Base Year GHG Emissions
Definition
Base Year GHG Emissions are the emissions of a base year that companies choose as their reporting baseline under the GHG Protocol.[1]
This is a year for which verifiable emissions data are available and companies must specify their reasons for choosing that particular year.
Most companies select a single year as their base year. However, it is also possible to choose an average of annual emissions over several consecutive years. For example, the U.K. ETS specifies an average of 1998–2000 emissions as the reference point for tracking reductions. A multi-year average may help smooth out unusual fluctuations in GHG Emissions that would make a single year’s data unrepresentative of the company’s typical emissions profile.
The inventory base year can also be used as a basis for setting and tracking progress towards a GHG Emissions Target in which case it is referred to as a target base year.
References
- ↑ The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, A corporate accounting and reporting standard, Revised Edition 2008
