The Greenhouse Gas Protocol
The 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26 for short) took place in Glasgow in the United Kingdom in November 2021. COP27 is in Egypt in November 2022.
One of the key themes of the COP conventions is measuring the level of carbon in the atmosphere compared to levels in the past. A consistent and repeatable approach to measurement, of course, requires standards. In 1998, the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development began work to create an international standard approach for measuring greenhouse gas emissions. The result was the Greenhouse Gas Protocol first published in 2001. The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol provides guidance for organisations to measure their emissions.
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol was the first protocol developed for Greenhouse Gas Accounting and it remains the most widely used standard. ISO14064 was developed from the GHG Protocol, and I will cover ISO14064 in the next section.
The GHG Protocol provides two standards for the measurement of greenhouse gas emissions and the development of a GHG emissions inventory:
- The corporate accounting standard provides guidance for organisations wishing to measure their emissions across the whole enterprise
- The Project-Level Accounting standard provides for evaluating the effectiveness of projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions
The GHG Protocol is not assessed or certified, and the International Standards Organisation have developed ISO14064 for organisations that desire a level of formal verification for their emissions and their reduction efforts. Such verification can, of course, be beneficial in marketing, in bidding for contracts and, potentially, raising investment funding.
You can find out more about the Greenhouse Gas Protocol at https://ghgprotocol.org/
ISO 14064
The ISO14064 set of standards is based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and closely mirrors its guidance:
- ISO14064-1 provides the standard for quantifying and reporting GHG emissions at the organisational level. It is similar to the GHG Protocol corporate accounting standard
- ISO14064-2 provides the standard for quantifying and reporting activities designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is similar to the project-level accounting standard in the GHG protocol
- ISO14064-3 specifies requirements for third party validation and verification for both the corporate and project-level standards. The GHG Protocol does not provide for independent validation.
ISO14064 uses the same three categories for emissions and their measurement as the GHG Protocol. These are called Scopes and I’ll cover them in the next module.
Unlike most international standards, ISO14064 is not assessed or certificated. Instead, organisations can opt for their emissions inventory to be validated and verified by an external organisation. Verification ensures that the organisation’s reported climate change data and information is true, fair and reliable, and supported by a rigorous management system. The assurance statement provides credibility to the organisation’s GHG assertions.
If your organisation is just looking to estimate its carbon footprint, then the Greenhouse Gas Protocol is sufficient for its needs and provides all the guidance needed. If your organisation is looking to publicly promote its efforts to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, then ISO14064 will be more appropriate to its needs.
You can find out more about ISO 14064 here https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/en/PUB100271.pdf
Other Relevant International Standards
There are two other standards that are relevant to measuring organisational greenhouse gas emissions. These are:
- PAS2060
- ISO 14067
PAS2060 is the only international standard for carbon neutrality. It provides a detailed and verifiable methodology for measuring the life cycle of greenhouse gases across the entire value chain. This methodology comprises four steps:
- Measure Emissions
- Reduce Emissions
- Offset Emissions
- Document success
To measure emissions, PAS2060 uses a similar methodology to the GHG Protocol and ISO 14064. At the end of the process, an organisation can demonstrate their carbon neutrality by seeking verification through an independent third party. Offsetting is not a solution to climate change since it does not reduce emissions themselves. However, it can be a temporary stopgap while the organisation works to reduce emissions. Although PAS 2060 does allow companies to purchase carbon credits as part of the process, any carbon offsetting must meet certain criteria, and companies cannot receive PAS 2060 verification using offsetting alone.
https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/PAS-2060-Carbon-Neutrality/
ISO 14067 is probably best described as an add-on to ISO 14064. Released in 2018, ISO 14067 provides carbon footprint verification for an organisation’s products and services. The product or service reviewed is then awarded one of a number of labels including CO2 measured; reducing CO2; lower CO2; and carbon neutral in accordance with PAS2060. Of course, in order to achieve these labels for its products or services, the organisation has to have robust structure of greenhouse gas measurement in place which would be through either the GHG protocol or ISO 14064
Find out more at https://www.iso.org/standard/71206.html
Want to know more about measuring your organisation's carbon footprint? Check out my course “Measure your Organisation's Climate Impact” on CPDFormula