Overview
California Registry members voluntarily measure, verify, and publicly report their GHG emissions, are leaders in their respective industry sectors, and are actively participating in solving the challenge of climate change. In turn, the State of California offers its best efforts to ensure that California Registry members receive appropriate consideration for early actions in light of future state, federal or international GHG regulatory programs. Registry members are well prepared to participate in market based solutions and upcoming regulatory requirements.
The California Registry is regarded as a leading international thought center on climate change issues and an intersection where business, government and environmental organizations meet to work together to implement practical and effective solutions.
History/Enabling Legislation:
The California Climate Action Registry was formed in 2001 when a group of CEOs, who were investing in energy efficiency projects that reduced their organizations’ greenhouse gas emissions, requested the state create a place to accurately report their greenhouse gas emissions history. These farsighted CEOs saw eventual regulation of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG’s) and wanted to protect their early actions to reduce emissions by having a credible and accurate record of their profiles and baselines. Subsequently, the bill SB1771 was introduced to the legislature by Senator Byron Sher and the California Climate Action Registry was formed. Technical changes were made to the statute in SB527 and eventually it was signed by Governor Gray Davis on October 13, 2001, finalizing the structure for the California Registry.
The California Registry started with 23 Charter Members and currently has over 300 of the world’s largest and leading corporations, universities, cities & counties, government agencies and environment organizations voluntarily measuring, monitoring, and publicly reporting their GHG emissions using the California Registry’s protocols and working together to solve climate change.
Member Transition
The Climate Registry is the sister organization of the California Registry and was formed to continue voluntary reporting throughout North America. The Climate Registry is a nonprofit collaboration among North American states, provinces, territories and Native Sovereign Nations to set consistent and transparent standards for the calculation, verification and public reporting of greenhouse gas emissions into a single registry.
As the issue of climate change becomes a main topic on regional and national levels, California Registry members are faced with an exciting opportunity to continue and strengthen their GHG emissions reporting and reduction profile through The Climate Registry. Transitioning to The Climate Registry allows California Registry members the opportunity to showcase their continuing commitment to calculate, verify and publicly report their organization’s emissions inventories according to high-quality standards. The California Registry strongly encourages its members to continue their emissions reporting by transitioning membership to The Climate Registry and continuing to their environmental leadership on an international platform.
The California Registry will continue to accept 2009 greenhouse gas emission reports through the end of 2010, and thereafter all emission reports should be submitted through The Climate Registry. After 2010, the California Registry will continue to advocate on behalf of its members emission inventories to protect early actions made prior to the passing of AB32 and all emissions reports submitted to the California Registry will continue to exist in perpetuity.
Climate Action Reserve
As California Registry reporting is being transitioned to The Climate Registry, the California Registry’s parent organization is heading in a new direction. The Climate Action Reserve is a national offsets program working to ensure integrity, transparency and financial value in the U.S. carbon market. It does this by establishing regulatory-quality standards for the development, quantification and verification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction projects in North America; issuing carbon offset credits known as Climate Reserve Tonnes (CRTs) generated from such projects; and tracking the transaction of credits over time in a transparent, publicly-accessible system. Adherence to the Reserve’s high standards ensures that emissions reductions associated with projects are real, permanent verifiable, enforceable and additional, thereby instilling confidence in the environmental benefit, credibility and efficiency of the U.S. carbon market.
The Climate Action Reserve operates as a program under the similarly named nonprofit organization. In addition to the California Climate Action Registry, another program, the Center for Climate Action, also operates under the Climate Action Reserve. The Climate Action Reserve launched the Center for Climate Action in 2009 to provide programs, services and resources to advance climate action. The Center for Climate Action is a solutions-oriented, partner-driven program bringing together experts and thought-leaders from government, business, science and environment to discuss emerging issues in climate policy and build consensus for policy-oriented action.