Today many governments have (or are presently in the process) of enacting legislation mandating the reduction of targeted greenhouse gas emissions. Typically, this legislation takes the form of a specific carbon reduction commitment against a predetermined baseline. For example, recently in the United Kingdom, the government passed the Climate Change Act of 2008 which included a target of reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions in the UK by 2050 by at least 80 percent compared to the 1990 baseline. To achieve this objective most legislation inevitably includes a form of inducement to oblige targeted public and private organizations to participate in the program. At present these inducements include emissions trading schemes (i.e., cap and trade systems) or supplementary costs for failure to reduce carbon emissions against an established baseline. It is clear that the movement towards greater energy efficiency and protection of the environment against climate change will only gain momentum in the future. Consequently, in order to satisfy existing (or soon to be enacted) legislation as well as internal corporate social responsibility programs, corporate boards and senior management must develop and implement processes to create, monitor and reduce their organization’s carbon footprint.

Developing and implementing carbon management and monitoring programs is a demanding task requiring significant resources as well as expertise in computer programming and energy analysis. It is for this reason NUS Consulting has developed a Carbon Benchmarking-Management Service which complies with the GHG Protocol for Scope 1 (all direct GHG emissions) and Scope 2 (indirect GHG emissions from the consumption of purchased electricity, heat or steam) as established by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). 

As part of this service, NUS Consulting will construct a comprehensive database of a client’s historical billing data. Once this database has been constructed, our systems convert a client’s usage profile into the equivalent amount of carbon emissions utilizing fuel mix data from the appropriate suppliers. The result is the creation of a client’s overall carbon footprint or baseline. As the database is updated with a client’s subsequent energy billing data, our systems will compare a client’s current carbon emissions profile against its baseline. Moreover, our systems adjust a client’s carbon emissions profile to take into account carbon reduction initiatives undertaken by a client beyond reductions in usage – e.g., the purchase of green energy, carbon offsets, etc. In addition, clients are provided access to a comprehensive set of analytical tools and comparative data to monitor and improve control of carbon emissions. NUS Consulting is a certified Energy Star Partner and CCAR Climate Action Leader.