08 Jun 2009
The government last week launched draft guidance on how organisations should report their greenhouse gas emissions in the same way that publicly listed companies must report financial results.
The Climate Change Act requires that by April 2012 the government must introduce a law to require organisations to measure and report their carbon footprints or explain why this has not happened.
The guidance – due to be published in October this year after a consultation has finished – will be the first step in showing organisations how they can go about doing this.
Joan Ruddock, minister for climate change, said helping organisations calculate their own carbon footprint was key in tackling global warming.
"That's why it's important we make this guidance as clear and straightforward as possible so that those organisations taking action to reduce emissions – by rethinking their business, taking energy efficiency measures and investing in renewables – can clearly and credibly demonstrate this," she said.
"Those organisations who grasp the opportunity now to develop robust reporting will be well placed to respond to the government's planned approach to mandatory reporting," she added.
In its current form, the guidance stipulates as mandatory the inclusion of all emissions from industrial processes, combustion of materials, owned transport and any purchased power. It also suggests inclusion of outsourced assets, non-owned transport use, waste disposal and sold goods and services as best practice.
Where organisations report emissions data for other regulatory schemes, such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and the forthcoming Carbon Reduction Commitment, they can use this data, provided they note differences of approach and show their calculations.
Hilary Benn, secretary of state for the environment, said the guidance could help businesses identify inefficiencies in their organisations and take out costs.
"I hope this guidance will make the measuring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions easier for all organisations as a first step in helping them to manage and reduce their emissions," he said.
"It is not just aimed at large, listed companies; smaller enterprises also have a part to play in tackling greenhouse gas emissions."
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2012 is not so far away
In the IT arena measuring efficiency and power usage is not so easy to implement. With the introduction of the EU Code of Conduct it is not just the size of the carbon footprint but also how efficiently you are using the energy consumed. In reality it means simultaneously measuring the total power into the data centre, the power consumed by the support equipment such as AC and the power consumed by the IT equipment itself. On top of this, is the simultaneous measurement of the actual computational efficiency of the IT load. The only way this can be done is to have a management system which can collect the input data and compute the results into a format that allows reports to be easily generated for timescales from current to annual. This involves metering at the main electrical incomer switchboards, metering at the support equipment switchboards, metering at the IT load PDU?s and measurement of the computational capacity consumed. All this then needs to be fed into a management system. It?s not just the physical difficulties of introducing the necessary meters, with the monitoring points crossing the borders of IT and Facilities, who should manage and control this arrangement? There are suitable systems on the market and some companies such as Schneider/APC have the capability to cover everything in one system. With 2012 being only three years away it is important to start planning now. As can be seen here, legislation and/or taxation will be the tool that focuses the industry on Green IT. Currently the focus is one of reducing costs and if possible also calling it a part of a Green strategy. From my involvement with the industry, confusion still reigns and on one hand, organisations want to reduce their overall energy usage but this requirement is overridden by the greater pressure to cut costs in the downturn and deliver ?more from less.? Companies feel that they should be re-engineering or streamlining their daily operations to reduce their carbon footprint but they are not sure of the critical steps they should take to achieve this. People often ask what are others doing, how are they coping with the pressure, what are they planning? In response to this, I have sponsored an independent survey which seeks the views of IT, data centre and facility management professionals to examine the ?state of play? and identify areas where policy or practical changes need to be made. We need to understand expert professional opinion on this critical topic. It?s totally confidential and run independently by Loughborough University. All participants will get a free copy of the findings. Let your views be heard at: http://www.survey.lboro.ac.uk/dce and find out what your peers are up to. Chris Smith, on365
Posted by Chris Smith, 09 Jun 2009