A plethora of information is available on the web on how to calculate, report, reduce, and offset carbon emissions. Good sources and tools include the following:
- The Climate Registry—a nonprofit collaboration among the North American states, provinces, territories, and Native American sovereign nations that sets consistent standards and helps calculate, verify, and publicly report greenhouse gas emissions to a single registry.
- Chicago Climate Exchange—the first U.S. voluntary pilot program for trading of greenhouse gases.
- The Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative—the most widely used international accounting tool for use by government and business leaders to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions.
- Source Energy and Emission Factors for Energy Use in Buildings—a great resource from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for people who want to understand how emissions are affected by energy use in buildings.
- Carbon Footprint and Green Procurement Tool —the U.S. General Services Administration’s tool to assist agencies in managing their greenhouse gas emissions as required by President Obama’s Executive Order 13514 and recent energy laws.
- GHG Equivalencies Calculator—the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator that translates abstract measurements into understandable, concrete terms. It may be useful in communicating GHG reduction strategy, reduction targets, or other initiatives aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
See, Carbon Management for a detailed discussion of the market forces, trends, and challenges involved in carbon emissions and their reduction.
