Carbon Emissions Reporting - Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting

Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting

Many environmentalist and organization in favor of green energy support the proposal of mandating companies/ factories to starting reporting greenhouse gas emissions. Mandatory greenhouse emission reporting is often neglected by business owners for several reasons. The main one is that it creates a drag in their production, and most of all it would cost a lot to implement. In a study conducted by DEFRA, it was determined that it costs a factory on average $55,000 to start this process. Furthermore, companies would face increasing scrutiny if consumers understood the impact they have on the environment. Therefore mandatory GHG reporting didn’t receive enough support.

In the past there were several attempts to institute such legislation but none received enough votes to pass Congress. But in the wake of BP oil crises in the Gulf of Mexico and increasing social awareness about the environment, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) started the environmental Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. The EPA’s GHG reporting program became a law on January 1, 2010. It forces 85% of the nation’s top emitters to report on how much GHG they have emitted. In no ways does it mandate them to cut back on their overall emissions. According to this law companies are due to report their emission for the year of 2010 on March 21 of 2011.

In the first year of this legislation only 85% of the nations leading emitters are required to report their annual reports. Plans are to slightly increase this number each year to ultimately have 100% of major emitters in the nation to start keep tabs on the amount they emit.

This program is the initial step into countering rising emissions rate. If companies are forced to report their emissions, they will be more inclined to lower their impact. Furthermore, they will have the ability to attract more investments as consumers prefer environmentally friendly products.

In June 2012, the UK coalition government announced the introduction of mandatory carbon reporting, requiring all UK companies listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange - around 1,100 of the UK’s largest listed companies - to report their greenhouse gas emissions every year. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg confirmed that emission reporting rules would come into effect from April 2013 in his piece for The Guardian.