The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) is the most widely used international accounting tool for government and business leaders to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions. The GHG Protocol, a decade-long partnership between the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, is working with businesses, governments, and environmental groups around the world to build a new generation of credible and effective programs for tackling climate change.

It provides the accounting framework for nearly every GHG standard and program in the world - from the International Standards Organization to The Climate Registry - as well as hundreds of GHG inventories prepared by individual companies.

The GHG Protocol also offers developing countries an internationally accepted management tool to help their businesses to compete in the global marketplace and their governments to make informed decisions about climate change.

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Workshop: Integrating Agriculture into Corporate GHG Inventories

Register now to learn about and contribute to the next generation of standards for managing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture. The GHG Protocol cordially invites you to a one-day workshop to help develop international best practices for including agricultural emissions in corporate and supply chain inventories.

Preliminary Agenda and Schedule Announced for 2012 Climate Leadership Conference

With the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the headline sponsor, the first annual Climate Leadership Conference will be held from February 29-March 1, 2012 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The conference will bring together leaders from business, government and academic institutions, and the non-profit community interested in exchanging ideas and information on how to address climate change while simultaneously running their operations more competitively and sustainably.

PRESS RELEASE: New Greenhouse Gas Standards Unveiled in China for Corporate Value Chain and Product Emissions

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol launched two new standards today that will empower businesses to better measure, manage, and report their greenhouse gas emissions. Developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) and Product Life Cycle Standards will enable companies to save money, reduce risks, and gain competitive advantage.

It is the first time the two organizations have officially released GHG Protocol standards in China.

GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard ICT Sector Guidance

The GHG Protocol Product Standard ICT Sector Guidance development process was launched in March 2011 in partnership with the World Resources Institute (WRI), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) and the Carbon Trust. The initiative is developing sector guidance for the greenhouse gas assessment of ICT products (including goods and services) to support the GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard (the ‘Product Standard’).

Download the New GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Standard

Download the New GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Standard

Download the New GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard

Download the New GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard

Watch the Brand New GHG Protocol Animation Video

GHG Protocol is proud to premiere its brand new animation video. The video tells the story of the two new standards through compelling animation.

Also notice the integration of GHG Protocol's new branding throughout the feature.

GHG Protocol: Looking Back on the Past Twelve Years

Today the GHG Protocol launches two new global greenhouse gas accounting standards - for corporate value chains (scope 3) and product life cycle emissions. Janet Ranganathan, WRI’s Vice-president for Science & Research, and Pankaj Bhatia, WRI’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol Director since 2004, describe the 12-year program’s critical role in business and government efforts to address climate impacts.

Launch of the Product Life Cycle and Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standards

On October 4th, 2011 business leaders from around the world will come together to see the new GHG Protocol standards unveiled for the first time. Simultaneous events in New York City and London will be first in a series of launch events around the world. Launch events are already planned for November 18th in Beijing and November 21st in Tokyo.

These groundbreaking standards establish the first internationally agreed-upon approaches for measuring and reporting GHG emissions throughout product life cycles and corporate value chains.

The Sustainability Consortium members vote to adopt the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Product Standard

The Sustainability Consortium members, comprised of leading global retailers, manufacturers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, have voted to adopt the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Product Accounting and Reporting Standard (GHG Protocol Product Standard) that was developed through a global multi-stakeholder process by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Major International Hotel Companies Demonstrate Leadership through New Initiative to Standardize the Industry’s Carbon Measures

The International Tourism Partnership (ITP) and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) are collaborating on a groundbreaking initiative to unite hotel industry efforts to calculate and communicate carbon impact by agreeing on a standardized methodology and metrics informed by the GHG Protocol standards. For the first time, leaders within the hotel industry are collaborating to reach a consensus on a single methodology for calculating carbon footprints and consistent metrics for communicating emissions.

Chinese Companies Pilot-Test a New Energy-GHG Conversion Software

On July 8, 2011, through USAID’s Partnership for Climate Action (PCA), GHG Protocol held a training and pilot-testing workshop in the Guangdong Province of China on its new “Energy-GHG Conversion Tool”.

Fifteen participants from five companies representing the power, semiconductor, glass manufacturing, paper, and textile industries attended.

Citywide Greenhouse Gas Accounting Initiative in China Launched

On May 5, 2011, USAID’s US-China Partnership for Climate Action program partners, the Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC) and the World Resource Institute (WRI), signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Municipality Government of Xiaolan to launch the Xiaolan Low Carbon Initiative. Xiaolan is a medium-sized town located in Guangdong Province, southern China, and is one of China’s major industrial regions.

Invitation to Inform New Initiative on GHG Policy Accounting

WRI is considering developing new guidance to help government agencies, civil society organizations, and others address the question, “What effect are policies expected to have on GHG emissions?”

New guidance would be voluntary, policy-neutral, and provide methods or case studies on quantifying GHG reductions from mitigation actions and policies.

New initiative announced to help ICT industry measure carbon footprint

New global guidance will provide common approaches for calculating carbon emissions of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products and services

Tuesday 8 March 2011 - ICT companies and their customers will soon have common approaches and methodologies to calculate the carbon footprints of ICT products and services thanks to industry guidance due to be published at the end of the year.

Stakeholder Dialogue on Corporate GHG Accounting in India

The Energy and Resources Institute – Business Council for Sustainable Development (TERI-BCSD), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), and the World Resources Institute (WRI) organized a stakeholder dialogue on Corporate GHG Accounting in India on February 2nd, 2011.

The event was held on the sidelines of the World CEO Forum 2011 and was the first formal consultation of a project between TERI and WRI. The partnership aims to build capacity on corporate GHG accounting and gain an appreciation of the necessary steps required for developing a national GHG program.

GHG Protocol Power Accounting Guidelines

Background

Over the past 10 years, an increasing number of organizations have been measuring and tracking their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the Corporate Standard framework designed by GHG Protocol Initiative. Equipped with information about their GHG profile, companies have sought ways to reduce their emissions, including the use of external instruments such as offsets and green power products.

Launch of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for the U.S. Public Sector

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol for the U.S. Public Sector was released in October by the GHG Protocol Initiative and LMI. The protocol outlines how federal, state and local governments can account for their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As a resource to help measure and manage climate impacts, the protocol serves as a reference for implementing Executive Order 13514, which President Obama signed on October 5, 2009. The Executive Order requires federal agencies to report and reduce their GHG emissions over time.

GHG Protocol Publishes Draft Licensing Policy for Public Comment

GHG Protocol has published a draft royalty-free Licensing Policy and plans to integrate this agreement into all online calculation tools and standards in the New Year. GHG Protocol website visitors will be asked to sign-in before downloading all online tools and standards and will then be asked to accept or decline the license presented before them. Users will not be asked to accept the license every time they download tools and standards; a one-time review of the license is all that is required.

First International Workshop of GHG Protocol-Based Programs

New developments are driving the need for GHG accounting programs around the world to evolve more efficiently, more effectively, and at a greater scale. On the business side, there is a trend toward managing GHG emissions along the value chain. Companies are looking up and down the supply chain and throughout the product life-cycle for GHG management opportunities. As climate policy becomes a reality in industrialized and developing countries around the world, many emerging economies are adopting voluntary national GHG mitigation targets and identifying the policies and measures to best achieve them. These trends point to the need for greatly enhanced GHG accounting capacity and tools at a global scale to ensure that mitigation actions can be measurable, reportable and verifiable.

Sixty Corporations Begin Measuring Emissions from Products and Supply Chains

On January 20th, sixty corporations begin measuring the greenhouse gas emissions of their products and supply chains by road testing a new global framework that is part of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative.

Developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the two new GHG Protocol standards – the Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard and the Scope 3 (Corporate Value Chain) Accounting and Reporting Standard – provide methods to account for emissions associated with individual products across their life-cycles and of corporations across their value chains.
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