November 19, 2001—The World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) released an international standard that will enable businesses to uniformly report their emissions of greenhouse gases.
The standard, called the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative, or GHG Protocol, was developed over a three-year period by a partnership of over 350 individuals from corporations, non-profit organizations, and governments. It is supplemented by a number of user-friendly calculation tools.
“Unlike for financial accounting and reporting, there are no generally accepted international accounting and reporting practices for corporate emissions of greenhouse gases,” said Kjell Oren, Director of WBCSDs Climate and Energy Program. “GHG Protocol will enable businesses to account and report information from global operations in a way that is consistent with financial reporting standards.”
The GHG Protocol addresses the six greenhouse gases identified by climate treaty negotiators as key contributors to global warming. They are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexaflouride (SF6).
