IEMA Response to Government on GHG Reporting Consultation Now Available

Click to read IEMA's latest response to Government's consultation on GHG reporting.

IEMA today (Tuesday 5th July) responded to Defra's consultation exercise on whether regulations for mandatory greenhouse gas reporting should be introduced to UK business.

Defra has been consulting on whether to make it mandatory for some UK companies to report on their GHG emissions or whether the Government should continue to encourage measuring and reporting of GHG emissions on a voluntary basis.

Section 85 of the Climate Change Act 2008 requires the Government to make regulations, under the Companies Act 2006, by 6 April 2012 requiring the directors' report of a company to include information about GHG emissions, or to lay a report before Parliament explaining why no such regulations have been made. The recent Defra consultation closing today (at the Defra website) aims to inform Ministers' decision on whether to introduce regulations. The consultation considers four different options, including a voluntary approach and three mandatory options.

IEMA has responded to this consultation drawing on a range of work and contributions from IEMA members including

• Over 1,600 member responses to our GHG survey and participation by 200 members in workshops last year contributing to our IEMA special report
• Nearly 900 member responses to our specific survey concerning this Defra consultation (June 2011)
• Two recent IEMA workshops in Birmingham and Leeds held during the consultation period where Defra officials were able to hear firsthand experience from practicing professionals

IEMA's response is available via the link below, addressing the specific consultation questions and presenting practitioner sourced evidence and information on the benefits, costs and value of GHG reporting. Within the response, IEMA calls for the introduction of a mandatory GHG reporting requirement for all large companies (Defra consultation option 3). Summary findings and analysis from the June 2011 survey of IEMA members is included.

*For enquiries on the IEMA response to this consultation please contact Nick Blyth, Senior Adviser Climate Change on 01522 540069 or at mailto:[email protected]