4.03.2007 - 07:00pm ET

(CSRwire) THETFORD CENTER, VT - April 3, 2007 - The Center for Sustainable Innovation (CSI) announced today the online implementation of its Global Warming Footprint tool for public access and use. Known as the Global Warming Footprint Calculator, CSI's tool is the only greenhouse gas measurement and reporting system that actually compares an organization's emissions with an allowable pattern of emissions required to stabilize CO2 concentrations in the earth’s atmosphere.

The specific standard of performance utilized in CSI's method is the WRE350 scenario, which specifies a global pattern of emissions required to stabilize CO2 concentrations to safe levels by 2150. The target level specified in the WRE350 plan is 350 parts per million (ppm), as compared to the present level of approximately 385 ppm, and the pre-industrial level of 280 ppm.

The WRE350 scenario was developed by Tom M. L. Wigley, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO (www.ucar.edu/org), Richard Richels, Director of Global Climate Change Research at the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, California (www.epri.com), and James A. Edmonds, a Senior Staff Scientist and Technical Leader of Economic Programs at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's (PNNL) Joint Global Change Research Institute (www.globalchange.umd.edu). Wigley, Richels, and Edmonds are the "WRE" namesakes of the WRE350 scenario.

CSI's Executive Director, Mark W. McElroy, had this to say about today's announcement: "What really differentiates the Global Warming Footprint from all other emissions measurement and reporting systems, including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and the Carbon Disclosure Project, is that we measure performance against a standard of performance that is tied to stabilizing CO2 concentrations in the earth's atmosphere to safe levels. No other measurement and reporting method does this." CSI's calculator can be found here:

www.sustainableinnovation.org/spreadsheetfs.html

CSI's Global Warming Footprint has been used to measure and report the emissions performance of several multi-national corporations using publicly available data, including Shell, BT, BP, GM, Ford, DuPont and several others. Ten such analyses can be found here:

www.sustainableinnovation.org/global-warming-footprints.html

Ben & Jerry's Homemade, a Unilever company, is also using CSI's approach for sustainability reporting, including the Global Warming Footprint.

The Global Warming Footprint is an application of CSI's Social Footprint methodology, a new approach to sustainability measurement and reporting that compares organizational performance with standards of performance in ecological and social contexts. Corporate Responsibility and/or Sustainability managers can learn more about the Social Footprint approach, including the Global Warming Footprint, by attending CSI's Social Footprint Masterclass on May 9–11 in Burlington, VT. Check here for more information: www.sustainableinnovation.org/social-footprint-class.html..

About Center for Sustainable Innovation

The Center for Sustainable Innovation is a Vermont non-profit corporation located in Thetford Center, VT. It was founded in 2004 with a vision of working for sustainability, both within and by means of innovation. Most of CSI's current efforts are being applied to development of the Social Footprint method, a joint project between CSI and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. CSI's founder and Executive Director, Mark W. McElroy, can be reached at mmcelroy@vermontel.net. More information about CSI, including its Social Footprint Masterclass, can be found at its website at: www.sustainableinnovation.org.

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