Electricity + Control September 2017

34 / 56

32 Electricity + Control SEPTEMBER 2017
PLANT MAINTENANCE, TEST + MEASUREMENT
Voluntary versus mandatory reporting
Even if a company has been reporting its green-
house gas emissions for years, e.g. as a CDP
response or for other (strategic) reasons, this
does not mean that these companies are set up
for compliance to The Regulations. The extent to
which carbon inventories need to be realigned to
The Regulations depends on the methodology
used for calculating and reporting of greenhouse
gas emissions. National emissions inventories
are often done based on IPCC guidelines ‘to up-
date and maintain a National Greenhouse Gas In-
ventory’. At company level, the GHG Protocol is
typically the standard used for the establishment
of a greenhouse gas inventory. The main differ-
ences between these protocols are summed up
below and are areas that corporates will need to
reassess in order to align their voluntary carbon
management system to the new Regulations as
introduced on 3 April this year.
• Greenhouse gas emissions sources: The Reg-
ulations classify emissions sources by the
activity generating the emissions; The GHG
Protocol uses a sectoral classification for the
identification of emissions sources.Why is this
important? Because the category of a green-
house gas emissions source influences:
- The methodology selected for the inventory
- The selection and therefore the level of
accuracy of the emission-factor
• Global Warming Potential (GWP) values: The
Regulations stipulate that data providers are
required to use GWP values provided by the
IPCC 3rd Assessment Report [6] (https://www.
ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/). The GHG Protocol
prescribes that the GWPs from the IPCC 2nd ,
3 rd or 4th Assessment Report can be used, as
long as they are referenced correctly and used
consistently. (The global warming potential of
a greenhouse gas refers to the quantity of the
reference gas, i.e. carbon dioxide, required to
having the same impact on global warming as
a unit of the gas in question. For example, if
methane has a global warming potential of 25,
it means that 1 kg of methane has the same
impact on global warming as 25 kg of carbon
dioxide)
• The use of units: Different standards may use
different units: emission-calculation-methods
as per The Regulations follow IPCC Guidelines
and emissions are reported in Gigagrams (Gg).
CDP-submissions are reporting emissions us-
ing tonnes. The GHG Protocol does not specify
which units to use for reporting of emissions
• Reporting period: The Regulations require that
emissions should be reported for a calendar
year (1 January – 31 December), while the
Corporate Standard does not specify the be-
ginning and end of the reporting period as long
as it covers one year
Conclusion
Whether your company has been reporting green-
house gas emissions in the past on a voluntary
basis, or you have not been reporting at all, the
introduction of the National Greenhouse Gas
Emission Reporting Regulations – as of 3 April
2017 – requires for companies to reassess their
carbon-management systems in place.
References
[1]
al-look-mandatory-greenhouse-gas-report-
ing-programs
[2]
[3]
html
[4]
php
[5] South Africa’s Intended Nationally Determined
Contribution (INDC) /
ndcregistry/PublishedDocuments/South%20
Africa%20First/South%20Africa.pdf
[6] Technical Guidelines for Monitoring, Reporting
and Verification of Greenhouse Gases by In-
dustry
<<Author>>
+27 (0) 78 097 0852 Silvana Claassen
CES South Africa