the Community Protocol
Local governments are increasingly looking to create policies that will reduce emissions from the activities of their residents, businesses, and visitors. The emissions reduction process begins with identifying primary sources of emissions and quantifying the scale of emissions from these sources. By establishing standards for community-scale inventories, communities can ensure the consistency and quality of their inventories. In addition, such standards will allow for accurate monitoring of progress against emissions targets, and provide standard guidance as local governments pursue environmental review, inventory certification and other relevant processes in their day-to-day operations. A national standard will form the foundation of future climate actions, thereby enabling communities to address the challenges of climate change more effectively.
The Community Protocol will complement the Local Government Operations Protocol and serve as a U.S. Supplement to the International Emissions Analysis Protocol. The draft framework is available for review online.