ICT companies and their customers will soon have common approaches and methodologies to calculate the carbon footprints of ICT products and services thanks to industry guidance due to be published at the end of the year.

The Energy and Resources Institute – Business Council for Sustainable Development (TERI-BCSD), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), and the World Resources Institute (WRI) organized a stakeholder dialogue on Corporate GHG Accounting in India on February 2nd, 2011. The event was held on the sidelines of the World CEO Forum 2011 and was the first formal consultation of a project between TERI and WRI. The partnership aims to build capacity on corporate GHG accounting and gain an appreciation of the necessary steps required for developing a national GHG program.

To garner feedback on the issues and options related to green power accounting, the GHG Protocol team held discussion-based workshops over the past few months tailored to US and European audiences specifically. The DC workshop on December 13th, 2010 centered around accounting practices relating to renewable energy credits (RECs), best practices for assuring clear emission attribute ownership, and how an emissions cap on the power sector impacts voluntary green power purchases.

Please join us October 25th for the first GHG Protocol Product Program Workshop. The workshop brings together product measurement, reporting, and labeling programs from around the world to: Learn how the GHG Protocol Product Standard can benefit established and developing GHG programs; Discuss ways of promoting consistency and harmonization between programs; Identify areas where the GHG Protocol can provide value and support; and Provide an opportunity for discussion and peer learning on the challenges and opportunities in program development and implementation.

The first drafts of the GHG Protocol Product and Scope 3 Accounting and Reporting Standards were released for stakeholder review on November 11th 2009. The draft standards were developed over a nine month period between January and October 2009 through the work of 7 technical working groups comprised of more than 160 members, with strategic guidance provided by a 25 member steering committee.

A new journal, Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Management, focuses on the infrastructure to support future GHG mitigation policies by providing a scholarly forum for both academic researchers and GHG professionals.

As companies seek ways to reduce the GHG emissions in their corporate inventory, they have increasingly posed questions regarding the use of external instruments such as offsets and green power products. The variety of green power products available internationally reflects a diversity of national/regional electricity policies and voluntary approaches, and some of the common challenges in these topics include

On the evening of April 14th, WRI filled a role not normally reserved for environmental think tanks: VIP guest at a high-profile New York restaurant opening. Otarian, now open in New York City’s West Village, is a new boutique fast-casual restaurant chain based on the principles of sustainability and vegetarianism. Otarian is also the first global restaurant chain to track the carbon footprint of all of its menu items.