Leonardo Academy, a non-profit organization that works to advance sustainability, announced today that it is now accepting applications for participation on the Standards Committee that will work to develop an American National Standard for quantifying and documenting environmental emission inventories, reduction credits and offsets. Sonia Carlson, Leonardo Academy Emissions Services Manager said, “We are seeking a diverse group of individuals to help us develop this emissions standard—from individuals or organizations that create, inventory, reduce or sequester, or offset emissions to individuals or organizations that work to preserve and improve the environment to government representatives, labor groups, academics or other interested parties.”
About the Standard
Leonardo Academy is developing the Emissions Inventories, Reduction Credits and Offsets standard under the rules of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), a private, non-profit organization (501c3) that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system (www.ansi.org)
The objectives of LEO 5000 are to: (1) Provide transparent reporting of the scope of emissions sources being addressed and how emissions, sequestration and offsets are calculated, which will help companies and consumers to make sense of claims made by businesses about their emission reduction and offset achievement, (2) Avoid the traditional one-dimensional approach of targeting single emissions by addressing the full range of emissions types, including those that negatively affect climate and those that negatively affect human health and (3) Fill in the gap left by current climate emissions standards by addressing existing forests.
The Leonardo Academy white paper, “Review of Emissions Standards and Protocols: What Each One Addresses and How,” (2007 working draft available at: http://www.leonardoacademy.org/
“The current approach of emissions standards and protocols not crediting carbon sequestration in existing forests that are not secured by law or regulation is not only wishful thinking masquerading as public policy, it threatens the achievement of actual reductions in climate-altering emissions” said Michael Arny, President of Leonardo Academy. “LEO 5000, on the other hand, will recognize and give credit for carbon sequestration in all existing forests not secured by law or regulation.”
“Additionally,”
Amanda Raster, Leonardo Academy Sustainability Standards Development Manager said, “Our goal is to have the Emissions Standards Committee in place within eight weeks. We will move the development of this standard along as quickly as is practical so that we can contribute to the myriad of national strategies that are currently addressing climate change.”
How to Apply for the Standards Development Committee
Standards Committee application forms are available on the Leonardo Academy web site at http://www.leonardoacademy.org/
Leonardo Academy is a charitable (501c3) non-profit organization and is seeking donations from businesses, foundations and individuals to support this standard development process.
