Legal Niches

The Climate Registry: How Your Organization Can Get Involved

By Jim Holtkamp

On February 4, 2008, The Climate Registry gave a presentation at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to educate Colorado community members about the organization.  The Climate Registry is a non-profit organization established by states, tribes, and provinces in North America as a mechanism to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions consistently across industry sectors and borders.

Participation in the program includes:

(1) Collecting and analyzing your organization's GHG emissions;
(2) Annual verification by an independent, approved verifier; and
(3) Reporting of all direct GHG emissions and indirect GHG emissions from electricity.
Corporations, government entities and non-profits that join before May 1, 2008, are considered founding affiliates and will be recognized in a national publicity campaign as environmental leaders. The Climate Registry anticipates being fully operational by June 30, 2008.

The Climate Registry identifies several benefits for reporters, including:

• A cost effective means to measure GHG emissions;
• A means to document a baseline and early GHG emission reduction efforts;
• Preparation for federal reporting requirements;
• Access to software and technical support for GHG emission accounting; and
• Recognition as a global environmental leader.

The Climate Registry has prepared a Draft General Reporting Protocol and is currently accepting comments on a Draft General Verification Protocol.

To learn more about The Climate Registry visit www.TheClimateRegistry.org.

(This post was contributed courtesy of Tasha Newland, Environmental Compliance Attorney in the Denver Office)

Full post as published by Climage Change Law on February 12, 2008 (boomark / email).