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California making steady pace towards implementing AB 32, the
state's plan to mitigate its greenhouse gas emissions. 

Release 09-102
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 18, 2009
	  	  	
Stanley Young
(916)322-1309
(916)956-9409 m
syoung@arb.ca.gov
www.arb.ca.gov

ARB announces high compliance for greenhouse gas reporting

ARB accredits first-in-nation graduates to verify emissions

SACRAMENTO- More than 97 percent of the state's 600 largest
facilities are complying with the California Air Resources
Board's mandatory reporting requirements for greenhouse gas
emissions.

ARB also announced that California is now the first state in the
country to accredit third-party professionals to verify reported
greenhouse gas emissions.

"We now have an accounting of greenhouse gas emissions from the
state's largest facilities, and we also have well-trained
professionals to verify those reported emissions," said ARB
Chairman Mary D. Nichols. "Our reporting and verification program
will ensure that reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from the
state's largest facilities are accurate and credible."

Reporting requirements

To date, 591 out of 605 facilities have completed their
greenhouse gas emissions reports for 2008. ARB staff is working
with the remaining facilities to complete their reporting by
early December.

The ARB adopted a mandatory reporting regulation for the state's
largest stationary facilities in late 2007, as required under the
state's Global Warming Solutions Act Governor Schwarzenegger
signed in 2006.

All sources that emit at least 25,000 metric tons of carbon
dioxide per year, including cement plants, oil refineries, and
hydrogen plants are required to submit their annual emissions to
ARB. Electricity generating and cogeneration plants with one
megawatt capacity and higher must also report their emissions.
Electricity retail providers and marketers must also report the
amount of their imported energy.

ARB staff will work closely with US EPA as it continues to
develop and implement its own greenhouse gas reporting program to
ensure the two efforts are harmonized.

Third party verification

The first graduates to receive accreditation to review climate
change emissions data for California's mandatory reporting
program include 101 individual verifiers and 17 businesses. ARB
accreditation is granted only after applicants complete a
rigorous 40-hour course and final examination.

The accredited verifiers can now contract to review and
substantiate emissions reports filed by the largest sources of
greenhouse gas emissions in the state. Once accredited, verifiers
will visit facilities, review records and conduct inspections to
ensure compliance. Verification of all reported emissions will be
required starting in 2010, providing an important database on
individual facility emissions in advance of the state's
cap-and-trade regulatory program, slated to start in 2012.

ARB developed its verification requirements based on methods
developed by the then California Climate Action Registry (now
known as the Climate Action Reserve) and the International
Organization for Standardization. The California Climate Action
Registry established a voluntary greenhouse gas emissions
reporting and verification program in 2001, providing valuable
in-the-field experience and the opportunity to develop and refine
the methods needed to find and correct errors that inevitably
occur when complex data are compiled by diverse emissions
sources.

ARB's goal is to accredit more than 200 verification
professionals by the end of the year. Reporting facilities will
contract with accredited verification bodies -- either private
firms or air districts. Under provisions of the reporting
regulation, ARB staff will review all relationships between
facilities and verification bodies for potential
conflict-of-interest before verification services may proceed.

California last year adopted a comprehensive roadmap, known as
the Scoping Plan, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent
by 2020. Several of the control measures in that plan, including
a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions, will rely on
accurate and verified emissions reporting to track progress and
ensure compliance.

The list of ARB-accredited verification bodies and verifiers is
here:http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/reporting/ghg-ver/ghg-ver.htm .

The database of reported greenhouse gas emissions is at:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/reporting/ghg-rep/ghg-rep.htm .

The Air Resources Board is a department of the California
Environmental Protection Agency. ARB's mission is to promote and
protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through
effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and
considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air
pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain
health based air quality standards.

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