Greenhouse Gas Reporting – Here and Now.

The future is now. On January 1^st, Ontario's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Regulation took effect - requiring between 200 and 300 facilities (such as electricity generators, steel & cement manufacturers, and petroleum refiners) emitting 25,000 tonnes or more per year of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) to report their emissions on an ongoing annual basis. The regulation is intended to obtain accurate emissions data to inform the development of Ontario's proposed cap-and-trade system.

Ontario has also announced that while small emitters (facilities emitting between 10,000 and 25,000 tonnes per year) are not currently required to report under the Regulation, the Ministry will develop a program to encourage voluntary reporting in anticipation of inclusion of these smaller emitters in the future in emerging North America–wide requirements, with which Ontario will likely align.

The 25,000-ton limit is comparable to the emissions from burning 131 rail cars of coal or the annual energy use of about 2,200 homes, while a typical coal-burning power plant emits several million tons of carbon dioxide a year.

Ontario's reporting threshold aligns with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's mandatory GHG reporting threshold of 25,000 tonnes - which impacts 14,000 large US sources of carbon dioxide. The Regulation represents a further step towards implementation of a cap and trade system in Ontario which will be harmonized to the requirements of a North America–wide system. Ontario has pledged to work with the federal government and other provinces as well as with the other provinces and U.S. states that are members of the Western Climate Initiative ("WCI") to harmonize Canada's carbon regime with the emerging U.S. carbon regime.

Greenhouse gas reporting is no longer a question of "If?" or "When?"...its right here, right now.