The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, announced today at the C40 Sao Paulo Summit that the two organizations will establish a global standard for accounting and reporting community-scale greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that can be used across multiple platforms.

 

This common approach will help local governments to accelerate their emission reduction activities whilst meeting the needs of climate financing, national monitoring and reporting requirements. The standard will be released in time for UNFCCC COP 17 in November (Durban, South Africa).

The standard, once developed, will result in consistent and comparable city inventories. It will also allow for accurate monitoring of progress against emissions targets and provide standard guidance as local governments pursue environmental review and inventory certification.

According to Mayor Bloomberg, establishing a single global standard for reporting greenhouse gas emissions is fundamental. “This will enable new efficiencies and create a level playing field for comparing emissions across cities around the world.”