The following article is by Alison Hopcroft,a sustainability and carbon management consultant who works for Fluid Market Strategies in Portland, Oregon. Alison is leading a free webinar on carbon management this Tuesday, March 2nd at 12pm EST.

Despite the fact that hope for meaningful climate legislation has all but completely disappeared for this session of Congress, climate regulation will be arriving at some point in the near future. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the avenue for this regulation, and although many industry groups and a group of senators are challenging the EPA’s Endangerment Finding released last December advocating for a slower phase-in of regulations with higher reporting thresholds, the EPA’s Final Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Rule is still in effect (Read more about these challenges in the New York Times and the Washington Post)

Regulation means that there will be an increased need for professionals who can quantify and verify greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Quantification is the accounting of all of an organization’s emissions, otherwise known as developing a GHG inventory. Verification is essentially an audit (the act of verifying that the quantification was performed accurately) and follows the reporting protocols and meets reporting standards.

The fundamental principles for GHG accounting and reporting are, completeness, consistency, transparency, and accuracy. All of the widely-accepted reporting standards such as ISO-14064 and the GHG Protocol count these principles as the basis for creating a defensible GHG inventory, and are part of the verification process.

However, many companies that need an inventory, whether for regulatory, competitive or other reasons, may not understand all of these principles and the scope of knowledge needed by the quantifier or verifier to ensure a high quality process and outcome. An increasing number of companies and individual consultants are offering carbon accounting services, but clients have few tools to assess whether a consultant or an employee has the necessary skills to do this work. The industry needs to standardize personnel certification.

Currently, there are several providers for GHG quantifier and verifier certification. The verification sector is a bit different than the quantification sector because there are already some guidelines and specifications for verifying under specific schemes. For example, some companies in California are now required to report emissions and have them verified under AB 32 (the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which set the 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal into law). In order to verify those inventories in California, you must complete the California Air Resources Board (CARB) training and become an accredited verifier. However, at this point there is no similar requirement for quantifiers.

Currently, there are several organizations that provide training for both quantifiers and verifiers. CSA Standards runs courses in North America for both verifiers and quantifiers, as well as a range of other carbon courses, including validation. (Full disclosure: I have taken a CSA Standards course and am in the process of becoming a trainer for CSA’s training programs.) The GHG Management Institute also hosts a full suite of GHG accounting and verification courses that are all online, and Future Perfect offers courses in the US and the UK, some of which are specific to particular reporting schemes such as The Climate Registry (TCR) or The California Climate Action Registry (CCAR).

Having a standardized course and test for these skill sets would provide a sense of structure and some definition to this rapidly growing industry in a similar fashion to what LEED-AP did for green building. Currently, CSA Standards offers two certification tests: the Greenhouse Gas Inventory Quantifier (GHG-IQ) certification, and a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Verifier certification.  The GHG Management Institute also offers certificate programs for quantifiers and verifiers, with different levels of certification based on the number of courses and exams completed. Standardizing these certifications will provide a level of assurance to companies who need quantification and verification assistance. It will ensure a distinct level of knowledge and a skills base for GHG professionals, which is needed in this rapidly growing and increasingly important industry.

Alison Hopcroft is a sustainability and carbon management consultant who works for Fluid Market Strategies in Portland, OR. She consults with businesses, government agencies, non-profits and the education sector, and provides webinars and trainings for a variety of audiences.  Her next free webinar on Carbon Management is on March 2^nd.  More details are available at http://www.fluidms.com/webinars.

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