Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1. Categories of voluntary emission reduction initiatives (Bäckstrand, 2008), (Price, 2005)
TYPE
CHARACTERISTICS
EXAMPLES
Purely Voluntary • Historically cover a smaller share of industrial sector energy use
• Agreement between the climate program and industry
• Negotiated targets with commitments and time schedules on the part of all partici-
pating parties
• Focus on financial gains through energy efficiency
• Long-term outlook from a business perspective (e.g. 5-10 years), so energy-effi-
ciency investments can be planned and implemented
• Motivated by programs and policies (facility audits, assessments, benchmarking,
monitoring, information dissemination, and financial incentives) that assist the
participants in understanding and managing their energy use and emissions
• Successful programs use low-cost incentive programs for participating entities like
government and public recognition, information on energy-efficient technologies,
government assistance, and training in energy management
• Some provide financial assistance such as free energy audits or tax exemptions for
buying energy efficient equipment
• Greenhouse Challenge,
Australia
• Voluntary Agreements to
Limit Carbon Dioxide Emis-
sions, New Zealand
• EKO-Energi program,
Sweden
• Climate Vision, U.S.
Threat of Future
Regulation or
Tax
• In addition to voluntary program incentives, these programs include easier envi-
ronmental permitting procedures, promise of relief from additional regulations, and
avoided implementation of energy or GHG emissions taxes
• Often show higher participation levels than purely voluntary programs
• AERES Negotiated Agree-
ments, France
• Agreement on Climate
Protection, Germany
• Keidanren Voluntary Action
Plan on the Environment,
Japan
Strict Regula-
tions
• Voluntary programs implemented in conjunction with GHG emissions taxes or
strict regulations
• Rely on a combination of incentives used in the previously described programs
and use of penalties for non-compliance such as increased regulations
• Many of the more recently established programs allow the use of emissions trad-
ing in order for participants to reach their targets
• Large Final Emitters Pro-
gram, Canada
• Agreements on Industrial
Energy Efficiency, Denmark
• Climate Change Levy and
Agreements, UK
specific reduction targets (Price, 2005). However,
all voluntary programs are not made equal. There
are a range of voluntary reporting programs that
stem from government agencies and NGOs. These
programs vary in stringency and rules, thus yield-
ing a range of outcomes. The programs include:
while others simply serve as platforms for emis-
sions disclosure. When assessing the rigor of a
voluntary carbon reduction program, such as C4C,
it is important to compare it to the other programs
that exist. In Table 2, several popular voluntary
disclosure programs are compared with regards
to size, requirements, mission, and quality of
instructions provided.
UNGC's Caring for Climate (C4C)
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)
When Do Voluntary Reduction
Programs Meet Their Goals?
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
EPA Climate Leaders
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX)
Voluntary emissions reduction programs are
successful when they provide participants with
adequate guidance and incentives to meet program
goals. Typically, purely voluntary programs have
notable drawbacks. Since there are so many of
them and many companies belong to more than
one voluntary program, double counting of emis-
Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GGP)
The Climate Registry (CR)
American Carbon Registry (ACR)
Some of these programs offer detailed guide-
lines on how to calculate and report emissions
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