March 5th, 2010 by Michel Gelobter

Climate regulations have been cropping up and even implemented for quite a while in Europe, California, and some Northeastern states.  But the US federal government has been catching up fast and with it comes the kind of detailed attention to regulation the world’s leading environmental agency is famous for.

Check out the EPA’s “Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Rule” often referred to as MRR. 300 pages long, and almost half of that are detailed specifications for how to calculate emissions from ammonia manufacturing to aluminum smelting.  And those details aren’t just about compliance…they can be a roadmap to efficiency because, unlike toxic pollutants, when you figure out how to optimally reduce climate pollution you’re usually also saving a lot of energy, materials, and money.

These rules were effective January 1, 2010, but we’ll be learning a lot more about how companies use them, which of many alternative approaches to reporting allowed are most efficient, and how many of the specific rules apply to any one given company or facility.

One thing that’s clear now is that software is going to play a big role in keeping track of the diverse types of emissions sources out there and all the ways you can calculate an industrial carbon, and for that matter energy footprint, under the regulations.  As supply chain tracking deepens, we’ll need to know how to account for those emissions not just at the source, but down the chain in finished products.  Comprehensive, real-time analysis will make it possible to grow production while driving down emissions and energy costs.  The big wins will accrue to those who’ve learned how to find patterns in the details.

Climate change is a big picture business.  But as regulation becomes real, the details come fast and furious.  That’s why an enterprise solution that provides companies with a comprehensive environmental and energy system of record, like Hara, is so necessary – enabling visibility and control of the details across stakeholders so you can focus on the big picture.