Greenhouse Gas Tracking & Reporting Laws Are Overdue

As we look back to the start of the industrial age and assess how we have developed as a society since then, we can certainly point to some amazing developments and technological strides forward, in what is a relatively short space of time.

Since, we learned that we could use the fossil fuels readily found around us as a means of generating power, which in itself leads to so many other applications, we have not looked back. However, it is true to say that we are now in a position to realize what this heady growth has meant to us in terms of potentially catastrophic climate change caused by our actions.

Little did we realize as the decades went by and as we became more and more reliant on fossil fuels for our energy, that the byproduct of energy generation, production and usage was the release of damaging gases, which in large volumes created a warming effect in the atmosphere. We now realize that we must do something to severely curtail this problem and greenhouse laws are now being introduced to cut down on emissions of greenhouse gases.

Greenhouse laws recognize that carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide equivalent gases are very dangerous and can cause significant temperature changes and adverse effects on weather and all forms of life. The laws being put in place aim to force the biggest emitters of gases, the largest companies to cut back and to seek alternative measures of energy generation and production.

The United Kingdom is one of the first countries to put in place mandatory laws, requiring the largest companies to cut back as part of legislation that will come into effect in 2010 and 2011. By the year 2050, the British government must have already reached its goal in carbon emissions reduction by as much as 80%.

The greenhouse gas laws being introduced in the UK are basically part of a cap and trade scheme, where the government will set a limit on the total amount of greenhouse gases that are acceptable. As these larger companies will have revealed their previous consumption and emission levels, they will be forced to reduce them proactively, as the government will have put a financial value on each ton of carbon.

It is obviously not enough to expect individuals, consumers and large companies alike to act out of goodwill when it comes to reducing their carbon footprints. Probably the first step of the government's initiative in addressing greenhouse gas problems, the Carbon Reduction Commitment will significantly help slow down the negative effects of climate change.

While many scientists and environmentalists have been preaching to politicians and society in general about the problem for some time, it has only been in very recent years that any real action has been taken. The Kyoto Protocol was groundbreaking in the late 90s when many countries agreed that action needed to be taken, but little tangible has been done since then. Mandatory compliance to laws which regulate greenhouse gas emissions will become very common.

There is considerable pressure on the United States to take some form of leadership role. Up until this point, various excuses have been given by the US administration and while the Congress is debating its own greenhouse laws, there seems some doubt as to whether they will soon be passed into law, as seen in the UK.