The Organisational Implications of the Verification of
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is the
largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading scheme in the
world, and it is planned that it will be extended to cover
energy consumption in a wider range of industries and become
more significant as the caps on greenhouse gas emissions are
progressively tightened. Implementation of the scheme has
created a requirement for audited management systems to verify
the emissions from all facilities covered by the scheme.
The first phase of EU ETS, running from 2005-2007, includes
12,000 facilities across Europe in the designated sectors
(combustion-based power generation, petrochemical plants,
metal production, mineral processing and paper/board production)
representing over 40% of European CO2 emissions. Current academic
research on Emission Trading has focused on the policy framework
for setting National Allocation Plans and on the creation
of a market for trading current and future GHG allowances.
However, the EU ETS has created a mandatory requirement on
a growing number of firms to have management systems monitoring
GHG emissions. The management implications of implementing
these systems have not been closely studied. The need for
these systems and their auditing has spawned a growing niche
in management system auditing. This project aims to provide
insight into the design, implementation and operation of management
systems monitoring GHG emissions and their third-party auditing
and verification.
Dr Graham and Dr Markusson are
conducting a series of mini case-studies of organisations
actively involved in GHG emissions verification: accredited
verification bodies, public regulators and facilities that
fall witihn the ETS.
The research has been generously supported by a Joseph Stanislaw
award.
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