climate-change-day-2020
ENAC-accredited bodies support the United Nations achieving climate change targets
Climate change indicators have reached a new magnitude: May 2020 was the hottest on record, and according to the World Meteorological Organization, carbon dioxide concentrations continue to register record levels. Therefore, on the International Day Against Climate Change, held on 24 October, the United Nations urged international governments to combat the effects, in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 13, Action for the Climate.
In this regard, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction, compensation and trading schemes, such as the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), have been established as a basic tool in governments' climate change strategy. To work properly, a key part of the sustainability policies (regional, national and supranational) is to understand, measure and offset greenhouse gas emissions associated with processes, facilities, products and projects. To do this, organizations subject to these plans must carry out an inventory and declare the amount of greenhouse gases that has been emitted or is to be emitted. It is essential to be inspected by an external organization to provide added confidence to its veracity.
In this area, ENAC-accredited greenhouse gas inspectors play a key role in making emission estimations reliable, as they have demonstrated the technical competence to provide strict statements and opinions, reliable emissions calculations and to improve the comparability of checks and conditions for emissions-based markets and trade.
In doing so, the use of accredited assessment services is an increasingly widely used tool at European and international level in order to achieve GHG emission reductions, compensation and trading schemes. Therefore, the European Commission has established regulations that only verifiers accredited by a national accreditation body – ENAC in Spain - can operate in both the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), established many years ago, and in the Reg. 757/2015 (on the monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from maritime transport) which will be launched this year.
In addition, the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) also requires accredited inspection of annually reported emissions and compensation measures taken by air operators.
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