Commonwealth greenhouse challenge—the reporting and verification process

Companies in Australia are in the midst of an uncertain period of experimentation with improved means of environmental reporting, accounting and auditing. The Commonwealth Greenhouse Challenge was launched in October 1995 with bipartisan support. A requirement of signing the Challenge is that companies have to provide information to the Commonwealth and the Australian public about their greenhouse gas emissions, and what actions are being taken to reduce them. This article briefly outlines the Program and typical information gathered and disclosed through the Program. It then draws attention to a discussion underway about the nature of ‘independent verification’ of information to be reported to the public under the Program, before drawing some conclusions about the reports and independent verification processes being used.