US firms adopt new climate reporting rules

Disclosure agreement designed to deliver consistent reporting of emissions

A coalition of 75 states, firms and non-profit groups from across the US, Canada and Mexico yesterday launched a new carbon reporting protocol designed to standardise how they report greenhouse gas emissions.

The General Reporting Protocol (GRP) has been developed by the Climate Registry group, which comprises of 39 US states, seven Canadian provinces, six Mexican states, three Native American Tribes and a raft of blue chip firms, including Microsoft, Target and JP Morgan Chase.

Under the new protocol, members must report emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride from their operations in the US, Canada and Mexico.

The group said that because all the organisations will adhere to the same methodologies the subsequent reports will provide "an accurate, consistent, high-quality data set of greenhouse gas emissions".

It added that its members stand to gain a competitive advantage by adhering to the protocol as they will be better equipped to manage carbon-related risk and will be ready to participate in carbon trading markets as they emerge.

The protocol is the latest in a series of standards designed to deliver a consistent approach to carbon reporting and mirrors similar work to standardise corporate environmental reporting being undertaken by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).