Businesses in recent times are interested in being sustainable. They want to reduce their impact on the environment, but still continue to operate and fulfill their obligations to their stockholders by making a profit. Prior to the current trend of environmental interest, certain industries had negatively affected the environment in the course of doing normal business. As a result, governments have enacted laws that limited the amount of pollution that a firm can release. One such law is the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, which in a nutshell, stipulates mandatory reporting of greenhouse gases released by certain firms. In regards to the program, what is it, and what is its purpose? How does this program relate to accounting, and …show more content…
The data will be used to help create laws and policies that further protect the environment against additional degradation. What are greenhouse gases, and why does this program focus on them, instead of other pollutants? According to an article, greenhouse gases absorb infrared radiation. This absorption of heat in the atmosphere over time is responsible in the increase in the overall temperature of the planet, and this is known as the “greenhouse effect” (Lallanilla, 2015). Basically, this program focuses more on greenhouse gases and other air pollutants, because the effects associated with the greenhouse effect will negatively affect the air quality and atmosphere of the entire planet, not just in the United States. Overall, this program is meant to get companies to be mindful of their environmental impact for the sake of the planet, and to promote sustainability.
How exactly does this program relate to accounting? This program is meant to promote sustainability and get firms to watch their environmental impact. In its June of 2015 report, the AICPA cites the trend of sustainable operations and states that “CPAs are well positioned to offer expertise that organizations can use to implement, track, and verify their sustainability efforts.” (The State of, 2015). In order for a firm to commit to sustainable operations, they must make changes in the way that
In the last 100 years, the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has increased, causing the Earth to warm by an average of 0.6 degrees celsius, largely a result of burning fossil fuels for energy, transportation, and land use changes increased for food production. The basic science is straightforward and climate researchers have shown that gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and others can trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, causing a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. Human activities such as industry, transport, energy generation and deforestation all produce these greenhouse gases. In the last 20 years, concern has grown that global warming is inevitable and now considered most probably caused by man-made increases in
The Clean Air Act has not experienced much revision since its conception in 1970. Recently, there have been attempts to include greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, in the legislation and execution of the Clean Air Act to make the list of criteria pollutants more comprehensive while simultaneously battling the emerging threat of climate change. This movement was initially sparked by the Montreal Protocol, which aims to eliminate the production and consumption of ozone depleting substances to limit damage to the ozone layer (International Actions, 2016). However, there has not been an official movement to include greenhouses gases into the Clean Air Act, because stakeholders have not been able to agree on a comprehensive market-based legislation
Melting glaciers, depleting water resources and decreasing air quality needs immediate attention. Everyone needs air and water to survive. Business started practicing sustainable accounting in mid-70. This practice discloses non-financial and financial information related to the business activities that has direct impact on society and its environment (air, water, people etc.). Companies use triple bottom line method to calculate the impact of business activities on society and based on these calculation companies makes policies which make its operation more ecologically and socially
“Up to 16,000 Canadians die each year because of high pollution levels and poor air quality (City Of Windsor 2016).” Air pollution is the world's largest health risk. Pollution and climate change is a major global issue. Canada is “the ninth largest emitter of greenhouse gas” that needs to enact a climate policy [1] (Mildenberger et al. 2016). Greenhouse gasses are emitted by Human activities such as energy industries, transportation, residential and commercial activities, manufacturing, construction, industrial processes, and agriculture (Ayşegül &
The clean power plan was adopted by the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) on August 03, 2015 to regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants. Under the Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA , greenhouse gases meet the definition of air pollutants under the Clean Air Act, implying they need to be controlled, if
Greenhouse gases are the main factor to the poisoning of Earth’s atmosphere. Gases in the atmosphere that absorb radiation and have a big impact towards the greenhouse effect are known as the Greenhouse gases. The greenhouse effect happens to be one of the major causes of global warming. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), some of the major greenhouse gases are methane, carbon dioxide, water vapor and nitrous oxide. (Lallanilla, 2015). There are multiple places all over the world who suffer from dangerous levels of greenhouse gases in the air due to the over-pollution to the air. The first step to taking on such an issue is to detect and then monitor the problem so that in this case, the greenhouse gases do not get out of hand. Crucial importance to the future of Earth relies on the monitoring and detecting greenhouses gases and the best way to do so is by the use of orbital satellites. The use of remotely sensed data can be used to measure greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, thus helping authorities to make better decisions related to climate change.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a cap and trade initiative set to regulate and reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from power generating facilities with an electrical capacity equal or greater than 25 electrical megawatts (RGGI, 2015). The drafting of this initiative started in 2003 when Connecticut (CT), Delaware (DE), Maine (ME), Massachusetts (MA), New Hampshire (NH), New Jersey (NJ), New York (NY), Rhode Island (RI), and Vermont (VT) showed interest in reviewing greenhouse gas emissions and a cap-trade coalition to address the emission from power plants in their territory. In 2005, the above mentioned states with the exception of RI and MA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that outlined the model rules for the program. Some of the topics outlined in RGGI Model Rule include: the responsibilities of the account representatives, permitting recommendations, monitoring requirements, compliance certification reports, control periods and others. The Model Rules were also the building blocks used to develop state-specific regulations supporting the goals and actions necessary to succeed as a member. In 2007 MA, RI and MD also signed the MOU (RGGI, 2015a; RGGI, 2015b). On January 1, 2012, RGGI lost one of its founding members after the governor of NJ; Chris Christie withdrew NJ’s support to the initiative. Throughout its participation, NJ received over $100 million in revenues directly from the RGGI markets. (Christie, 2011) The
The definition given by NASA of global warming is “the average global surface temperature increase from human emissions of greenhouse gases.” On the subject of global warming, the key terms that applies is greenhouse gases. The title “greenhouse gas” comes from the idea that the chemicals that people use to run a greenhouse are also very common in our own atmosphere. A few of these chemicals include carbon dioxide and methane. Global warming is mainly caused by an excessive amount of greenhouse gases and creates environmental problems that affect not only temperatures, but can also disrupt many animal habitats and their way of life.
These emissions are mainly emitted through the burning of fossil fuels. Automobiles burn gasoline and petroleum, which releases harmful gasses into the atmosphere. Burning down of forests directly emits those harmful gasses into our atmosphere and of course many factories aid in producing harmful gasses as well. Many of our power-plants within our lifetime here on earth have burned coal, which is one of the largest contributors to global warming out of all pollutants on earth, as stated by National Geographic. These gasses that are released into the atmosphere are known as “Greenhouse Gasses”, which are the main contributor to global warming. The term Greenhouse Gas, as stated by the National Weather Service was invented to give a visual description of how our atmosphere traps gasses and other particles into our atmosphere to prevent them from being released into space. As stated by National Geographic, “The Greenhouse Affect, is the process of heat and energy being trapped into our atmosphere to keep the earth at a livable
Hypothesis: If the enclosed area heats up and doesn 't allow air to escape, then the temperature inside the greenhouse should be somewhat higher than the temperature outside the greenhouse.
This program sets new emissions standards that go into effect in the year 2017. This program further reduces the amount of emissions and sulfur content in gasoline than the previous program. The government also instituted a voluntary program called The National Low Emission Vehicle Program which shows how cooperative companies are in these environmental programs. This is evident in some new vehicles which carry a LEV sticker or badge on it to show that this vehicle is environmentally friendly. CAP 2000 is compliance Assurance Program that lays down procedures for testing emissions durability. Consumers have also become more environmentally aware and have shown to give preference to those companies that show to care about the environment. In this day and age people have become the reason that the government has forced companies to acquire a green finger. No matter how a company sees it, there’s only a matter of time until all companies are forced to be green. One big advantage of going green is that you can experience a lot of savings as an organization. While the perception is that going green will cost more, actually it reduces cost by using less material or by recycling
Each of the world’s countries contributes different amounts of both gas and particle emissions to the atmosphere influencing changes in weather and climate on a daily basis. The main anthropogenic emissions in the climate system are Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous Oxide (N2O) and Aerosols, each consisting of a different atmospheric lifetime. Since the United States endorses open access to scientific data, tools and resources to conduct research, it is more beneficial to analyze the anthropogenic emission sources of the United States over other industrialized countries whose data is not so freely available to the public (Auer et al., 2007). The United States is the second highest emitter or polluter in the world. The burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation produces most of the United States’ emissions. Due to the country’s dependence on fossil fuels, the United States’ emission footprint is expanding. With a growing population and an expanding economy, the United States is urbanizing at an expansive rate. The increase in population as well as the modernization of our world is causing Americans to increase their energy consumption through increased transportation and the development of new cities. All in
Humans are polluting our atmosphere causing the Greenhouse Effect. What’s the Greenhouse Effect? “The Greenhouse Effect can be visualized as follows: imagine that Earth has been encircled by a giant glass sphere. The heat of the sun penetrates through the glass. Some of the heat is absorbed by the Earth, and some is radiated back towards space. The radiated heat reaches the glass sphere and is prevented from dispersing any further”(Global Warming The Facts). This makes the heat bounce back towards the Earth, which heats it up tremendously.
To help industries adopt low-carbon technologies through programs and services designed to help reduce greenhouse gas pollution while also reducing costs. Technologies will help to improve energy productivity and help industrial plants modernize so they can thrive in a competitive low-carbon economy.
Americans live very lavish, and wasteful life styles, and act as though this lifestyle is sustainable. Well it isn 't. That’s because it is destroying this planet, and ruining it for every other species on the planet. It is estimated by the year 2020 the window for turning our sinking ship around will be too late and the effects will be totally irreversible. So, how do greenhouse gases that end up in the atmosphere affect the climate? The main human created greenhouse gases are CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. The effects of CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases, a part of the greenhouse effect, are destroying the environment. Humans can cut down