WRI is considering developing new guidance to help government agencies, civil society organizations, and others address the question, “What effect are policies expected to have on GHG emissions?”

O programa GHG Protocol do World Resources Institute – WRI pretende contribuir com o esforço coletivo mundial em busca de uma economia resiliente e do equilíbrio climático do planeta. Para isso, desenvolve ferramentas de apoio à contabilização e reporte de emissões de GEE, como o GHG Protocol para empresas, reconhecido e adotado mundialmente. 

GHG accounting is not a static field and the GHG Protocol is constantly reviewing its publications to ensure they properly reflect the science on climate change and continue to define best practices for GHG accounting and management. One area the GHG Protocol monitors is the best available scientific evidence regarding the importance of individual GHGs, as evaluated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and as reflected in the guidelines of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for national GHG emissions reporting.

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.

Accounting for 89 percent of end-use electricity consumption, buildings are the focus of a new ‘Carbon Audit’ campaign aimed to tackle climate change in Hong Kong. On July 24, Hong Kong’s ‘Guidelines to Account for and Report on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals for buildings (Commercial, Residential or Institutional Purpose) in Hong Kong’ based on the WRI-WBCSD GHG Protocol was launched in a ceremony attended by 37 major organizations, including all of Hong Kong’s major property developers, as well as media.

GHG Protocol has published a draft royalty-free Licensing Policy and plans to integrate this agreement into all online calculation tools and standards in the New Year. GHG Protocol website visitors will be asked to sign-in before downloading all online tools and standards and will then be asked to accept or decline the license presented before them. Users will not be asked to accept the license every time they download tools and standards; a one-time review of the license is all that is required.

On May 23, in São Paulo, WRI, ICLEI, C40, USP-IEE, and EMBARQ Brazil jointly brought together more than 200 Brazilian city officials and experts to discuss how to use the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GPC) to measure and manage greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from cities. 

WRI’s GHG Protocol Team is teaching “the new carbon math” – carbon accounting for GHG measurement and management – by developing e-learning curriculum based on GHG Protocol standards and tools. Under the GHG Management Institute, WRI will develop a series of online courses in partnership with Earth Council Geneva (ECG), the GHG Experts Network (GEN), and ClimateCheck. The institute aims to provide professional training on how to measure and manage GHG emissions. “The Institute’s philosophy is ‘if you cannot accurately measure GHG emissions, you cannot manage them’,” Michael Gillenwater, the Dean of the Institute and the Director of the GHG Experts Network, said in a press release.

Last week the annual WBCSD council meeting took place in Seoul, South Korea. This meeting included a constructive session for the Greenhouse Gas Management Working Group. Three strategic priorities for the coming years were agreed upon: 1) Business leading in carbon management, 2) Promoting harmonization in reporting programs, and 3) WRI partnership and collaboration. The first strategic priority will focus on engagement with investors and on CFO and investor relations, as well as on sharing GHG management best practices.

A new collaboration launches to develop standards for measuring and managing GHG emissions throughout the product life cycle and across the entire corporate value chain. The group is the GHG Protocol’s Product and Supply Chain Initiative, convened under the GHG Protocol. The project’s Steering Committee and technical working groups launched in September, in a series of meetings in Washington, DC and London, involving over 100 participants.

Today the GHG Protocol launches two new global greenhouse gas accounting standards - for corporate value chains (scope 3) and product life cycle emissions. Janet Ranganathan, WRI’s Vice-president for Science & Research, and Pankaj Bhatia, WRI’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol Director since 2004, describe the 12-year program’s critical role in business and government efforts to address climate impacts.

The China Business Council for Sustainable Development, in conjunction with WBCSD and WRI, hosted an informational workshop, “Corporate Energy Conservation and GHG Management,” on June 1 in Beijing at the Kempinski Hotel. Approximately 100 representatives from CBCSD’s member companies, government agencies, and NGOs attended the workshop.

WRI and ABPS (India) are holding a workshop in India on tracking greenhouse gas performance of mitigation actions and mitigation goals. The workshop will take place on March 7, 2012, in Delhi. The workshop will convene experts and stakeholders from governments, civil society, and the private sector to discuss issues, practices, and solutions related to the technical challenges of quantifying GHG reductions from mitigation actions and tracking national and sub-national performance toward GHG reduction goals.

UNEP FI and GHG Protocol invite interested stakeholders to participate in a technical working group for the development of a financial sector GHG accounting guidance and carbon asset risk guidance. Please see the Terms of Reference for details about the Technical Working Group process and a link to Survey Monkey where you can express your interest in participation.

Close on the heels of a new GHG program in Brazil, the Indian industry launched a national-level GHG Inventorization Program in Delhi, India, on May 28, 2008. Under the program, corporations will measure and manage their GHG emissions based on internationally recognized standards and monitor their progress towards voluntary reduction goals. The India GHG Inventory Program is a partnership between the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the US EPA, and the World Resources Institute.

Agriculture and agriculture-linked land use change contribute almost 80% to Brazil’s national emissions. On September 25 in Sao Paulo, GHG Protocol held an inaugural workshop to engage key stakeholders in developing a set of new tools specific to Brazilian agriculture – a corporate GHG accounting standard and emission factors. The event featured a keynote address by Eduardo Assad, a director at Embrapa and formerly the Brazilian secretary for climate change.