The second deadline for reporting your greenhouse gas emissions is steadily approaching (31 March 2019). Why wait until the beginning of the new year with collating your data? Why not put measures in place now? So that you can capture ánd manage the data required for your emissions reporting requirements.
But more importantly, why not ensure compliance nów and mitigate the risk of facing a R5 million penalty due to failing submission of information required by the National Greenhouse Gas Emission Reporting Regulations, that were promulgated on 3 April 2017.
The most important aspect of the Reporting Regulations is to assess whether or not the regulations are applicable to your business. This is determined by the capacity of your company to generate greenhouse gas emissions.
Should the outcome be that the Reporting Regulations are applicable to your company, a number of requirements must be met:
- Firstly, you must ensure that your company, including all facilities where ‘listed activities’ are exceeding a pre-defined capacity threshold level, are registered within 30 days after the promulgation of these regulations (i.e. before 3 May 2017). If the regulations are applicable to your business and you have not submitted the required information to the Department of Environmental Affairs, you are committing an offence in terms of regulation 16 of the Reporting Regulations and could therefore face a 5 million penalty.
- Secondly, relevant activity data must be collated for the reporting period (1 January up and until 31 December) to enable quantification of greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the “Technical Guidelines for Monitoring, Reporting, Verification and Validation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Industry”.
- Finally, you must submit the calculated quantities and activity data for all relevant facilities to the competent authority within the Department of Environmental Affairs before 31 March following the reporting year.
Climate Neutral Group is here to help you assess your reporting obligations and ensure compliance with the regulations. For more information visit our website, or contact me at 010 300 6015 or at silvana.claassen@climateneutralgroup.com.
