In 1994, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
published its first Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
Since then, the IPCC Guidelines have been updated by hundreds of
the world’s top experts on greenhouse gas emissions in 1996,
2000, and 2006. These technical guidelines provide the foundation
for greenhouse gas accounting under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol. All
other greenhouse gas accounting protocols rely in some form on the
methodologies developed for and included in the IPCC Guidelines.
In 1998, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) formed the GHG Protocol
Initiative to address this growing need. Today, the Greenhouse Gas
Protocol is the international accounting tool most widely used by
businesses and governments to understand, quantify, and manage GHG
emissions. The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard provides the accounting
framework for nearly every GHG standard and program worldwide, and
for thousands of GHG inventories prepared by individual companies.
In 2002, three hundred of the world’s largest investors, representing
roughly three trillion dollars of investment, launched the Carbon
Disclosure Project (CDP), a program encouraging corporations to
disclose their carbon footprint.
These and other such programs are predicated on GHG emissions…
their measurement, reporting, management and reduction. The integrity
of these programs, indeed the entire concept of a GHG emissions
inventory and monitoring system, revolves around accuracy. The accuracy
of baseline studies, credible emissions measurements, and solid
monitoring systems are at the heart of any global mitigation strategy.
The sharper and more unassailable these components are, the more
robust and powerful the program.
In 2007, the Greenhouse Gas
Experts Network and ClimateCHECK
came together to form the GHG Management Institute. The Institute,
and are creating a suite of courses and professional programs that
will address the need for GHG experts and managers.
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