Bottom Line on GHG Emissions Registries

The document defines GHG emissions registries as databases for tracking emissions from individual emitters, distinguishing them from top-down national inventories. It details the legal mandate for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop a national registry by mid-2008, funded by a December 2007 appropriations bill. The text outlines the role of registries in cap-and-trade programs—specifically for ensuring compliance and market efficiency—and describes the technical requirements for data collection, quantification, and verification to ensure consistency and transparency.

• A GHG registry differs from a national, state, or municipal inventory in that it collects bottom-up data from individual emitters like companies or facilities, whereas inventories provide top-down comprehensive summaries of total emissions for a larger geographic area without attributing them to individual parties.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is legally required to establish a mandatory GHG reporting program, with a draft rule due within nine months and a final rule within 18 months of a December 2007 appropriations bill that provided $3.5 million in funding.
• In the context of a cap-and-trade program, a registry is essential for ensuring that facilities do not exceed their allowances, providing transparent data for market participants, allowing for appropriate allocation decisions, and verifying early action credits.
• To maintain market integrity, emissions must be quantified using uniform and rigorous monitoring procedures—such as continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) or calculations using emission factors—to ensure that a ton of emissions is measured consistently regardless of the location or sector.
• While mandatory registries typically focus on facility-level data for regulatory compliance, voluntary registries are expected to remain useful for tracking corporate-level environmental performance for investors and consumers.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Bottom Line on GHG Emissions Registries. https://www.wri.org/research/bottom-line-ghg-emissions-registries

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Bottom Line on GHG Emissions Registries. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/bottom-line-ghg-emissions-registries.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Bottom Line on GHG Emissions Registries |url=https://www.wri.org/research/bottom-line-ghg-emissions-registries |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendbottom, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Bottom Line on GHG Emissions Registries}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/bottom-line-ghg-emissions-registries}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }