Federal Register Department of Energy Notice of Inquiry and Request for Comment on Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Reductions, and Carbon Sequestration[Federal Register: May 6, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 87)]
[Notices]
[Page 30370-30373]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr06my02-38]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Reductions, and
Carbon Sequestration
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of inquiry and request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking comments on possible
modifications to the guidelines governing the Voluntary Reporting of
Greenhouse Gases Program (VRGGP) that allows for the voluntary
reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and reductions, and carbon
sequestration under section 1605(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992.
On February 14, 2002, the President directed the Secretary of Energy to
propose improvements to the current registry to "enhance measurement
accuracy, reliability and verifiability, working with and taking into
account emerging domestic and international approaches." This notice
of inquiry is an initial step in a process to propose improvements to
the current VRGGP Greenhouse Gas Registry (GHG Registry), for which
guidelines were published in 1994. DOE is seeking comment on the issues
posed below, and welcomes any other comments pertinent to future
changes in the GHG Registry.
Because of the broad public interest in the issues involved, DOE
believes that the public should have an opportunity to provide input on
the issues raised in advance of the Secretary's recommendations to the
President. DOE is requesting written comments as one means to bring a
broad range of views into the process of developing recommendations for
proposed improvement to the GHG Registry. After analyzing submissions
made in response to this notice, DOE contemplates scheduling at least
one public workshop for obtaining additional public input prior to
finalizing the recommendations for proposed improvements to the GHG
Registry. Notice of workshop(s) and other opportunities for input
during development of proposed improvements to the GHG Registry will be
published in the Federal Register.
DATES: Commenters should submit a signed original, a computer diskette
(WordPerfect or Microsoft Word) and three copies of the written
comments. Written comments are to be filed at the address listed below
no later than 4:30 p.m., eastern time June 5, 2002. Alternately,
comments can be filed electronically by e-mail to:
ghgregistry.comments@hq.doe.gov, noting "Voluntary Reporting
Comments" in the subject line.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: Office of Policy
and International Affairs, Office of Electricity and Natural Gas
Analysis, PI-23, Attention: Voluntary Reporting Comments, U.S.
Department of Energy, Forrestal Building, Room 7H-034, 1000
Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20585. Alternately, comments can
be filed electronically by e-mail to: ghgregistry.comments@hq.doe.gov,
noting "Voluntary Reporting Comments" in the subject line.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Jean Vernet, U.S. Department of
Energy, Office of Policy and International Affairs, Office of
Electricity and Natural Gas Analysis, Forrestal Building, PI-23, Room
7H-034, 1000 Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-
4755, e-mail: jean.vernet@hq.doe.gov; or Mr. Peter Karpoff, PI-23,
(202) 586-5639, e-mail: peter.karpoff@hq.doe.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
A. Section 1605(b) of EPAct and the Current Guidelines
Section 1605(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct), Public
Law 102-486, required the Secretary of Energy, with the Energy
Information Administration (EIA), to establish a voluntary reporting
program and database on emissions of greenhouse gases, reductions of
these gases, and carbon sequestration (42 U.S.C. 13385(b)). More
specifically, section 1605(b) required that DOE's guidelines provide
for the "accurate" and "voluntary" reporting of information on: (1)
Greenhouse gas emission levels for a baseline period (1987-1990) and,
thereafter, annually; (2) annual reductions of greenhouse gas emissions
and carbon sequestration regardless of the specific method used to
achieve them; (3) greenhouse gas emission reductions achieved because
of voluntary efforts, plant closings, or mandatory state or federal
requirements; and (4) the aggregate calculation of greenhouse gas
emissions by each reporting entity (42 U.S.C. 13385(b)(1)(A)-(D)).
Section 1605(b) contemplates a program whereby voluntary efforts to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions could be recorded, with the specific
purpose that this record could be used "by the reporting entity to
demonstrate achieved reductions of greenhouse gases" (42 U.S.C.
13385(b)(4)).
To carry out this statutory mandate, DOE established the GHG
Registry, a program for the voluntary reporting of greenhouse gas
emissions, emission reductions and carbon sequestration that has been
in operation since 1995. The GHG Registry currently is governed by the
General Guidelines for the Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases
under Section 1605(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 ("General
Guidelines"), which were issued in 1994 after notice and public
comment (59 FR 52769). The current General Guidelines are supported by
two additional documents: Sector-Specific Issues and Reporting
Methodologies, volumes one and two, which include supporting Appendices
A-E. Volume one of the Sector-Specific Issues and Reporting
Methodologies addresses the Electricity Supply Sector, Residential and
Commercial Buildings Sector, and Industrial Sector. Volume two covers
the Transportation Sector, Forestry Sector, and Agricultural Sector.
Together, the General Guidelines and supporting documents establish a
broad-based program for the reporting of greenhouse gas reductions and
carbon sequestration that result from voluntary and other activities.
The General Guidelines and supporting documents may be accessed at
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/guidelns.html.
The current General Guidelines encourage participants to report all
types of greenhouse gas emission reduction and carbon sequestration
activities, and participants are given flexibility in determining
whether and how actual reductions are accomplished and reported. Any
person or entity ("reporter") who wishes to participate in the
current GHG Registry must, however, comply with the following minimum
information requirements:
(1) Reporters must clearly identify the facilities involved, the
greenhouse gases reduced, the amount of reduction, and the year of
the emissions;
(2) Reporters must describe the emissions reduction or carbon
sequestration project and
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provide sufficient data to permit database users to have "a clear
understanding of the nature and scope" of the project, "including
the cause of the change in emissions or carbon sequestration";
(3) Reporters must be able to identify the source of the data
presented, the level of change in emissions or sequestration per
year, and the year in which the change took place; and
(4) Reporters who submit a project report of their own design
must identify the techniques used to gather the data and to make
estimates.
As required by section 1605(b)(2), EIA developed forms for
reporting to the GHG Registry. As long as participants use EIA forms
and meet the minimum reporting requirements, they are allowed to define
the activities they report and to determine how to estimate the effects
of those activities on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon
sequestration. The General Guidelines require reporters to self-certify
the accuracy of their reports, but does not specify verification
measures. As part of the report review process, EIA evaluates each
report received for consistency with the General Guidelines,
comprehensiveness, and arithmetic accuracy, and makes suggestions for
improving the accuracy and clarity of reports. EIA also provides
reporters with suggested and default greenhouse gas emissions factors
for optional use.
Additional information, including the program's annual reports and
reporting forms, can be accessed at http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/
frntvrgg.html.
B. The President's Directive To Improve the GHG Registry
On February 14, 2002, President Bush, in announcing a new approach
for meeting the long-term challenge of climate change, directed the
Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Secretaries of Commerce
and Agriculture, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), and other Departments and agencies, to propose
improvements to the current program to "enhance measurement accuracy,
reliability and verifiability, working with and taking into account
emerging domestic and international approaches." \1\ The President
directed that DOE recommend proposed improvements to the GHG Registry
within 120 days. Also on February 14, 2002, the President directed the
Secretary of Energy to recommend reforms "to ensure that businesses
and individuals that register reductions are not penalized under a
future climate policy, and to give transferable credits to companies
that can show real emissions reductions." \2\ The President also
directed the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with EPA and
DOE, to develop accounting rules and guidelines for crediting carbon
sequestration projects.
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\1\ Global Climate Change Policy Book 2 (White House, February
14, 2002).
\2\ Id.
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Pursuit of the related Presidential directives poses significant
policy, technical, and legal questions. In light of the short time
available, DOE began consultations with the Departments of Commerce and
Agriculture, and the EPA immediately after the President's
announcement. This notice is directed to obtaining information from
interested parties that will be useful in developing proposed
improvements to the GHG Registry consistent with the President's
announcement. If, as a result, modifications to the guidelines for
reporting are pursued, the public will be given an opportunity to
comment on the proposed revised guidelines, as provided in section
1605(b)(1) (42 U.S.C. 13385(b)(1)).
II. Request for Public Comment
DOE requests written comments from interested persons on all
aspects of possible revisions to the guidelines governing the GHG
Registry. DOE is especially interested in receiving written comments
from persons with particular knowledge of the institutional, legal, and
technical issues related to measuring and reporting GHG emissions,
emissions reductions, and carbon sequestration. All information
provided by commenters will be available for public inspection at the
Department of Energy, Freedom of Information Reading Room, room 1E-190,
1000 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20585, between the hours of
9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday though Friday, except Federal holidays.
DOE also intends to enter all written comments on a website
specially established for this proceeding. The Internet website is
http://www.pi.energy.gov/enhancingGHGregistry. To assist DOE in making
public comments available on a website, interested persons are
encouraged to submit an electronic version of their written comments in
accordance with the instructions in the DATES section of this notice.
Because DOE intends to make all submissions publicly available on a
website, it requests that commenters not submit information believed to
be confidential and exempt from public disclosure. However, if any
person chooses to submit information that he or she considers to be
privileged or confidential and exempt from public disclosure, that
person must clearly identify the information that is considered to be
privileged or confidential and explain why the submitter thinks the
information is exempt from disclosure, addressing as appropriate the
criteria for nondisclosure in DOE's Freedom of Information Act
regulations at 10 CFR 1004.11(f). DOE also requests such submitters to
provide one copy of their comments from which the information believed
to be exempt from disclosure has been redacted, with the areas where
information has been redacted clearly marked. DOE will determine if the
information or data sought to be protected from disclosure is exempt
from disclosure in accordance with the procedures set forth in its
Freedom of Information Act regulations at 10 CFR 1004.11.
Commenters may find it helpful to review the notices that preceded
the issuance of the current guidelines in 1994. These notices provide
additional detail on issues considered during the development of the
current guidelines: Notice of Inquiry (58 FR 40116; July 27, 1993);
Notice of Availability requesting comment on the draft guidelines (59
FR 28345; June 1, 1994); and the Notice of Availability of the
Guidelines (59 FR 52769; October 19, 1994). DOE has included these
notices on the website established for this proceeding for the
convenience of interested persons.
III. Issues for Comment
This section of the notice identifies specific areas for comment;
however, these areas are not intended to limit the content of
submissions.
A. Issues Related to Comment Scope
Identify and discuss whether and how any improvement you
suggest is necessary and appropriate in light of the President's
directives and the purposes of the reporting program, including
reporting of emission reductions and carbon sequestration activities
for transferable credits or protection against penalty under future
climate policy.
B. Issues in the Relationship of the GHG Registry to Other Approaches
in GHG Reporting
Identify and discuss whether and how your suggested
improvements are consistent with existing and emerging domestic and
international approaches to reporting GHG emissions, emission
reductions and carbon sequestration. DOE is aware that efforts in the
public and private sectors, domestic and international, have been
undertaken to
[[Page 30372]]
develop GHG reporting approaches. Included in these are efforts by U.S.
state governments, foreign governments, and multinational stakeholder
groups. Reporting protocols have also been developed under voluntary
emissions reduction programs initiated by the federal government and
others.
C. Institutional Issues
Time frame of data reported. Identify and discuss how any
suggested improvements to the GHG Registry could accommodate the time
period of reported emissions and emissions reductions, and carbon
sequestration. The current GHG Registry accepts information on
emissions and reductions back to 1991 and on emissions back to 1987,
and provides for revision and supplementation of submitted reports. If
your suggested improvements to the GHG Registry entail submission of
additional accompanying information or new protocols for some types of
reports, discuss how the guidelines could address the time frame of
past and future reported data, and whether and how previously submitted
data may be resubmitted under the revised purposes of the Registry.
Reporting entity definition. Discuss whether the GHG
Registry's broad definition of "reporting entity" continues to be
appropriate in any improved reporting program. The current guidelines
define a reporting entity as "a legal U.S. entity," meaning "any
U.S. citizen or resident alien; any company, organization, or group
incorporated under or recognized by U.S. law; or any U.S. Federal,
state, or local government entity."
Level of reporting. Discuss whether it is appropriate for
reports to cover: (1) All emitting activities of the entire reporting
entity; (2) emissions by facility/site, affiliate, or subsidiary; or
(3) an emissions reduction, emissions avoidance or carbon sequestration
project. Identify how different levels of reporting may be appropriate
for various reporting purposes, including for transferable credits and
protection against penalty under future climate policy.
Reportable GHGs. Discuss whether and how it may be
appropriate, in light of your suggested improvements to the GHG
Registry, to modify the current GHG Registry approach which allows
reports on various greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and their
reduction. These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides,
perfluorocarbons (PFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and sulfur
hexafluoride (SF6).
Indirect emissions. Identify and discuss how a reporter
could treat indirect emissions, such as those resulting from
electricity use, and indirect emissions reductions, such as those from
decreased electricity use, in the context of an improved reporting
program. Discuss whether and how life cycle and fuel cycle emissions,
and wholesale electric or natural gas transactions should be treated.
Indirect emissions are emissions from sources outside the reporting
entity that are affected by the reporter's activities, for example,
emissions of an electric utility resulting from the reporter's
consumption of electricity.
Avoided emissions. Identify and discuss how a reporter
could treat actions that avoid, at least in part, the production of GHG
emissions. The GHG Registry currently includes these as reported
reductions. Examples of activities that avoid emissions include, but
are not limited to, electricity generation from renewable energy
sources or nuclear power, the use of natural gas-fueled motor vehicles,
and energy efficiency improvements in industrial or other applications.
Baselines (or reference case) definition. Identify and
discuss appropriate changes to the GHG Registry's approaches to
determining an emissions baseline(s) or reference case. Identify how
different baseline determinations may be appropriate for reporting
purposes, transferable credits, or protection against penalty under
future climate policy. Discuss how the reporting program could be used
by reporters who may wish to report their GHG emissions measured as
emissions per unit of output or emissions intensity. Discuss how
"units of output" or emissions intensity could be calculated for
varying industries. The current guidelines permit the reporter several
options for identifying the baseline (referred to as the reference
case) for emissions reductions or carbon sequestration, including use
of historical emissions or sequestration (historical reference case),
or an estimate of what emissions or sequestration would have been in
the absence of a project or a group of projects (modified reference
case).
Thresholds for reporting emissions and for reporting
emissions reductions.
The current guidelines do not set a minimum size for a reporting
entity, or for reported emissions, emissions reductions, avoided
emissions, or sequestered carbon. Identify and discuss whether and how
an improved program might appropriately set minimum thresholds for
these categories of data.
Reduction activity reports on domestic and international
projects. The current GHG Registry accepts reports of project-level
data for both domestic and international projects, without regard to
entity-level emissions data. Discuss the need for, and appropriateness
of, entity-level emissions data accompanying information on projects
either within or outside the U.S.
Transferable credits and transferring ownership of
reductions. Discuss any attributes of GHG emissions reductions or
carbon sequestration that may be appropriate or necessary for
transferable emissions reduction or carbon sequestration credits.
Provide information on reporting parameters you believe are necessary
to establish and transfer ownership of real emissions reductions or
carbon sequestration credits.
Reporting joint activities, addressing duplication of
reported emissions and reductions, and ownership. The current
guidelines permit reporters, or third parties on the behalf of others,
to report individual and joint activities, and to modify reporter-
identification as needed. Discuss whether and what changes are
appropriate or necessary to minimize duplicative reporting, and assure
correct identification of the owner of emissions, emission reductions
or avoidance, and carbon sequestration.
Verification and third-party audit standards. As required
by 1605(b)(2), the current guidelines and EIA forms require that the
reporter self-certify the accuracy of the reported information (42
U.S.C. 13385(b)(2)). No independent certification or verification is
required. While the Federal government does not certify reported data,
EIA currently reviews each report for consistency with the program
guidelines, comprehensiveness, and arithmetic accuracy. Identify and
discuss any forms of verification that may be appropriate in a program
that contemplates the use of the GHG Registry for transferable credits.
If you suggest third party verification or certification, discuss
possible standards for certifying bodies.
Confidentiality of reported data; public availability of
information. The current guidelines provide that information determined
under DOE regulations to be confidential under the Freedom of
Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)) does not appear in EIA's public
database and is not made available to the public. This is consistent
with the provision in section 1605(b) requiring the protection of trade
secret and commercial or financial information that is privileged or
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confidential (42 U.S.C. 13385(b)(3)). Discuss whether revised
guidelines should include a provision requiring reporters to waive the
protection provided by section 1605(b)(3) if they wish to obtain a
certificate of emission reductions for potential use in connection with
transferable credits, or for protection against penalty under future
climate policy.
D. Technical Issues
Measurement and estimation techniques. Although the
current guidelines and reporting forms provide a number of default and
other estimation techniques, they do not prescribe measurement and
estimation techniques. Identify and discuss the need for prescribed
techniques for measurement and estimation under an improved GHG
Registry that could provide the basis for transferable credits or
protection against penalty under future climate policy. Provide
specific examples and citations to techniques you identify.
Issued in Washington, DC, on April 15, 2002.
Robert Card,
Undersecretary.
[FR Doc. 02-11180 Filed 5-3-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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