Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Contact: Colleen Coyne, 651-297-7363 Toll-free: 1-800-657-3864 Saint Paul, Minn. - The Appliance Recycling Centers of America, Great River Energy, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Metropolitan Council and Xcel Energy are among the first 55 organizations nationwide to join The Climate Registry, a body that measures and reports greenhouse gas emissions in North America. MPCA Commissioner Brad Moore is encouraging other Minnesota companies and government agencies to follow suit. "The MPCA helped develop the new registry, and we're pleased to see these five local firms leading the way as well," says Moore. "While I am aware of several other groups considering this step, we must encourage more businesses, non-profits and government groups statewide to join us." The Washington D.C.-based registry is a non-profit organization that is the result of collaboration between 39 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. It also includes five Canadian provinces, three Native America tribes and two Mexican states. Its goal is to standardize greenhouse gas emission reporting and measurement, which has historically been done by various organizations in different ways. The registry will provide the infrastructure to support many state, regional and private sector voluntary and mandatory emission-reduction programs. In Minnesota, the registry will simplify any future plans for emissions trading, a system of providing companies economic incentives for reducing emissions. Under such a system, companies would be assigned "allowances" of emissions that they can then either use or trade. The 55 "founding reporters" will begin submitting their emissions totals to the registry when its database becomes operational on June 30. Greenhouse gas emissions tracked by the registry include CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. "These organizations came forward to show environmental leadership on a global scale by committing to participate in the registry during its preliminary stages," said Gina McCarthy, registry board chair, in a Jan. 15 release. For more information about the registry and to find out how to register your organization, go to www.theclimateregistry.org/. For more on Minnesota's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, go to www.mnclimatechange.us/index.cfm, and to find out about additional regional initiatives led by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, go to www.governor.state.mn.us/ and search for "climate change."