Electricity + Control September 2017

PLANT MAINTENANCE, TEST + MEASUREMENT

abbreviations CDP – Climate Disclosure Project GHG – Greenhouse Gas GWP – Global Warming Protocol INDC – Intended Nationally Determined Contri- bution IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change NAEIS – National Atmos-

Reporting Regulations: Another Building Block for Carbon Tax Infrastructure Silvana Claassen, CES South Africa

pheric Emission Inventory System

This year, on 3 April, by publication in the Government Gazette 40762, the National Greenhouse Gas Emission Reporting Regulations (The Regula- tions throughout this article) were implemented in South Africa.

W hereas reporting on greenhouse gas emissions at company level has been practically voluntary, The Regulations turn this into a mandatory annual activity for busi- nesses. The aim of this article is to explain that methods for establishing voluntary greenhouse gas inventories are not necessarily aligned with the reporting requirements as per The Regulations and that businesses may have to reassess their greenhouse gas reporting systems. The main objective of The Regulations is to es- tablish a framework for the collection of informa- tion which will enable the quantification of South Africa’s national greenhouse gas emissions. Glob- ally, many countries have introduced mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Programs, including the United States, Mexico, Europe, Australia, Can- ada, New Zealand and Japan [1]. Why do companies report voluntarily? Historically, environmental awareness initiatives have been issues mainly at political and individ- ual levels rather than at corporate level. Howev- er, since the beginning of this century this trend is changing and corporates are more and more taking initiatives to address the negative impact which their activities have on the environment. Measurement and disclosure of this impact is becoming the norm instead of a tool to obtain a ‘green’ image. Examples of such corporate initia- tives and coalitions include the CDP (formerly the Climate Disclosure Project), ‘We Mean Business’ and ‘The Science Based Target Initiative’. Investors and corporates are acknowledging the risk of not addressing climate change. This risk

Take Note! Historically, environmen- tal awareness initiatives have been issues mainly at political and individual levels rather than at cor- porate level. Methods for establishing voluntary greenhouse gas inventories are not necessarily aligned with the reporting require- ments as per The Regu- lations. Businesses may have to reassess their green- house gas reporting sys- tems.

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SEPTEMBER 2017