The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Rule was issued on 29th December 2009, requiring the annual reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from large emitters such as industrial and manufacturing plants and suppliers of fossil fuels and industrial greenhouse gases.
The scope of this ruling covers a wide variety of emissions-intensive activities associated with large-scale industrial processes, including the production of energy, the manufacture of raw materials (e.g. chemicals, fossil fuels, metals, minerals, paper) and the management of waste.
To learn about the data and calculation methodologies in AMEE which support the EPA ruling, see here.
Associated with this ruling, the EPA has published a detailed collection of guidance documents which outline data and calculation methodologies recommended for estimating emissions from a range of industrial activities.
These technical guidelines represent approaches from a number of original sources, including the EPA itself (and the Climate Leaders initiative), the IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Programme, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (including the Cement Sustainability Initiative), the American petroleum Institute (API), the International Council of Forests and Paper Associations (ICFPA), New Mexico Greenhouse Gas Mandatory Emissions Inventory and the International Aluminium Institute.
The AMEE platform and associated tools represent 75 distinct calculation methodologies (and associated data) recommended under the EPA mandatory reporting guidelines. In many cases, and in keeping with the guidelines, AMEE provides a number of alternative options for each type of greenhouse gas emitting activity which represent increasing levels of accuracy and sophistication.
For example, emissions arising from cement manufacturing can be calculated using data and methodologies published by the EPA, the IPCC and the CSI. These methodologies provide options for approximating emissions using the quantity of cement produced and default emission factors, or calculating more accurately on the basis of the quantity and properties of secondary products (‘clinker’). In the most accurate scenario, emissions can be calculated using detailed information on the inputs and outputs to the manufacturing process of each specific mineral.
By representing these ‘tiered’ approaches, the AMEE platform provides a flexibility to make greenhouse gas emissions calculations regardless of the nature of the activity data available to the user.
Tags: EPA, IPCC, industry, manufacturing
Scope: USA, international
Authority: Enterprise
AMEE quality assurance: Passed
