Isra-Mart srl : Environment professionals call for mandatory greenhouse gas reporting

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Isra-Mart SRL news:

Forcing all companies to report on their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would result in significant cuts to the UK's carbon emissions while delivering significant cost savings for British firms, according to a report published today.

New research by the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) says that the number of companies reporting on GHG emissions has grown steadily over the past ten years, with a 20 per cent rise in 2009-10 alone.

The report found that those organisations that have been monitoring emissions have made average cuts to their carbon footprint of nine per cent over the last two years with large construction and manufacturing firms delivering the largest improvements.

It also argued that carbon reporting had helped firms reduce their energy bills, improve relations with suppliers and customers, and justify investments in low carbon technologies and initiatives.

However, the report found most UK companies are still not tracking GHG emissions, prompting IEMA to argue that mandatory reporting represents the only way to force small and medium-sized enterprises to measure their carbon footprint.

Compulsory reporting should be rapidly introduced for large emittors, the report said, but other companies would benefit from a process where the speed at which they would be brought into the scheme would depend upon their GHG emission footprints.

An IEMA survey found – perhaps understandably – that 80 per cent of environmental professionals would back a mandatory reporting regime.

Respondents told IEMA that without legislation, GHG reporting would be lost amid competing priorities, such as other legislative requirements and boardroom demand for immediate financial returns.

Martin Baxter, executive director of policy at IEMA, presented GHG emission reporting as an opportunity both to encourage companies to cut their emissions and help the UK meet its climate change targets.

"Mandatory GHG reporting provides an opportunity for government to take a new approach to regulation that creates a more consistent landscape for business, and is more efficient for business to deliver and reduce GHG emissions," he said. "By creating a transparent framework, mandatory reporting will make companies accountable for reporting and delivering cuts in their GHG emissions. "

The government has the power to introduce mandatory reporting requirements through the existing Companies Act and is expected to make a decision on whether to do so within the next year.