California Climate Action Registry

The California Climate Action Registry is a program of the Climate Action Reserve committed to solving climate change through emissions accounting and reduction. It was created by the State of California in 2001 to promote and protect businesses’ early actions to manage and reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Through this mandate, the California Registry established protocols to guide emissions inventories and an online tool, the Climate Action Registry Reporting Tool (CARROT), to serve as a central database for emissions reports.

The California Registry started with 23 Charter Members, and this membership grew to include over 350 leading corporations, universities, cities and counties, government agencies and environmental organizations. Each of these members committed to voluntarily calculate and publicly report its GHG emissions according to the California Registry’s standards. Together, the California Registry and its members influenced California climate change policy, such as Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32), and worked to ensure proper recognition from the state for early actions to reduce emissions.

The California Registry’s success gained national and international attention. The accuracy, transparency and integrity of its standards earned it the reputation as a respected and internationally recognized leader in climate change issues.

Climate change is a global issue, though, and emissions reporting belongs on an international level. The California Registry realized that any success in reporting and reducing emissions had to be based on consistent data in an integrated system that stretched beyond California’s borders. For this reason, the California Registry was instrumental in establishing The Climate Registry with the mission of expanding the California Registry’s emissions reporting work to include all of North America. The last year the California Registry will accept emissions reports for is 2009; however, the organization will continue supporting its members and representing their interests and emissions reporting work to the State of California.

For more information, please visit the California Climate Action Registry website.