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."