Carbon Emissions Reporting - The Leading Emitters

The Leading Emitters

Each year the world is becoming more and more industrialized and with that increased development of businesses, there is an increase in the demand for power and other needs of operation. With increased industries there is also an increase in the output of emissions, and in a decade where the world will be facing the real life effects of climate change, the idea of Carbon Emissions Reporting is becoming more prevalent.

This is not a new idea that has just came about, GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions have been regulated and reported in a standardized way in some industries for years. Automobile manufacturers have responded to legislation in the past to reduce vehicle emissions in new designs (Melosi, 2004), which has led to an indirectly measurable reduction in GHG emissions. Utilities that generate electricity from, for example, coal burning power plants, have also been regulated with respect to emissions for a long time, initially to reduce more localized pollution and other environmental hazards such as acid rain. However, even to this day, these electricity generation companies are one of the largest culprits when it comes to the emissions of GHG.

Due to the high levels of production of GHG on the daily by these industries, they are easy targets when dealing with the pressure that is being put on the idea of Carbon emissions reporting. As more and more evidence points us in the direction that global climate change is due to human activities, It is clear that the trend toward measuring and managing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on a global scale is not slowing, even though different countries and geographic regions are approaching the issue with different points of view and different levels of vigor(1). Along with an increase in measuring and managing GHG emissions, enterprises around the world should expect to see a higher level of independent assurance and audit reporting needed(1). This is due to a higher level of scrutiny on the credibility of their GHG reporting by a wide range of stakeholders(1).