What efforts are underway to unify registries and trading schemes?
Recognizing that interaction between these structures could enhance both efforts, many existing and emerging registries and trading programs are investigating bridges between their activities. An example of such a potential unification is the linking of the Northeast and Middle Atlantic states’ Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative’s (RGGI) cap & trade program with the NESCAUM Regional Greenhouse Gas Registry (RGGR). Though these programs are currently separate efforts, each group has been monitoring the other’s activities “with the goal of harmonizing the two efforts to facilitate possible future integration or interaction.” Most programs recognize that in order to attract participants, they must work toward establishing at least a basic set of common principles and greenhouse gas accounting fundamentals. In this manner, greenhouse gas accounting may function much like financial accounting, with a common set of basic principles modified to fit national regulations and policies. Consequen
