Building trust in emissions reporting highlights the key characteristics of the world's main emission trading schemes, presents a new vision for compliance in emissions trading and calls for global action to develop this.
Climate change is now at the top of the political and business agenda. Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”, the
Stern Review and the now almost daily press coverage of climate change science and impacts have engaged many of the global leaders in government and in business.
Emissions trading is increasingly seen as a central plank in the response to climate change. But market mechanisms like this depend on trust and confidence. Any widespread or systemic failure, as a result of deficient monitoring and reporting, flawed compliance processes or fraud, could undermine confidence in markets and regulation and jeopardise the crucial policy goals that they are designed to address.
Key to this trust are the three central criteria of transparency, accountability and integrity. The PricewaterhouseCoopers report looks at how the patchwork of trading schemes that are emerging around the globe stacks up against these criteria. Despite good intentions across the board, the general picture is one of new and immature markets, inconsistent and complex compliance frameworks and risk.
PricewaterhouseCoopers make the case for urgent and coordinated action to develop a framework of generally accepted principles and practice that will underpin trust and efficiency in these new markets - in effect, a new Global Emissions Compliance Language.
