The emergence of global warming as a major issue for society has rapidly shifted onto the business agenda, becoming a top priority for many companies. For companies closely linked to the supply of energy, whether it be oil, gas, coal or electricity, the challenge is now of major significance to their overall business growth plans. But for others also, in the retail, transport, manufacturing and services sectors, the management of greenhouse gases now presents a range of risks and opportunities, relating to products, facility management, sourcing and distribution, as well as investments and acquisitions.

We have found however, that the issue is not always understood in a business context, sometimes resulting in ad-hoc initiatives, or over emphasis compared with other, more local and pressing environmental issues.

The challenge, as with other environmental issues, is:

•  to find a balanced strategic approach to managing these risks and opportunities, along with other business issues
•  to express this through a clear and well communicated policy
•  to implement the policy through business process integration
•  to monitor and report performance using key indicators which provide assurance and enable operational and strategic decisions to be taken, both by internal management and by external stakeholders.

•  Integrated approach : Greenhouse gases, and climate change more generally, form a core aspect of the wider challenge of sustainable development and also of the business corporate responsibility agenda. It's therefore important to align strategy and management with other related aspects such as supply chain responsibility, materials sourcing, waste management, socially responsible investment, product integrity, stakeholder engagement, etc. Failure to consider these other aspects can lead to sub-optimal programmes, conflicting resources, wasted communications, residual risks and lost business opportunities. The Reassurance Network are in an excellent position to provide this integrated approach given our focus on the wider agenda combined with extensive individual experience in environmental performance management and reporting.

•  Environmental Data Verification : The Reassurance Network's report verification experience has involved extensive reviews of environmental and energy reporting systems, ranging from operational monitoring of raw data to the collation of data across international business units and analysis and presentation in reports. This experience places us in an excellent position, not only to verify reported greenhouse gases, but to identify opportunities for improvements in the reporting process.

•  Diversity of skills : Our team can apply a wide range of skills, including technical and management systems auditing, corporate awareness briefings, operational training, data management systems design and verification, operational eco-efficiency reviews and strategy and policy development.

We also deliver assurance on any carbon offset schemes being used either internally or by your customers. There are many schemes now available and, although there is a movement towards standardisation, not all ‘offsets' are the same in terms of investments, e.g. in renewable energy projects, forestry projects, developing world clean development projects, etc.

We can investigate your chosen scheme, assess its overall approach and methodology and audit the specific mechanisms used for achieving the offsets, obtaining assurance and accounting.

In order to ensure the widest possible acceptance of the verification, we follow the internationally recognised Greenhouse Gas Protocol, developed jointly by the World resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). We cal also work to the new ISO14064 series.

Apart from delivering a concise verification statement relating to your emissions, we can offer a separate ‘management report' which will:

•  make recommendations for improving the efficiency and reliability of greenhouse gas reporting
•  identify opportunities for improving the management and monitoring of greenhouse gases, including the efficiency of energy intensive processes.

•  assessing how current business activities and planned developments may be affected by the climate change challenge
•  reviewing key sources of greenhouse emissions, market aspects (including competitors' approaches), instruments such as product labelling, investment risks and opportunities, sourcing and supply chain aspects
•  identifying possible risks and opportunities relating to your own business activities and also your value chain.

We deliver this via a combination of external research, internal review and co-development workshops where we contribute knowledge, independent challenge and facilitation, based on our experience of working through similar challenges across the wider corporate responsibility and sustainable development agenda.