Reasons for reporting greenhouse gas emissions

Pressure for companies and governments to report on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has been mounting over the last decade. Reports on the impacts of climate change, including the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, plus real world weather events, have intensified the pressure by adding urgency to the need to reduce emissions.

International agreements such as the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) meetings have also intensified the impetus on businesses and governments to reduce GHG.

For more on the paris agreement and recent COPs, see Practice Note: The Paris Agreement 2015—snapshot.

In the UK, the Climate Change Act 2008 places duties on the government to reduce the country’s carbon emissions, with a requirement that the UK achieves net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Section 4 requires the Secretary of State to:

1. •

   set for each succeeding period of five years beginning with the period 2008–12 (‘budgetary periods’) an amount for the net UK carbon account (‘carbon budget’),