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Reporting Requirements

Technical Resources

Tools for Developing an Inventory and Tracking and Reporting Emissions

The Climate Leaders reporting requirements are designed to provide credibility and promote continuous improvement in corporate emissions accounting procedures. All Climate Leaders Partners can receive free technical assistance from EPA’s team of experts to complete the program’s reporting requirements in a timely manner.

The reporting requirements consist of three major components: the Annual GHG Inventory Summary and Goal Tracking Form, an Inventory Management Plan, and the review process.

  1. Annual GHG Inventory Summary and Goal Tracking Form (MS Excel, 1 p, 352K). This file contains macros that improve the usability of the form. In order to take full advantage of the enhanced features on this form you must enable the macros when opening the file in Excel.

    Partners complete and submit the Annual GHG Inventory Summary and Goal Tracking Form to EPA annually. This form describes emissions in terms of total CO2-equivalent at a corporate level, broken out by emission source type—core direct (e.g., stationary combustion, process, mobile sources), core indirect (e.g., electricity or steam purchases), and optional (e.g., employee commuting, business travel, or product transport)—for both domestic and international sources. The form also includes historical totals, a performance indicator (if applicable) that is used to track progress toward a reduction goal, data on reduction sources such as offset projects (e.g., sequestration) and green power or renewable energy certificate (REC) purchases. For small businesses or low emitters, EPA offers additional tools to assist in calculating corporate-level or source-specific emissions to be included in their annual GHG inventory summary.

  2. Inventory Management Plan

    Partners complete and maintain an Inventory Management Plan (IMP) that describes their process for completing a high-quality, corporate-wide inventory. Companies use an IMP to institutionalize a process for collecting, calculating, and maintaining greenhouse gas (GHG) data. EPA provides an IMP checklist (MS Word, 3 pp, 133K) that includes the elements of a high-quality IMP. Partners may have a single IMP document that addresses all of the elements that go into developing their corporate inventory, or they might have an equivalent collection of procedures and other relevant information. EPA expects the critical elements of an IMP to be developed within one year of a Partner joining the program, while other elements can be phased in over time.

    The seven major sections of an IMP are:
    • Partner Information: company name, address, and inventory contact information
    • Boundary Conditions: organizational and operational boundary descriptions
    • Emissions Quantification: quantification methodologies and emission factors
    • Data Management: data sources, collection process, and quality assurance
    • Base Year: base year adjustments for structural and methodology changes
    • Management Tools: roles and responsibilities, training, and file maintenance
    • Auditing & Verification: auditing, management review, and corrective action

    Several sample IMPs are available. Please note that these are examples and that each IMP will be specific to each company.

  3. Review Process

    EPA provides a desktop review of both the Partner’s IMP and its corporate GHG inventory data. EPA also offers a desktop review of facility-level GHG data for interested Partners. Many Partners have found the facility-level data review to be helpful in improving the quality of their inventory. One site visit is also conducted to ensure accurate facility-level implementation of the Partner’s IMP.

Third-Party Verification

Many Climate Leaders Partners have completed or are considering third-party verification of their inventories. As an alternative to the primary reporting option, EPA allows Partners that undertake a rigorous third-party verification of their GHG inventories to submit a verification report certifying that, at a minimum, the requirements of the Climate Leaders GHG inventory review have been met. Partners interested in third-party verification are encouraged to discuss this option with EPA.

Reporting Expectations and Timeline

Base Year Reporting and Sample Timeline (PDF) (1 pg, 55K, About PDF)
New Partners are expected to complete base year reporting within approximately one year of joining the program. EPA recognizes that time to complete a high-quality inventory can vary due to the complexity of a company’s operations and existing data collection efforts. Partners can be accommodated with individualized timelines if necessary.

Annual Reporting (After Base Year Data Are Finalized)

Partners that have completed base year reporting should submit subsequent years’ data by June 30 of each year.

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