Carbon Registry

A GHG emissions or carbon registry is a public database of organizational emissions and reductions.  Registries allow organizations to calculate and report their emissions according to a uniform accounting standard. Carbon trading requires trading registries similar to financial exchanges for stocks and bonds in order to facilitate the market for emission reduction credits.  Registries help to prevent double counting and mark ownership of emissions reductions.

There are two types of carbon registry being implemented under Kyoto, both of which record holdings of Kyoto units and deliver units from sellers' to buyers' accounts. Annex I/B governments establish national registries containing accounts holding units in the name of the government or of legal entities authorized to hold and trade units. The CDM Executive Board and UNFCCC secretariat have implemented the CDM registry , which issues CDM credits and distributes them to national registries. CDM registry accounts are only held by project participants. These registries operate through a link established with the International Transaction Log. In voluntary markets, emission reductions may be registered with one of many independent carbon registries with individual rules regarding what information is reported. The American Carbon Registry was the first private voluntary carbon registry in the U.S. Different carbon registries operate under very different criteria for emissions reductions ranging from rigorous verification protocols to not assuming responsibility for the validity or legitimacy of credits and operating under a "buyer beware" standard.  Carbon registries may also help with crediting for early action -- the California Climate Action Registry is one such example.  The Climate Registry is a non-profit organization that has established a single registry for voluntary and mandatory emissions reduction programs.