Climate Registry nears 1st U.S. emissions reporting

By Bernie Woodall

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Aiming to get a jump on what they see as inevitable mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, 58 companies, cities and organizations have volunteered to report emissions to the Climate Registry, the nonprofit organization said on Thursday.

"The Climate Registry is building the infrastructure and the (reporting guidelines) to get the companies, states and provincial programs started," said Diane Wittenberg, executive director of the Climate Registry.

Among the companies agreeing to report emissions were Shell Oil, the U.S. unit of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Xcel Energy, Alcoa, Duke Energy, PG&E, PPG Industries and National Grid. The United States Postal Service (USPS) also signed on.

The companies and government and private organizations will begin reporting emissions to the growing registry in June, Wittenberg said. In several years, this may help facilitate a national trading system or tax for carbon dioxide emissions, she said.

The Climate Registry's 51 members include 39 U.S. states, six Canadian provinces, three Native American tribes, two Mexican states and the District of Columbia. Incorporated last March, it is partly an outgrowth of the older, separate California Climate Action Registry.

The registry held its third board meeting this week in the Los Angeles area. Board members are the 51 states, provinces and tribes. This week's meeting was the first to include the reporting companies and government and private organizations that have signed up to report emissions.

Companies and organizations that will report data to the registry will soon far outnumber the board membership. Wittenberg said that by June when the first data is received, more than 100 "reporters" are expected, up from the current count of 58. Those that join by May 1 will be known as "founding reporters" of the national registry.

Among the biggest institutions sending a representative to this week's meetings was the U.S. Postal Service, which does $75 billion of business annually.