Climate change resulting from human activities is now recognised as one of the most pressing environmental issues facing the world’s population. In addressing this problem, governments, the international community and industry are moving to control emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), setting targets such as those agreed at the Kyoto Conference in 1997.
The purpose of "The GHG Indicator: UNEP Guidelines for Calculating Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Businesses and Non-Commercial Organisations" is to assist organisations in this accounting and reporting process. The guidelines provide a methodology whereby GHG emissions are calculated, then combined to give a single-figure GHG Indicator for an organisation's contribution to climate change.
An essential characteristic of the method is that it uses information readily obtainable by companies. This data, expressed in commonly used "basic" units, can be converted and aggregated to calculate the total contribution to climate change. The indicator is applicable at all levels of a company regardless of size, from individual sites to lines of business, to the parent company.
The data and the methodology employed could become an established basis for calculation of GHG indicators for all organisations world-wide.
The guidelines are relevant to both developed and developing countries. Although the quantified reductions in GHG emissions fixed by international agreement apply only to the industrialised nations at present, such reductions may well be required of developing countries in the future. Companies and organisations that are readily able to quantify emissions will find it easier to enter into the Kyoto mechanism and will thus reap the rewards of early action.

By: C. Thomas, T. Tennant, J. Rolls (UNEP)

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