Voluntary reporting of greenhouse gases 2000. (Energy Plug).

The Energy Policy Act of 1992, among other provisions, created a voluntary program whereby U.S. companies and other organizations may report the results of their efforts to reduce, avoid, or sequester emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, and several engineered gases.

In 2000, 222 U.S. companies and other organizations (hereafter "reporters") reported that they undertook 1,882 projects to reduce or sequester greenhouse gases. These efforts produced reported results that are grouped in four general categories:

* Direct reductions (emissions reductions from any sources owned wholly or in part, or leased, by the reporting company), which produced reported reductions of 187 million metric tons carbon dioxide-equivalent (MMTC[O.sub.2]E) (see table);

* Indirect reductions, which are from sources not owned or leased by the reporter but which occur wholly or in part because of the reporter's activities (61 MMTC[O.sub.2]E);

* Sequestration, the fixation of atmospheric carbon dioxide in a carbon sink through biological or physical processes such as photosynthesis (9 MMTC[O.sub.2]E); and

* Unspecified reductions, reported reductions not categorized as either direct or indirect (12 MMTC[O.sub.2]E).

Direct and indirect reductions can be further broken down according to which of two baselines was used to calculate them, either emission levels in a particular prior year or hypothetical projected emission levels in the absence of reduction efforts. In 2000 over 80 percent of the 187 MMTC[O.sub.2]E total direct reductions, and 92 percent of the indirect reductions, were reported using the latter baseline.

Electric power sector reporters accounted for 1,287 (68 percent) of the reported projects in 2000; 462 of the projects (nearly all originating in the electric power sector) were related to the generation, transmission, or distribution of electricity while another 424 were related to energy end use. Industrial reporters accounted for 206 projects, agricultural and forestry organizations for 174, and alternative energy providers for 203.

Electric power sector projects accounted for 133 MMTC[O.sub.2]E in direct reductions. Energy end-use projects totaled about 20 MMTC[O.sub.2]E in direct reductions. Carbon sequestration projects accounted for 9 MMTC[O.sub.2]E, and methane abatement projects 29 MMTC[O.sub.2]E, of direct reductions. EIA no longer calculates the total of direct and indirect reductions because of the potential for double-reporting.

Indicators for the Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program,
1994-2000

   Indicator       1994   1995   1996    1997    1998    1999    2000
                   (R)    (R)                     (R)     (R)

Entities
  Reporting         108    142     150     162     207     207     222
Projects
  Reported          634    960   1,040   1,288   1,549   1,721   1,882
Entity-Level
  (Organization-
  Wide) Reports
  Received           40     51      56      60      76      83     100
Project-Level
    Reductions
    Reported
  (Million
    Metric Tons
    of
    C[O.sub.2]
    Equivalent)
  Direct (a)         63     88      90      95     148     155     187
  Indirect (b)        5     52      53      38      43      57      61
  Sequestration
    (c)               1      1       9      10      12      10       9
  Unspecified
    (d)               4      6       6       9      19      13      12

(a) Reductions in releases of greenhouse gases from any source owned
(wholly or in part) or leased by the reporting entity.

(b) Reductions from sources not owned or leased by the reporting
entity but that occur, wholly or in part, as a result of the entity's
activities.

(c) The fixation of atmospheric carbon dioxide in a carbon sink
through biological or physical processes.

(d) Reductions reported but not specified as either direct or
indirect.

(R)=Revised.

Note: 1999 data have been revised upward to include 1999 reports
that were filed after the deadline; 2000 data will be similarly
revised in next year's report.

Source: Energy Information Administration.