On 27 March 2011 the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) laid a report before Parliament on company reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The report is designed to meet a requirement of the Climate Change Act 2008.
Current position
Currently GHG reporting is purely voluntary.
Of course, there are arguments both in favour and against mandatory reporting. The provision in the Climate Change Act 2008 was designed to ensure that due executive consideration be given to the issue.
Company reporting of GHG emissions
Section 85 of the Climate Change Act 2008 requires the Secretary of State to either:
- before 6th April 2012, make regulations under section 416(4) of the Companies Act 2006 requiring the directors' report of a company to contain such information as may be specified in the regulations about emissions of greenhouse gases from activities for which the company is responsible, or
- lay before Parliament a report explaining why no such regulations have been made.
The report laid before parliament on 27th March 2012 is directed at this requirement. The report states that no decision whether to make regulations has been reached. The reasoning given for this indecision is that there has been extensive evidence gathered over the last couple of years and additional time is required to consider this evidence. Of course a decision will be required at some time.
The report can be accessed here
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 28/03/2012.
