http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2012-01-25/guangdong-carbon-program-to-be-china-s-largest-new-energy-says.html

A less publicly noted success to come out of the COP17 at Durban was the commitment to develop a common system for measuring, reporting and verifying emissions reduction. This will be essential for progress especially because lending from the Green Climate Fund may be results based. If the private sector is to invest at a substantial scale, then there must be a robust and internationally accepted framework for evaluating achievement. A consensus on measuring reporting and verification will likely increase flow of further private sector investment.

It was highlighted at the meeting that activities funded by the Green Climate Fund “will be regularly monitored for impact, efficiency and effectiveness” and “results measurement framework with guidelines and appropriate performance indicators will be approved by the board”.

A significantly advanced framework for the reporting of emissions reductions for both developed and developing countries was also agreed. Developed countries must prepare biennial reports on their emissions and on their projects to reduce emissions, in accordance with their national circumstances, with their first reports due at the start of 2014. Developing countries will go through a similar parallel process, with their first biennial update report submitted by December 2014; by March 5th next year they must also submit information about their nationally appropriate mitigation actions and low-emission development strategies, in order to obtain financial and technical support by developed countries.

Information sourced from: KPMG ‘COP17 – ‘One step closer to a low Carbon Future’

www.ft.com  December, 2011

1. Measuring your organisation’s Carbon Footprint ISO 14064-1
(Essentials Greenhouse Gas Inventories for Organizations)
This course provides the information for the first step organisations need to determine their carbon footprint and the ongoing management of GHG emissions.

2. Reducing Your Organisations Environmental Impact ISO 14064-2 Essentials – Greenhouse Gas Projects.
This course provides an introduction and the technical requirements to create GHG projects under the rules of ISO 14064 – 2. Projects that reduce emissions and enhance emissions are addressed.

3. Carbon Emission Reduction Expert ISO 14064-2 Expert - Greenhouse Gas Projects
In this course students apply their knowledge of ISO 14064-2 by creating an actual GHG Project through the use of a series of exercises and two detailed case studies to ensure a practical, hands-on approach to facilitate the learning process.

4. GHG Validation using ISO 14064
Validation is normally performed for GHG emission reduction projects before they are implemented and it helps ensure that the project conforms to the requirements of a standard or the rules of a GHG program.

5. GHG Verification using ISO 14064
Verification provides an independent assessment of the data associated with a GHG inventory or project and typically offers an opinion on the accuracy of the estimates or measurements, thus giving confidence to others interested in the results.

This has profound implications for the world’s energy finance structures and means that using just the reserves listed on the world’s stock markets in the next 40 years would be enough to take us beyond 2°C of global warming. This calculation also assumes that no new fossil fuel resources are added to reserves and burnt during this period – an assumption challenged by the harsh reality that fossil fuel companies are investing billions per annum to find and process new reserves. It is estimated that listed oil and gas companies had CAPEX budgets of $798 billion in 2010.6 In addition, over two-thirds of the world’s fossil fuels are held by privately or state owned oil, gas and coal corporations, which are also contributing even more carbon emissions.
Given that only one fifth of the total reserves can be used to stay below 2°C warming, if this is applied uniformly, then only 149 of the 745 GtCO2 listed can be used unmitigated.
This is where the carbon asset bubble is located.

If applied to the world’s stock markets, this could result in a repricing of assets on a scale that would dwarf past profit warnings and revaluation of reserves.
How quickly would we reach unburnable carbon if emissions continue business as usual?
According to the latest IEA projections of energy-related fossil fuel CO2 emissions, unburnable carbon will be reached in just 16 years if energy consumption continues unfettered.7 This is based on global annual energy emissions increasing from 30.12 GtCO2 in 2011 to 37.58 GtCO2 in 2027, totalling 570.11 GtCO2 over the period.

Extract from “Unburnable Carbon – Are the world’s financial markets carrying a carbon bubble?” (From Carbon Track)

ranking 2,000 CRC organisations according to how they manage their energy use, including major supermarkets, retailers, restaurant chains, government departments, hospitals and councils.

Twenty-two organisations ranked joint first, with a weighted score of 202.95. More than 800 organisations ranked in the lowest possible position, with a weighted score of 402.
The scheme requires large organisations that use more than 6,000MWh electricity per year to measure and report carbon emissions. They gain credits for installing smart meters and complying with Carbon Trust - or an equivalent accreditation scheme - standards of energy management.

The league tables were initially designed to help government recycle the revenues raised through the CRC, but this element was controversially removed in last year's comprehensive spending review, meaning that the government now keeps the money.

However, the Department of Energy and Climate Change maintains that charging firms based on their energy use through the CRC will provide a financial driver for energy efficiency improvements, while league tables will provide a reputational incentive for companies to try to perform well.

Environment Agency director of environment and business Ed Mitchell said he is encouraged to see that six out of 10 organisations have taken steps to improve their energy management this year.

"This year, government will need to look more holistically at organisations' longer term environmental impact in order to get a clearer picture of our collective progress against the UK's 2020 targets."  Ian Foddering, chief technology officer at Cisco UKI.

www.guardian.co.uk, 11/2011

Firms that voluntarily disclose GHGs have
Environmental Management Systems (uncertified and certified),
have higher corporate governance quality and publicly report to the CDP,
they tend to be large and in the energy, banking, power, FMCG, government, Pharmaceutical, ITC, resources, mining and industrial sectors.

The credibility and extent of disclosures are related to the existence of a certified EMS, public reporting to the CDP, and use of the Robust Carbon or GHG reporting structures such as ISO 14064.

Carbon Action are key components in the education of GHG practitioners in these sectors along with our Strategic Alliance Partners who developed the ISO 14064 suite of training courses.

The group last month adopted a declaration in New Delhi demanding that the EU cancel the inclusion of aviation in the ETS. India has said that if the EU does introduce the measure as planned in January 2012 it will retaliate. China, which also opposes the scheme, has already blocked the order of Airbus A380s from Hong Kong Airlines.

International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Volume 11, 31 October 2011.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) governing council is expected to adopt New Delhi declaration as well as a set of resolutions calling on the EU to allow non-EU carriers to be exempt from the ETS when the Montreal-based organisation meets this Wednesday. Reuters reports that the ICAO has claimed that the ETS issue poses major challenges and risks for aircraft operators.

The recent developments out of Washington further complicate the dispute as if the bill is also approved by US Senate, thus becoming law, US-based airlines will be put in a difficult legal position. Should they continue to fly to Europe, they would be in breach of US law if they comply with the ETS and in breach of European law should they not. Some experts say the issue could lead to a trans-Atlantic trade war.

Minus emissions from the first decade of this century, this leaves a budget of 565 GtCO2 of emissions for the remaining 40 years to 2050.
The fossil fuel reserves held by the top 100 listed coal companies and the top 100 listed oil and gas companies represent potential emissions of 745 GtCO2.
This exceeds the remaining carbon budget of 565 GtCO2 by 180 GtCO2.
This means that using just the listed proportion of reserves in the next 40 years is enough to take us beyond 2°C of global warming.
On top of this further resources are held by state entities.

Given only 20% of the total reserves can be used to stay below 2°C, if this is applied uniformly, then only 149 of the 745 GtCO2 held by listed companies can be used unabated.
Oil, coal and gas investors are thus left exposed to the risk of unburnable carbon.

If the 2°C target is rigorously applied, then up to 80% of declared reserves owned by the world’s largest listed coal, oil and gas companies and their investors would be subject to impairment as these assets become stranded. The economic consequences of having fossil fuels with an emissions value of 180 Giga tonnes CO2 are thus much worse than even the current economic crisis.

Potsdam Institute, 2011

Even though packed with “sweeteners” that pull in political support but dampen its likely effect, the bill is considered by many as a huge step for Australia, the world’s largest exporter of coal and a top leader in greenhouse gas emissions per capita.

The Government estimates the carbon price will cost Australian households an additional $10 per week. But the bill passed today will also return more than half of the revenue raised to people via tax credits and direct payments, producing payments to individuals and households that should be more than enough to cover rising commodity and energy prices.

By making burning fossil fuels more expensive and thereby encouraging efficiency, efficient technologies and renewables, the bill, according to Labor estimates, will reduce Australia’s carbon emissions by 159 million tons by 2020, cutting at least 5 percent from the country’s emissions by 2020.

Bloomberg, 2011

Carbon Action/CMSE are delighted to have been awarded the European Sustainable Energy Award for Prisons project.The European sustainable energy award for prisons encourages intelligent use of energy in multi-residential buildings, specifically prisons. This project involves a pilot study on energy management in prisons in the UK, Malta, Croatia, Latvia, Greece, Slovenia and Ireland.

The partner organizations in the consortium are: -
Severn Wye Energy Agency – UK
Projects in Motion Ltd - Malta
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture – Croatia
Ekodoma - Latvia
University Of Thessaloniki – Greece
Building and Civil Engineering Institute ZRMK – Slovenia
Her Majesty’s Prison Hewell – UK
Chris Mee Safety Engineering - Ireland

Prison sites consume a great deal of energy because of their size, building stock and constant usage pattern.  As well as this the increasing cost of energy and focus on cost-effective services, point to a real need to use energy as efficiently as possible.

E-SEAP (European Sustainable Energy Award for Prisons) aims not only to address technical and practical energy issues to achieve savings but also;
to raise awareness, increase skills and improve access to support.
CMSE believe this is a great project and are delighted to be part of it. The project has been developed and is managed by Severn Wye Energy Agency, UK.
SWEA (Severn Wye Energy Agency) is a strictly not for profit, registered charity and Chris Mee Safety Engineering are proud to be contributing partners on this project.

As part of the E-SEAP project each participating prison will receive an award to show what level they are at.
Awards will be leveled at bronze, silver and gold and will be internationally recognised to enable the scheme to be pioneered on a European level.
E-SEAP is offered to prison services free of charge thanks to funding provided by the European Commission's 'IntelligentEnergyEurope' programme.

At present there are 14 participating prisons and there are approximately 800 prisons throughout Europe.

This programme will not only save money in prisons but also give people the skills and knowledge to practice these cost effective techniques outside of this area also.
Prison managers, staff and offenders will all receive training in order to show how vital this project is.
It is envisaged that this training may then be passed on to these participants families and therefore will encourage them to become more energy efficient at home.
This of course results in people saving money on their bills.

The targets of this project are based upon the direct experience and achievements of the UK pilot which has been carried out. The pilot study consisted of 9 prisons in Wales and SW England. This study confirmed the value of working closely with the prison service to achieve a significant increase in energy awareness and energy savings. In the long term it is hoped that E-SEAP will become a model for energy saving that is referenced by institutions other than prisons in the development of their own strategies, e.g. hospitals, universities and military establishments.

Please email us at info@cmse.ie if you would like further information on this topic

Carbon Action is well placed to assist China with these goals. All of our Quantification, Verification and Project work is based on ISO 14064 the only global standard in carbon measurement and management. ISO 14064 is scheme and country neutral so it cam be applied to any organisation, project in any country. As it is an independently audited system, an organisation can make robust claims about their carbon footprint or reduction projects.

The visit was completed when Carbon Action attended the UK Government Climate Change Project Office Carbon Trade Mission in Beijing. This mission brought together a range of UK companies who can assist China in delivering on its low carbon plan.

Many of us have found ourselves, several times over the last two years wishing we had a carbon accountant at our disposal. This was a universal thought. It didn't matter if we were at a chip maker, in financial services, government departments, local government or the oil and gas business or a software maker or big or small Pharma, or even the Soup Company or local florist or dentist.

But we need to know we are getting the right - and the internationally recognized training in carbon management.  Well we need to be sure that our training is in an area fully recognized all over the world – thus it has to be training in the International Standards Organisation (ISO) Green House Gas (GHG) systems - ISO 14064.

On behalf of the ISO, the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) have lead the development of ISO 14064 – a series of international standards dealing with carbon quantification, GHG reduction projects and verification / validation of GHG claims made by businesses.

Our ISO/CSA14064 training provides substantial and robust GHG training which equips our delegates with the tools needed to deal with GHG issues.  Our students come from DEFRA, Carbon Trust, DECC, international energy firms, International Banking and Investment houses and engineering, energy, environmental and engineering consultancies.

April 2010, the UK Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) legislation requires over 5,000 organisations and companies to fully disclose their energy use, and requires another 15,000 to begin collecting baseline data. This means these organisations will have to focus even more on managing and reducing their energy usage. At launch it is has been estimated that this market will be worth £750m in the UK. This new market will need to be serviced by new and existing companies and consultancies focused on calculating and reducing energy output. Carbon consultancies will become very busy servicing this new market, however evidence from the Carbon Show held in London October 2009 suggest there is currently a shortage of qualified and experienced professionals.

Carbon recruitment agencies were interested in acquiring details of trained professionals at the ISO 14064 training stand at the Carbon Show. The recruitment agencies outlined  that only 1 in 4 open vacancies are currently being filled with candidates trained in carbon measurement , reduction and verification skills. The carbon recruitment agencies are struggling to fill these positions, this situation will be exacerbated by the introduction of the CRC legislation. They expect that the number of open vacancies will increase over the next 5 - 7 years unless the gap can be filled by trained professionals.

Companies who have an electricity expenditure over £500K per annum will require carbon measurement to be carried out annually and will create a huge need for trained and competent professionals. The employment opportunity for these individuals will be immense.

According to Suzanne Kiraly, president of CSA Standards, as things stand, the US will require 10,000 facilities to begin reporting carbon emissions in 2010. However when legislators do pass carbon verification or management legislation, this requirement is set to increase dramatically.The CSA has played a key role in setting common standards, and developing policy internationally. The CSA has also recently been very active in the Carribean, working with the Cariri (Caribbean Industrial Research Institute), holding ISO14064 training workshops and a recent seminar at Trinidad and Tobago.

Here at Carbon Action we can see the same scenario playing out as legislators in Europe move towards developing requirements and standards to enable organisations to measure and manage their carbon footprint.

Many progressive companies are implementing carbon management and are prepared for the change that is inevitable. It’s also clear that many firms to date are not actively reducing carbon emissions, and so therefore have not been recruiting or developing individuals in-house or contracting consultants. One thing is for sure- whatever about the social responsibility aspect of this- it is inevitable that companies will soon be compelled by legislative requirement to manage their carbon footprint. From a societal perspective, it is to be sincerely hoped that agreement will be reached at COP15.   

In the UK market where the CRC becomes law in April 2010, some 8000 firms are registered as high energy users and shall be compelled to reduce their emissions.  Today many of these organisations are not in a position to handle the CRC challenge robustly – in fact some research indicates up to 60% of firms may not yet be fully aware of their obligations under CRC.  So when these factors change, what resources are available?

CRC firms will need to be able to quantify and report their emissions annually – with ISO 14064 they be assured and more importantly they can assure the Environment Agency that their footprint and annual reports are robust and verifiable. As only 20% of CRC will be audited, a firm using ISO14064 or the Carbon Trust Standards can expect to avoid an audit as they will have demonstrated best practice.  As the Carbon Footprint Forum has stated on the growth of online transactions and data exchange, data warehouses serving financial transactions, government and NHS issues have doubled in energy requirements and emissions since 2000. Banks, NHS, Revenue, the aviation and travel sectors and other organisations dealing with mass markets use massive amounts of energy and emit very significant GHGs, and will face significant financial liabilities under the CRC.  

In the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), uncertainty exists around the actual outcomes of COP15. A failure at Copenhagen may, according to some commentators, lead to a reduced use of CDM-type projects-this would be a backwards step as offsetting does reduce global emissions.  In order to reinforce and make CDM–type initiatives more acceptable globally, it would enhance the carbon markets if everyone played on a level played field.

GHG emissions and reductions have today become a commodity with a clear need for an infrastructure to support carbon initiatives. An industry base of competent, credible GHG verifiers and GHG quantifiers is required to support emerging market mechanisms.

There is a major shortage of qualified carbon verifiers in the market, as the following survey highlights indicate:

• 80% said not enough professionals in this area
• 80% said likely Enron-type scandal could emerge
• 80% said area will be professionalized in next few years

This shortage of skilled and competent professionals is going to magnify in the medium term. The large consultancies DNV, SGS, KPMG, PWC, Ernst & Young, WYG, Mott MacDonald and many others are taking an interest in this area. As demand balloons, employment opportunities are likely to materialise within these organisations and within their larger client companies.  Competent individuals would also be able to verify and provide consultancy services of their own accord. 

So what is the process to demonstrate competence in this new field? Well, high quality training is available to help fill this skills gap in the main GHG sectors of:

• GHG Inventories
• GHG Projects
• GHG Validation and Verification

If an individual obtains the necessary grade in ISO 16064 exams, they are provided with a Certificate of Distinction, which permits them to be considered as having the necessary knowledge to carry out Quantification, Projects or Verification Programme for any organisation in any location, in any jurisdiction in any industry sector, globally. This is the benefit of the ISO 14064 standard.

In addition GHG professionals having gone through a rigorous training program can apply for a Personal Certification qualification – recently developed by the Canadian Standards Association and approved by the American National Standards Association (ANSI).  This is facilitated in Europe by Carbon Action.

Carbon Action trains carbon specialists to prepare them for professional work and to take Personal Certification Programs.

Also Thursday 15th October was Blog Action Day 09 (BAD09) - which reached at least 17 million people.

At least three major world governments participated in this year’s blog event - which was all about global warming and climate change. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown posted the first Blog Action Day entry in Britain and was followed by Foreign Minister David Milliband and many others from the UK stationed around the world. The governing party of Spain hosted a bloggers event focused on climate change and transformed their website for the day to promote Blog Action Day. And late in the day, President Barack Obama’s White House blog joined in become part of the global movement of bloggers shaking the web.

Were you there?  If not don't feel bad because tomorrow is another day and you can still make your voice count.  As Gandhi said - whatever you do will be insignificant - but it is important that you do it. 

We should try to be true to ourselves and think of those coming after us and those people living in low-lying islands in the Pacific who are at real risk of losing their entire countries to sea level rise caused by global warming.  I think as well as needing technical standards such as ISO 14064 to keep us on the straight and narrow we need to think big and not be overly  concerned with  our individual selves ( I do it myself a lot!)

It is interestring that other civilisations failed because of environmental failures

• the Maya over farmed in their lands
• the people of Easter Island sent out a man to cut down their last tree

A book by Jared Diamond lists the five factors that drive societal failure:

• hostile neighbors - probably not a risk today
• loss of trading partners - also probably not an issue as trading partners are tripping over each other to trade
• environmental damage - a real problem
• climatic change - a real problem

and how societies respond to these potentially devastating environmental problems - this is the real problem as countries are argueing over who should do what about climate change - how can we ensure inter-generational as well as international equity in dealing with climate change, unless we all take responsibility? 

The general assumption is that civilizations evolve from benign environments that sustain what we may consider a natural state of being, but where poor resource management will lead to certain failure.  I think we are at the poor resource management stage today - the real question is what are you and I going to do about it?????

I will leave you with this thought from a long time ago- it asks us to think for ourselves and not to be  inattentive of government but to be engaged and active.  The gist of it is - we need to be watchful and cautious - Standards are essential!

"...There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow.  ... Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter.  From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger.  I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing." -- Daniel Webster, June 1, 1837

GHG emissions and reductions are becoming a commodity. There is a real need for trained and competent:

• GHG quantifiers
• GHG verifiers
• Competent, credible firms working in this space

To support:

• emerging market mechanisms, both voluntary and compliance markets,
• non-market reporting schemes
• corporate social responsibility initiatives

Not only do you get to showcase your environmental stewardship and corporate social responsibility, but you also prepare for pending mandates and proposed cap and trade programs. Establishing your carbon footprint can help you reduce risk and potentially even help you ride out the recession. In fact, a new report from A.T. Kearny, Green Winners: the performance of sustainability-focused companies during the economic crisis, shows that companies with established and recognized sustainability practices are outperforming their peers that are not committed to sustainability during the current economic crisis.

So why isn’t everyone doing it? Why haven’t you done it yet?

Perhaps it’s because the carbon management world looks confusing—maybe even a little intimidating. It’s probably outside the core competency of your organization. You know it needs to be done, but how do you go about it?

What the C-Suite and senior management need to know are the basics of carbon performance. When you’re familiar with the ABCs, you can make informed decisions and lead your organization down the right paths.

It’s a step-by-step process

Just as it has with its ISO 9000 quality management family of standards, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has developed a comprehensive, usable, international standard for carbon management under its 14000 environmental management family: the ISO 14064 series (the author’s organization, the Canadian Standards Association, acted as World Secretariat for the development of ISO 14064).

ISO 14064-1 Part 1 Specification with Guidance at the Organizational Level for Quantification and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals provides principles and requirements for quantifying and reporting an organization’s carbon footprint. This standard breaks the process down into five steps:

1. Setting Organizational Parameters and Boundaries
2. Measuring GHG Activity
3. Choosing Methodologies
4. Reporting
5. Verification

* extract from article by Dr michel Girard, Director Canadian Standards Association. CSA is a strategic partner of CMSE