Designing a U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Registry

This policy brief advocates for a mandatory federal greenhouse gas emissions registry in the United States as a prerequisite for effective climate policy. It details eight design requirements for such a registry—including facility-level mandatory reporting and public data access—and notes that the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008 already directs the EPA to implement mandatory reporting across all economic sectors.

• A federal greenhouse gas emissions registry is described as the necessary foundation for effective climate policies across national, regional, state, and local levels, and is specifically identified as integral to the success of a cap-and-trade program.
• The document outlines eight specific design criteria for a well-designed registry: mandatory facility-level data collection; adherence to international standards for accuracy, completeness, transparency, consistency, and verification; coverage of all facilities in a cap-and-trade program; infrastructure for non-regulated emission sources; data collection prior to cap-and-trade operation; inclusion of direct and indirect emissions; harmonization with voluntary corporate registries like the Climate Registry; and public availability of all emissions data.
• The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, signed by President Bush in December 2007, mandates that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency require greenhouse gas emissions reporting from appropriate sources across all sectors of the U.S. economy.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Designing a U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Registry. https://www.wri.org/designing-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-registry

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Designing a U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Registry. n.d. https://www.wri.org/designing-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-registry.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Designing a U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Registry |url=https://www.wri.org/designing-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-registry |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutenddesigning, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Designing a U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Registry}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/designing-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-registry}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }