Sao Paulo, Brazil —
Twenty-seven Brazilian corporations voluntarily reported their greenhouse gas emissions publicly earlier this month as part of Brazil's GHG Protocol Program.
The project from the
World Resources Institute formally launched last year, with positive signs the uptick in the coming year will be strong when more than 100 companies are expected to receive the training.
The 27 companies to report their emissions in Brazil for the first time include big-name brands, such as
Walmart Brasil,
Ford,
Alcoa,
Petrobras and
Banco do Brasil. Together they account for roughly 20 percent of the country’s energy and industrial emissions.
“The ability of developing countries to measure and verify GHG information is a major concern in international climate change talks and on Capitol Hill,” Taryn Fransen, a senior associate with WRI’s GHG Protocol Initiative, said in a statement last week. “While Brazil’s inventory program is voluntary, it shows the industrialized world that companies in developing countries, such as Brazil, are serious about measuring and reporting their emissions, and our GHG Protocol programs are helping to build this capacity.”
Brazil’s emissions rank fifth in the world, and growing: Its economy’s carbon intensity expanded 17 percent between 1990 and 2002.
