Carbon Solutions

Carbon Strategy
Every organization needs a carbon strategy. Futurepast consultants can facilitate planning and decision-making within an organization to reduce carbon emissions, mitigate impacts from climate change, assess strategic opportunities, and respond to changing market preferences. Solutions will vary among economic sectors and between organizations within the same sector.

Greenhouse Gas Inventory
Organizations establish an inventory of their greenhouse gas emissions to pinpoint energy saving opportunities that have the potential to reduce both emissions and costs. Inventories also help manage supply chain risk by identifying higher carbon-intensity partners. Accurate emissions data are required for regulatory compliance and for responding to requests for information from customers and stakeholders. Material impacts due to climate change can be quantified on the basis of inventory information and reported as necessary to environmental regulators, to the Securities and Exchange Commission, to investors, and to the organization’s business partners.

Carbon Offset Project Assistance
Carbon offset projects mitigate carbon risk by avoiding or reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There are many types of greenhouse gas projects, including:

  • Forestry
  • Landfill gas
  • Livestock manure management
  • Energy efficiency
  • Fuel switching
  • And many others.

Carbon offset projects that are additional to “business as usual” may qualify for carbon offset credits that are issued by recognized greenhouse gas programs or registries. Once issued, these carbon offsets may be bought or sold in secondary markets, redeemed or held for future use in a compliance program, or retired.

Organizations whose carbon emissions are now regulated or whose carbon emissions may in the future be regulated should establish a strategy for hedging against future rises in the cost of offset credits that may be used for regulatory compliance in an existing or future cap-and-trade program.

Futurepast consultants can help your organization manage its participation in a carbon offset project by ensuring that adherence to all applicable project requirements are understood, monitored, complied with and documented.

Carbon Footprint of Products
Carbon footprint information is in increasing demand by both business customers and consumers. Organizations like Wal-Mart in the United States and Tesco in the United Kingdom are already working with their supply chains to obtain and, in Tesco’s case, disclose the carbon footprint information of products. European countries, such as France, are considering legislation that will require the disclosure of carbon footprint and environmental footprint information on products sold in that country from as early as January 1, 2011.

Carbon footprint information is developed using life cycle analysis techniques. International standards ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 define recognized requirements for life cycle assessment in environmental management. In accordance with ISO 14040, the four phases of a life cycle assessment study include:

  • The goal and scope definition phase
  • The inventory analysis phase
  • The impact assessment phase, and
  • The interpretation phase.

Futurepast consultants can assist your organization with life cycle assessments and the formulation of environmental product declarations and other environmental claims.

Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Futurepast consultants provide first-party (internal) and second-party (supply chain) verification services. For third-party verification needs organizations should turn to an ANSI accredited greenhouse gas validation and verification body such as NSF-ISR.

We verify reported greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with ISO 14064 Part 3, Greenhouse gases—Specification with guidance for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas assertions, as well as any other applicable criteria such as reporting and verification protocols of The Climate Registry. Upon conclusion of our verification activities, we provide customers with a greenhouse gas statement that expresses an opinion on the fair statement of the reported tons of greenhouse gas emissions and removals.

Greenhouse Gas Regulatory Compliance Assistance
Mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions became a reality at the US federal level with the October 2009 publication in the Federal Register of a regulation that requires approximately 10,000 facilities in the United States to submit to the Environmental Protection Agency annual greenhouse gas emission reports. The regulation has an effective date for gathering emissions data of January 1, 2010. Most reporters will be required to submit their first emissions information to US EPA by March 31, 2011.

California’s most energy-intensive facilities began reporting their greenhouse gas emissions to the California Air Resources Board in 2009. Also in 2009, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) went into effect. RGGI, the first mandatory cap-and-trade program in the United States, applies to electricity generating units in ten states in New England and the Mid Atlantic region of the United States.

Other regulatory initiatives include mandatory reporting and a cap-and-trade phases of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) and similar requirements under development by six states known as the Midwest Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord. It is anticipated that WCI jurisdictions will have rules implementing mandatory reporting requirements in place for the 2010 reporting year or as soon thereafter as possible.

Futurepast consultants have the necessary knowledge and skill to help organizations comply with Subpart 98 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations that implement the Clean Air Act of the United States, and of additional state and provincial legal requirements.