New law paves the way for UK business carbon emissions reporting by 2012

MPs voted by 463 votes to three in favour of the bill, which included a last minute key amendment that means aviation and shipping will now be included in the Government’s targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

The passage of the bill into law, which has to be completed by December 1, places a duty on the Government to report back to Parliament on the implementation of a common standard for UK businesses to report their carbon emissions, to become mandatory by 2012.

A spokesperson for Department of Energy and Climate Change confirmed that the Government will begin a full consultation with business on carbon reporting, although no date has yet been set as to when that consultation process will begin. A key question to be addressed by the Government is the threshold at which a business' size will make it obligatory for it to report its emissions.

“Which businesses will have to report has yet to be determined,” said the spokesperson, “but ministers don’t want to put a burden on business. The smallest businesses should not have to report.”

Climate Change campaigner Friends of the Earth, said it favoured a staged process for including smaller businesses in environmental reporting.

“If we want to start this quickly, it makes sense to get the Footsie 100 companies or Footsie 350 companies reporting first,” said a Friends of the Earth spokesperson. “Then once software packages [for emissions reporting] have been developed and the process becomes cheaper, you can introduce smaller businesses. If you try and include all businesses at once, then the process could take quite some time.”

The date by which it will become mandatory for companies to report on their emissions is April 2012.