Blog Posts: greenhouse gas protocol

At least 40 countries and several sub-national regions have implemented greenhouse gas reporting programs. A new report provides step-by-step guidance on how policymakers can design them effectively.

Approximately 40 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions come from energy generation, and about half of that energy is consumed by industrial or commercial users.

If a fifth of the world’s emissions come from the energy that keeps the world’s businesses running, how does business report those emissions?

Tunisia launched its renewable energy program in 2010 to scale up solar photovoltaic systems and used the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol’s Policy and Action Standard—to find out just how much the program would reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

What do Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States have in common? They are among the few countries that are linking their national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data with GHG data from individual industrial facilities.

Inventories are a fundamental tool for countries and facilities to measure and manage their GHG emissions. Establishing these linkages and sharing data between different inventory systems will continue to be critical in improving the quality of inventories, increasing their usefulness, reducing emissions at both the national and facility level, and enhancing their value for decision makers.

When the IPCC released its Fifth Assessment Report earlier this spring, its message was clear: We must do much more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to keep below 2 °C and limit climate change’s impacts.

By presenting the current science, impacts, and options for addressing climate change, the IPCC has laid the groundwork for governments and the private sector to start taking more ambitious action. The next step for companies is to align their own plans with larger climate goals.

The India Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Program, launched in July 2013, aims to offer a meaningful starting place by providing a standardized method for companies to measure and manage their greenhouse gas emissions. Conceived in partnership with WRI, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the program provides Indian businesses with tools and technical assistance to measure their emissions, identify reduction opportunities, establish short and long-term reduction goals, and track their progress based on the GHG Protocol, the most widely used emissions accounting and reporting standard in the world.

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol celebrates its 15th anniversary this year; it was established to develop and promote the use of best practices for accounting and reporting GHG emissions. Stephen Russell reflects on the project's history and impact, and discusses next steps for an evolving GHG accounting landscape.