FTA cautious over benefits of mandatory GHG reporting

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has given a cautious response to the

news that the Government is to press ahead with mandatory greenhouse gas

(GHG) reporting for quoted companies.


FTA's responded to today's announcement made by Caroline Spelman - Secretary

of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at the Rio+ 20 Summit,

which stated that all businesses listed on the Main Market of the London

Stock Exchange will have to report their levels of GHG emissions from the

start of the next financial year.


The ruling would make the UK the first country to make it compulsory for

companies to include emissions data for their entire organisation in their

annual reports.


Simon Chapman, FTA's Chief Economist said:

"The current voluntary reporting framework for greenhouse gas reporting by

individual companies published in 2009 provides a pragmatic basis on which

companies of all sizes can report their emissions in a consistent way. With

fuel representing 40 per cent of hgv operating costs, the logistics sector

has embraced voluntary reporting as a way of saving fuel, saving cost and

saving carbon."


In 2010, the logistics sector launched a pioneering voluntary commitment to

reduce the intensity of its greenhouse gas emissions by 8 per cent by 2015

against a 2010 baseline. By aggregating fuel use data from different

businesses, trends in emissions are being tracked by the Logistics Carbon

Reduction Scheme. A demonstrable 2.6 per cent reduction in the intensity of

greenhouse gas emissions was recorded by Scheme participants in 2010.


Chapman continued: "The Logistics Carbon Reduction Scheme has shown what can

be done by businesses with the right lead from Government focused on

voluntary reporting and easy to apply greenhouse gas conversion factors. It

is difficult to see how making reporting mandatory for the largest companies

who are already recording and reporting emissions will create further carbon

savings over and above those that could have been achieved through a

voluntary approach."