In a move that will bolster confidence among the growing number of companies seeking to understand and manage their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, three organizations today announced that they will work together to promote their GHG accounting and reporting standards.
ISO (International Organization for Standardization), the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under which they have agreed to jointly promote the ISO 14064 standards and the WRI and WBCSD GHG Protocol standards.
The move is in response to concerns among businesses and GHG program designers that the two standards might not be consistent and mutually supportive. In fact, for corporate accounting, requirements and guidance contained in ISO and GHG Protocol standards are consistent and they are designed so that they can be used in a complementary manner.
"We are positive that closer collaboration between our three international organizations will increase convergence as well as institutional and corporate confidence in developing and maintaining credible climate change and GHG emissions credits trading programmes," said Alan Bryden, ISO Secretary-General.
Jonathan Lash, President of WRI, said, "Global warming is the defining problem of our time. Consistent measurement standards for GHG emissions are essential to effective policies to encourage businesses to replace polluting technologies with more efficient low carbon alternatives."
Björn Stigson, WBCSD President, added, "This is a clear indication of our formal commitment to work towards achieving consistency in order to create greater confidence among corporate sustainability managers and GHG accountants, and support the development of credible carbon markets."
By working together, the three organizations will be better able to deal with technical issues, promote the standardized tools, and raise awareness through more concentrated education, training and capacity building. A first promotional event will be held on Friday, 7 December 2007 during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia (see below).
ISO, WRI, and WBCSD have already collaborated on the multiple globally accepted standards for GHG accounting and reporting. The ISO 14064 standard, established in 2006, is consistent and compatible with the GHG Protocol, published by WRI and WBCSD in 2004. The organizations are encouraging corporations, governments, and others to use them as complementary tools. ISO 14064 details internationally agreed requirements on what needs to be done in GHG accounting and verification efforts, while the GHG Protocol outlines, not only what needs to be done, but also how to undertake GHG accounting and reporting.
Contacts:
Roger Frost, ISO Manager, Communication Services, +41 22 749 01 11, frost@iso.org
Paul Mackie, WRI Director of Media Relations, +1(202)729-7684, pmackie@wri.org
Stefanie Held, WBCSD Director of Energy&Climate, +41 22 839 31 34, held@wbcsd.org
ISO (International Organization for Standardization - www.iso.org) is the world's largest developer of International Standards for state-of-the-art products, services, processes, materials and systems, and for good conformity assessment, managerial and organizational practice.
The World Resources Institute (www.wri.org) is an independent, non-partisan and nonprofit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical analysts, mapmakers, and communicators developing and promoting policies that will help protect the Earth and improve people’s lives.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (www.wbcsd.org) is a CEO-led, global association of some 200 companies dealing exclusively with business and sustainable development.