News I iCET launches Energy and Carbon Registry in Southern China

Beijing – Feb. 4, 2009 --The Innovation Center for Energy and Transportation (iCET), a non-profit, non-governmental organization registered in Beijing, China and Pasadena, California has been awarded a grant from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund to develop a public, government backed carbon and energy efficiency registry in Guangdong Province in southern China. The registry, called the China Energy and Carbon Registry (CECR) is the first of its kind to be developed anywhere in China.

"As the world is facing an increasingly urgent need to tackle energy and climate change challenges, this could not be a more important or timely project," says iCET&#39s Executive Director, Dr. Feng An.

This exciting concept was initiated through the California EPA&#39s China Program and will therefore continue to receive support and collaboration from them. iCET will work with both US-based NGOs and agencies within the Chinese government. iCET &#39s primary partner will be The Climate Registry -- a non-government organization (NGO) based in Los Angeles, California. The Climate Registry has already developed a bottom-up approach to emissions accounting, where companies and organizations quantify and report their emissions from various individual sources according to a uniform accounting standard. There are over 300 members reporting their emissions to The Climate Registry. iCET will also work closely with Ecolinx Foundation and Business for Social Responsibility. The team will develop an online energy and carbon certification system to work toward increasing energy use efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from various domestic and multinational enterprises as well as local economic development areas. According to Dr. An, "this project reflects and is one of the best examples of the growing cooperation between China and California to work together to fight climate change."

Goals of the registry include:

1. Create a common standard for measuring and monitoring carbon emissions and energy usage; promote full and public disclosure of GHG emissions and energy consumption;

2. Publicize and reward energy-efficient enterprises and create a benchmark for high-performance operations;

3. Interpret and localize the methodology, establishing Chinese expert committee to review and make suggestions for applying the methodology into the Chinese context, with focus on developing the energy accounting method;

4. Demonstrate and publicize best practices of energy efficiency improvement and GHG emission reduction measures carried out by these enterprises;

5. Organize workshops to train the public and stakeholders on supply-chain energy and carbon management, green innovation and technology transfer; and 6. Raise awareness for the need to reduce GHG emissions and energy consumption in China and the rest of the world.

The Innovation Center for Energy and Transportation is best known for its work toward bringing vehicle fuel economy and low carbon fuel standards to China. iCET recently developed a consumer-oriented and user friendly online Environmentally Friendly Vehicle Rating System in China. iCET wrote the segment on transportation policy for the Nicholas Stern Review and has written policy papers for China&#39s Ministry of the Environmental Protection which recommends that the Ministry create a new and unique office only dedicated to the development and implementation of climate change policy. iCET was founded in 2006 and has offices in Beijing, Los Angeles and New York.