WRI and ABPS (India) are holding a workshop in India on tracking greenhouse gas performance of mitigation actions and mitigation goals. The workshop will take place on March 7, 2012, in Delhi. The workshop will convene experts and stakeholders from governments, civil society, and the private sector to discuss issues, practices, and solutions related to the technical challenges of quantifying GHG reductions from mitigation actions and tracking national and sub-national performance toward GHG reduction goals.

UNEP FI and GHG Protocol invite interested stakeholders to participate in a technical working group for the development of a financial sector GHG accounting guidance and carbon asset risk guidance. Please see the Terms of Reference for details about the Technical Working Group process and a link to Survey Monkey where you can express your interest in participation.

Close on the heels of a new GHG program in Brazil, the Indian industry launched a national-level GHG Inventorization Program in Delhi, India, on May 28, 2008. Under the program, corporations will measure and manage their GHG emissions based on internationally recognized standards and monitor their progress towards voluntary reduction goals. The India GHG Inventory Program is a partnership between the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the US EPA, and the World Resources Institute.

Agriculture and agriculture-linked land use change contribute almost 80% to Brazil’s national emissions. On September 25 in Sao Paulo, GHG Protocol held an inaugural workshop to engage key stakeholders in developing a set of new tools specific to Brazilian agriculture – a corporate GHG accounting standard and emission factors. The event featured a keynote address by Eduardo Assad, a director at Embrapa and formerly the Brazilian secretary for climate change.

The GHG Protocol periodically assesses the need for GHG accounting guidance within different business sectors and organizational types. We are currently scoping the GHG accounting needs associated with film and television production activities internationally, and are seeking stakeholders expert in this field to help illuminate the issues relating to GHG emission sources and accounting questions. Some of these potential issues include:

In July, the largest 42 cement companies in China will take further steps to measure and manage their GHG emissions. These companies produce approximately 400 million metric tons of cement per year, accounting for over 30% of Chinese cement production. Cement production is a major source of carbon dioxide emissions, accounting for five percent of the global total.

On July 10, WRI launched the Beta version of its new Climate Analysis Indicators Tool, or CAIT 2.0.

Companies have repeatedly called for consistent and credible guidelines on how to account for the GHG emissions from agriculture within their corporate- or farm-level inventories. The GHG Protocol has just released a first draft of the ‘Agricultural Protocol’, aimed at providing exactly those guidelines. The Agricultural Protocol is a supplement to the Corporate Standard and new Scope 3 Standard, outlining how both producers and their supply chain partners (processors, food brand manufacturers, and food retailers, etc.) can measure the GHG impact of agricultural production.

We are excited by the release of the first draft of the Global Protocol for Community-Scale GHG Emissions (GPC) to help cities around the world measure and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using a more consistent protocol.

After a successful nine-month pilot test from May 2013 to January 2014, the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC) has been revised and is now available for public comment until August 18th. The authors particularly welcome review by city officials, practitioners, and technical experts in the fields of energy, transportation, waste management, agriculture and forestry. As a global reporting standard, the GPC enables cities and communities to consistently measure and report GHG emissions and develop climate action plans and low-emission urban development strategies.

At the end of each fiscal year, WRI designates ten outcomes across projects and programs as the ‘Top Ten Outcomes’ for a particular year. This year, the GHG Protocol’s work with The Climate Registry and the Mexico GHG Program was recognized as two of these top outcomes.

WRI celebrated its 30th Anniversary on May 23, with the "Courage to Lead" dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City. At the dinner, WRI recognized the contributions of its special guest, philanthropist and Mayor Michael Bloomberg; and honored Stephen Ross, chairman, CEO and founder of Related Companies; and Jonathan Lash, president of Hampshire College and WRI's former president.

The Climate Registry has finalized its General Reporting Protocol, which provides a consistent framework for companies and organizations across North America to measure and publicly report their Greenhouse Gas emissions. To date, the Climate Registry has the participation of over 250 reporting organizations, including WRI.

zainab.naeem@teri.res.inToday WRI India, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) launched the India Greenhouse Gas Program (India GHG Program), a voluntary initiative to standardize measurement and management of GHG emissions in India.

The Scope 2 Accounting Guidance is entering its final stage of development. The document will clarify how to account for and report GHG emissions from electricity purchase and use. It will also address the role of utility emission factors, power purchase agreements (PPAs), and tracking instruments such as renewable energy certificates (RECs) and Guarantees of Origin (GOs). A final public comment period for the Guidance will begin in September 2013 with final publication scheduled for January 2014. 

During the informal sessions of the U.N.’s Rio+20 conference on sustainable development last week, Rio de Janeiro city officials and the World Bank jointly launched a very timely project: the Rio Low-Carbon City Program.