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Regulatory Requirements on Corporate Reporting of
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions
Regulatory Requirements
France
In France, Law “Grenelle 2” reinforces the 2001 Act on New Economic Regulation which requires
quoted companies to produce an environmental and social report. The Law “Grenelle 2” requires
companies with 500 employees and more (as well as public entities) to make GHG inventories
according to modalities to be defined by a decree. These modalities could include a deadline for
the first inventory by December 2012 and update every three years, a reference to ISO 14064-1
as the base methodology to conduct the inventory and a scope of inventory that covers direct and
indirect emissions (from electricity use and other sources).
United
Kingdom
In the UK, a number of companies already report their GHG emissions under Climate Change
Agreements (voluntary mechanism) or the Carbon Reduction Commitment (a mandatory cap and
trade scheme on energy use emissions started in April 2010 that requires some 5,000 organisations to record and monitor their carbon emissions and an additional 15,000 organisations to disclose their electricity usage). The Climate Change Act of 2008 requires the Government to take a
decision by April 2012 on whether to introduce regulations on the reporting of GHG emissions. In
anticipation, the Government published in October 2009 guidance on the measurement of GHG
emissions to assist organisations with the reporting of emissions and is carrying out a review to
evaluate the contribution that reporting on GHG emissions is making to the achievement of Government’s climate change objectives (to be ready by December 2010).
Australia
In Australia, under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Act, corporations
emitting more than 125,000 tonnes CO2 equivalent per annum started to report on their energy
and greenhouse gas emissions to the Government in October 2009 for financial year 2008/2009.
Canada
In Canada, under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act of 1999, all facilities that emit more
than a certain amount of GHG in CO2 equivalent per year were required to submit a report to
Environment Canada, starting in 2005 for 2004 emissions. In 2010, the threshold was lowered
from 100 to 50 kilotonnes of GHG.
Japan
In Japan, annual mandatory reporting of GHG emissions was enacted in 2006 through the Act on
Promotion of Global Warming Countermeasures. Reporting of CO2 emissions from energy use is
compulsory for companies with annual energy consumption above 1,500Kl (crude oil equivalent)
and companies in the logistics, distribution and transport sector with volume above 30mt. Reporting for other GHG emissions (non energy CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC, PFC, SF6) is compulsory for
companies with annual emissions for each type of GHG above 3,000t CO2 equivalent. In 2008,
7,817 business sites reported 579mt CO2 and 1,425 transporters reported 34mt CO2 (the equivalent of 48% of Japan total emissions).
United States
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued in September 2009 a rule for mandatory
reporting of GHG for suppliers of fossil fuels or industrial GHG, manufacturers of vehicles and
engines, and facilities that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of GHG emissions per year, starting
in March 2011 (for year 2010).
ISO: International Organization for Standardization
Source: OECD, Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy: Public Goals and Corporate Practices, Paris 2010, pp. 31-32.