The Greenhouse Gas Protocol

Helps companies and other organizations to identify, calculate, and report GHG emissions by outlining a standard for accurate, complete, consistent, relevant and transparent accounting and reporting by companies and organizations.

Executive Summary

The GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard helps companies and other organizations to identify, calculate, and report GHG emissions. It is designed to set the standard for accurate, complete, consistent, relevant and transparent accounting and reporting of GHG emissions by companies and organizations, including information on setting organizational and operational boundaries, tracking emissions over time, and reporting emissions. It also provides guidance on GHG accounting and reporting principles, business goals and inventory design, managing inventory quality, accounting for GHG reductions, verification of GHG emissions, and setting a GHG target.

This revised edition of the GHG Protocol: Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard is the culmination of an extensive two-year multi-stakeholder dialogue, designed to improve the rigor, quality, and user-friendliness of the first edition. It provides standards and guidelines for companies and other types of organizations preparing a GHG emissions inventory. It is supplemented by a number of electronic GHG calculation tools, freely available on the GHG Protocol website, that provide step by step guidance on calculating GHG emissions from specific sources (e.g., stationary and mobile combustion, process emissions) and industry sectors (e.g., cement, pulp and paper aluminum, iron and steel and office-based organizations). It covers the accounting and reporting of the six greenhouse gases covered by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

This revised edition has been designed with the following objectives in mind:

• Promote greater consistency, transparency and quality in corporate GHG accounting and reporting practices through the use of standardized approaches and principles;

• Simplify and reduce the costs of corporate GHG accounting and;

• Provide business with information that can be used to build an effective strategy to manage and reduce emissions;

• Provide information that facilitates business participation in different GHG programs, including trading, registries, and other GHG reduction efforts; and

• Increase consistency in GHG accounting and reporting between different GHG programs.

The corporate accounting and reporting standard builds on the experience and knowledge of over 350 leading experts drawn from businesses, NGOs, governments and accounting associations. It has been roadtested by over 30 companies in nine countries. The GHG Protocol Initiative's vision is to harmonize GHG accounting and reporting standards internationally to ensure that different trading schemes and other climate related initiatives adopt consistent approaches to GHG accounting.