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THE CYCLE – COUNT AND ANALYSE
KICK THE HABIT
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Youmay find that two different calculators reach exactly the same conclusions
about your carbon footprint, and then give you radically different recommen-
dations for reducing it. They may have perfectly valid reasons for doing so,
but it may leave you confused all the same. Ask yourself who has devised
them: oil companies and conservation groups both have every right to do so,
but it is worth remembering their starting points, and everyone else’s.
ORGANIZATIONS
The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard
Inventory frameworks for businesses include the GHG Protocol Corporate
Standard and ISO 14064, itself based on the Corporate Standard. Depend-
ing on a company’s size and financial capacity, it may be worth hiring pro-
fessional help instead of doing the inventory itself. The Greenhouse Gas
Protocol is a widely-used international accounting tool for government
and business leaders to understand, quantify and manage greenhouse gas
emissions. The protocol is the result of a partnership between the World Re-
sources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Develop-
ment. The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard provides standards and guid-
ance for companies and other organizations preparing a GHG emissions
inventory. It covers the accounting and reporting of all six Kyoto Protocol
GHG gases. It was designed with the following objectives in mind:
to help companies prepare a GHG inventory that represents a true and
fair account of their emissions, through the use of standardized ap-
proaches and principles;
simplify and reduce the costs of compiling a GHG inventory;
provide business with information that can be used to build an effective
strategy to manage and reduce GHG emissions;
increase consistency and transparency in GHG accounting and reporting
among various companies and GHG programmes.
The standard builds on the experience and knowledge of over 350 leading ex-
perts drawn from businesses, NGOs, governments and accounting associa-
tions. It is currently being used by more than 1 000 companies. The GHG
Protocol Initiative’s vision is to harmonise GHG accounting and reporting
standards internationally to ensure that different trading schemes and other
climate-related initiatives adopt consistent approaches to GHG accounting.