For some time now, U.S. states have been well ahead of the federal government in taking action on climate change. In April came the latest big development: 34 U.S. states, two Canadian provinces (British Columbia and Manitoba), and the Campo Kumeyaay Nation joined together to form the Climate Registry.
The 34 U.S. states together represent over 70 percent of the U.S. population, and they represent impressive diversity, geographically, economically, and politically.
The Climate Registry evolved out of many states’ efforts to begin to address climate change by developing consistent, transparent, and verifiable programs to measure and report GHG emissions across many sectors. Programs that measure, report, and verify emissions are critical first steps to develop just about any policy to reduce GHG emissions, be it voluntary, regulatory, governmental, or private sector.
The Climate Registry combines the work of many states on emissions registries under development or implementation over the years: many of which were based on WRI’s GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard:
What makes the Climate Registry significant is that the majority of U.S. states will soon be using a unified accounting standard for GHG emissions. That makes it much easier for states to coordinate multi-state and regional strategies to reduce emissions. The Climate Registry is specifically designed to support both voluntary and mandatory policies. Companies will benefit from uniform standards across state lines. And ultimately, these standards may help support and provide a common template for federal climate change policies and programs as well.
“WRI was pleased to have been able to facilitate the workgroup process that created The Climate Registry. The outcome is excellent: the registry reflects the principles of WRI’s GHG Protocol, particularly those of transparency, accuracy, consistency and completeness,” said Jonathan Lash, president of WRI.
- Contributed by Tim Herzog, WRI