Development Of Greenhouse Gas Management Standards

PRESS RELEASE

1 February 2004

In response to international and national initiatives to limit the growth of greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere, the relevant BSI Group's British Standards committee is strongly encouraging wider representation and is recruiting new members. It is especially interested in participants from the business community, from SMEs to large corporate organisations.

While there is committee representation from a range of leading and authoritative bodies such as the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Emissions Trading Group, input from the private sector is just as crucial, because it will be directly affected.

Amanda Tucker, the programme manager for the British Standards committee says: "These international standards are expected to benefit governments, project proponents and stakeholders worldwide by providing clarity and consistency for quantifying, monitoring, reporting and verifying greenhouse gases. Specifically, the GHG standard will increase investor confidence through enhancing the integrity, credibility and consistency of GHG quantification."

BSI is also tasked with appointing UK experts to an international working group devoted to climate change and will formulate UK votes and comments on the documents that it produces.

The committee is currently providing the UK input into the development of three new international standards. They are:

ISO 14064 Greenhouse gases - Part 1: Specification for the quantification, monitoring and reporting of organisation emissions and removals.

ISO 14064 Greenhouse gases - Part 2: Specification for the quantification, monitoring and reporting of project emissions and removals.

ISO 14064 Greenhouse gases - Part 3: Specification with guidance for validation, verification and certification.

Climate change has been identified as one of the greatest challenges facing nations, governments, business and citizens. It has implications for a number of the Earth's systems - natural, human and economic - and could lead to significant changes in resource use, production and economic activity. Many GHG initiatives rely on the quantification, monitoring, reporting and verification of GHG emissions and/or removals.

Therefore the resulting users of this standard may find benefit in areas such as corporate risk management, for example, the identification and management of GHG-related liabilities and assets. Other benefits include: the voluntary participation in GHG registry or reporting initiatives; new GHG markets: that is, the buying and selling of GHG allowances or credits; and regulatory/government reporting, where a company can gain credit for early action or national reporting/inventory schemes.

The development of this international standard has a number of important elements. They are to:

enhance the environmental integrity of GHG quantification
enhance the credibility, consistency, and transparency of GHG quantification, monitoring and reporting, including GHG project emission reductions and removal enhancements
facilitate the development and implementation of organisation GHG management strategies and plans
facilitate the development and implementation of GHG projects
allow entities to track performance and progress in the reduction of GHG emissions and/or increase in GHG removals
assist in the identification of GHG risks or liabilities
facilitate the crediting and trade of GHG emission reductions or removal enhancements

Anyone interested in contributing to this BSI Committee should contact Amanda Tucker, programme manager, British Standards, 389 Chiswick High Road, London, W4 4AL, email amanda.tucker@bsi-global.com, or phone 020 8996 7202.

Notes for Editors:

For media information contact Steven Brassey at the BSI Press Office on tel: 020 7861 3188 or email: bsipressoffice@goodrelations.co.uk

Many countries conduct national-level GHG inventories to comply with international obligations or as part of domestic activities. National inventories are, to a large extent, top-down exercises relying on national activity data and emissions factors.

Organisation-level GHG inventories, on the other hand, are typically conducted from the bottom-up - accounting for facility-specific GHG emissions and/or removals. National-level GHG inventories are guided by national or international protocols.

Users of these International Standards are encouraged to reference The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard produced by World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)/World Resources Institute (WRI) for additional guidance on applying relevant concepts and requirements.

Existing members of the committee SES/1/-/5: