California Climate Action Registry membership
The Climate Registry Membership
Emissions calculation and reporting with The Climate Registry

California Climate Action Registry membership

Why isn’t the California Registry taking emissions data?
The California Registry will be accepting your emissions inventory data through the 2009 reporting year. After verification is completed in 2010, your reported data will be transferred to the California Registry’s sister organization, The Climate Registry, as will all future reporting.

What’s going to happen to data reported to the California Registry?
The data you reported in CARROT will remain publicly available in perpetuity on the California Registry website. Additionally, your CARROT data can be seamlessly transferred to The Climate Registry’s online reporting tool, CRIS.

Will I still get credit for early actions registered with the California Registry?

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is still developing its Scoping Plan for implementing AB32 and has not yet begun to address baseline data that members have registered with the California Registry. The California Registry has and will continue to advocate on behalf of its members to ensure that baseline inventories and early actions registered with the California Registry are recognized and credited by CARB through this process.

What is the Climate Action Institute?
The Climate Action Institute is a new program of the California Registry that will continue the organization’s regional policy-oriented work and help companies and other organizations implement strategies to reduce their emissions.

Why isn’t ARB using the California Registry for mandatory reporting?
Even though ARB isn’t using CARROT, it has based its mandatory reporting rules on the California Registry’s protocols consistent with AB32.

The Climate Registry membership

Why should I join The Climate Registry?
You should join The Climate Registry for many of the same reasons you joined the California Registry, including to continue managing your emissions and to maintain your role in addressing climate change. The Climate Registry is well positioned to influence the creation of federal regulations and to be in compliance with them when they are implemented. In the Senate, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D–MN) introduced a Carbon Counter bill that references The Climate Registry as a model. In the House of Representatives, the House Energy and Commerce committee is looking at a federal GHG reporting bill. Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced the Greenhouse Gas Registry Act, which ensures a national GHG registry established by the EPA will contain complete, essential, reliable and accurate information. It’s co-sponsored by Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Rush Holt (D-NJ) and specifically references The Climate Registry in relation to protocols the EPA should use in drafting regulations and encourages the EPA to take into account The Climate Registry’s work.

How do I join The Climate Registry?
You just need to sign the Statement of Intent.

What does it cost to join The Climate Registry?
Reporting fees are the same as the California Registry. The Climate Registry has an annual fee structure that’s based on revenue for commercial and industrial organizations. Fees for nonprofit, government and academic organizations are based on their budgets. The fee structure can be found on The Climate Registry’s website. Additionally, California Registry members are being extended a special membership rate.

What benefits do I get from joining The Climate Registry?

There are several benefits to joining The Climate Registry. First, you’ll continue managing your emissions and doing your part to address climate change. Second, you’ll be playing an important leadership role on a larger scale that extends beyond California. As emissions reporting moves beyond the state-level, you’ll have close ties to regional and national policy developments. Third, you’ll have opportunities to participate in member-only webinars and regional workshops.

You also can continue working with the California Registry on a local level to lead climate change initiatives in California and the West. The California Registry will continue to hold its annual conference to provide important California, national, and international policy updates and information.

Does The Climate Registry track offsets?
No. The Climate Registry is the expert in emissions calculation and reporting. The Climate Action Reserve, which is a program of the California Registry, tracks offset credits.

Why are the names so similar? What is different about The Climate Registry?
The Climate Registry is building upon and expanding the initial work of the California Climate Action Registry by establishing standards for emissions measurement and reporting throughout North America. The names are similar because at different times, the two organizations had the same mission. The difference now is that The Climate Registry is the platinum standard for emissions measurement and reporting, and the California Registry is using its expertise to focus on GHG project accounting.

I joined the California Registry so I could be part of a local movement. Where can I find this level of involvement now?
You can still be a part of a local movement with the California Registry through its Climate Action Institute program.

Emissions calculations and reporting with The Climate Registry

How do I report my emissions to The Climate Registry??

Reporting your emissions inventory to The Climate Registry is very similar to what you currently do with the California Registry. The Climate Registry’s General Reporting Protocol (GRP) is based on the California Registry’s protocol. You’ll still be required to use an independent verifier, and it’s very likely you’ll be able to continue using the same one you use now. The Climate Registry also has an online reporting tool, the Climate Registry Information System (CRIS), that is an updated version of CARROT.

Do I still need to use an independent verifier??
Yes, and it’s very likely you’ll be able to use the same verifier you use now.

Is verification under The Climate Registry’s protocols going to cost the same??
The Climate Registry has slightly different verification requirements from the California Registry, which may mean that average verification costs are higher. Members are encouraged to contact verifiers to get estimates.

Is The Climate Registry’s reporting protocol going to be inline with any regulations that are passed??
It’s anticipated The Climate Registry’s protocol will be in compliance with regional and national regulations. The Climate Registry works very closely with government agencies, legislators and regional regulatory groups. Its Board of Directors is composed of agency directors from the US states and Canadian territories and provinces.

How will The Climate Registry help me meet my California (mandatory) reporting requirements??
The State of California has determined that mandatory reporting must be conducted according to ARB rules and that such reports must be directly submitted to ARB. Therefore, reporting to The Climate Registry would be in addition to any mandatory reporting required by California.

Does joining The Climate Registry mean I have to report emissions for all of my locations in North America??
Yes, The Climate Registry supports measuring entity-wide emissions inventories. It’s important for companies to get complete measurements of their carbon footprints. Measuring inventories for one or two of their locations is only solving part of a problem.

It’s widely expected that federal regulations are going to be coming sooner rather than later, and they are going to cover entity-wide reporting. You would have a great advantage over other companies by being ahead of the curve in getting your entity-wide reporting processes in place. Plus, early leaders are going to play key roles in North American emissions reporting, just like early leaders had such a huge role in California emissions reporting.

Additionally, The Climate Registry’s online reporting tool was developed for entity-wide reporting. All locations in a company can log in and report their inventories instead of having one person or one location responsible for the entire company’s reporting.?

Are there reporting protocols for The Climate Registry??
Yes. The Climate Registry has a General Reporting Protocol (GRP) that was based on the California Registry’s GRP. It also is currently working on industry-specific protocols for electric power, oil and gas and an appendix for the local government operations protocol.

Is there a transition period to go from reporting emissions for just California locations to all North American locations??
Yes. Members are encouraged to be joint members of The Climate Registry and the California Climate Action Registry to ease into this reporting transition. By being joint members, they can still report emissions for their California locations while putting processes in place to start reporting for all of their North American locations after two years.

What’s my baseline with The Climate Registry??
You establish your base year with the first year you completely report all six GHGs to The Climate Registry.

What GHGs do I have to report to The Climate Registry??
The Climate Registry requires you report all six GHGs – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).

How will my facility-level data appear in CRIS??
Your facility-level data will be transferred into CRIS, however, it may look slightly different than how it looks in CARROT.