ANSI Issues First Set of Accreditations under Program for Greenhouse Gas Validation, Verification
December 17, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
| |
| IHS Sells Standards & Regulations |
Environment/Safety/Health solutions from IHS include current & historical codes, regs & standards from gov't, int'l & industry sources.
Complete this form for a free quote. |
|
| |
Seven organizations were accredited under a program that facilitates the inventory and reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) from the environment, according to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
These validation and/or verification bodies (VVBs) are the first to be recognized under the ANSI pilot accreditation program that was launched in February 2008.
The VVBs include:
- Advanced Waste Management.
- Bureau Veritas Certification North America.
- First Environment.
- NSF International Strategic Registrations.
- Rainforest Alliance.
- Ryerson, Master and Associates Inc.
- SGS Environmental Services Inc.
Organizations want to demonstrate their efforts to inventory, report and reduce GHG emissions, said ANSI. In order to assure the credibility of their claims, many of these organizations are turning to third-party bodies to validate and verify emission assertions.
Often used interchangeably, the terms "validate" and "verify" represent two separate processes.
Validation comes at the beginning of a project and lays out the framework by which emission reductions will occur. Verification assesses how an organization or project performed its GHG inventory and reported its results against an established protocol.
The ANSI GHG accreditation program operates according to requirements defined in ISO 14065:2007 - Greenhouse gases - Requirements for greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies for use in accreditation or other forms of recognition and ISO 14064-3:2006 - Greenhouse gases - Specification with guidance for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas assertions.
In support of the program, the Climate Registry, the Chicago Climate Exchange and the California Climate Action Registry each signed partnership agreements with ANSI earlier in 2008.
As the U.S. representative to the International Accreditation Forum, ANSI accreditation is also recognized by the Voluntary Carbon Standard Association.
Under the terms of these agreements, ANSI's program applicants can choose to be assessed not only under ISO 14065:2007 requirements, but also the specific protocols and requirements defined by these partner organizations.
Additional VVBs enrolled during the pilot program will continue in the accreditation process and new applicants will be accepted beginning in January 2009.
Source: American National Standards Institute (ANSI).