A STEP BEYOND: EFFECTIVE TOOLS FOR MANAGEMENT OF GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTIONS AS AN ASSET

摘要

Global warming, though not universally accepted, has become an important social, political, and scientific issue. This debate has forced the entire world to realize that we now operate in a truly "global community". Most of the world's countries are adopting the standards of the Kyoto Treaty on climate change, while the United States has decided to study the issue further. Though the documentation and registration of emissions reductions is a big step in preparing to operate in this new environmentally friendly global community, managing GHG reductions as an asset is probably the next important step toward being strategically positioned to meet the environmental scrutiny of the 21st Century. This paper presents the results of a review of commercially available software packages performed by Waste Management, Inc. and EMCON/OWT. This review was conducted as Waste Management considered moving from a simple emission-registration mode to a more active state of managing reduction credits as a portfolio of assets. This paper begins with an overview of the GHGs and the solid waste industry, and proceeds to a review of a number of commercially available and free software packages. Features, advantages, and disadvantages of each package are discussed. The type of GHG Management tool a firm chooses will vary depending upon the needs of each individual company. But whatever the approach, the need to effectively manage these assets will be important.