PART 300—VOLUNTARY GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING PROGRAM: GENERAL GUIDELINES Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7101, et seq., Source: 71 FR 20805, Apr. 21, 2006, unless otherwise noted. § 300.1 General. (a) Purpose. (b) Reporting under the program. (i) File an entity statement that meets the appropriate requirements in § 300.5(d) through (f) of this part; (ii) Use appropriate emission inventory and emission reduction calculation methods specified in the Technical Guidelines (incorporated by reference, see § 300.13), and calculate and report the weighted average quality rating of any emission inventories it reports; (iii) Comply with the record keeping requirements in § 300.9 of this part; and (iv) Comply with the certification requirements in § 300.10 of this part; (2) Each reporting entity, whether or not it intends to register emissions as described in paragraph (c) of this section, may report offset reductions achieved by other entities outside their boundaries as long as such reductions are reported separately and calculated in accordance with methods specified in the Technical Guidelines. The third-party entity that achieved these reductions must agree to their being reported as offset reductions, and must also meet all of the requirements of reporting that would apply if the third-party entity reported directly under the 1605(b) program. (3) An entity that intends to register emissions and emission reductions must meet the additional requirements referenced in paragraph (c) of this section. (4) An entity that does not intend to register emissions and emission reductions may choose to report its emissions and/or emission reductions on an entity-wide basis or for selected elements of the entity, selected gases or selected sources. (5) An entity that does not intend to register emissions may report emission inventories for any year back to 1990 and may report emission reductions for any year back to 1991, relative to a base period of one to four years, ending no earlier than 1990. (c) Registration requirements. (1) To be eligible for registration, a reduction must have been achieved after 2002, unless the entity has committed under the Climate Leaders or Climate VISION programs to reduce its entity-wide emissions relative to a base period that ends earlier 2002, but no earlier than 2000. (2) A large emitter must submit an entity-wide emission inventory that meets or exceeds the minimum quality requirements specified in § 300.6(b) and the Technical Guidelines (incorporated by reference, see § 300.13). Registered reductions of a large emitter must be based on an entity-wide assessment of net emission reductions, determined in accordance with § 300.8 and the Technical Guidelines. (3) A small emitter must also submit an emission inventory that meets minimum quality requirements specified in § 300.6(b) and the Technical Guidelines (incorporated by reference, see § 300.13) and base its registered reductions on an assessment of annual changes in net emissions. A small emitter, however, may restrict its inventory and assessment to a single type of activity, such as forest management, building operations or agricultural tillage. (4) Reporting entities may, under certain conditions, register reductions achieved by other entities: (i) Reporting entities that have met the requirements for registering their own reductions may also register offset reductions achieved by other entities if: (A) They have an agreement with the third-party entities to do so and these third-party entities have met all of the requirements for registration; or (B) They were the result of qualified demand management or other programs and are calculated in accordance with the action-specific method identified in § 300.8(h)(5). (ii) Small emitters that serve as an aggregator may register offset reductions achieved by non-reporting entities without reporting on their own emissions, as long as they have an agreement with the third-party entities to do so and these third-party entities have met all of the requirements for registration. (d) Forms. (e) Status of reports under previous guidelines. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/guidelns.html. (f) Periodic review and updating of General and Technical Guidelines. (1) The addition of greenhouse gases that have been demonstrated to have significant, quantifiable climate forcing effects when released to the atmosphere in significant quantities; (2) Changes to the minimum, quantity-weighted quality rating for emission inventories; (3) Updates to emission inventory methods, emission factors and other provisions that are contained in industry protocols or standards. The review may also consider updates to any government-developed and consensus-based emission factors for which automatic updating is not provided in the Technical Guidelines; (4) Modifications to the benchmarks or emission conversion factors used to calculate avoided and indirect emissions; and (5) Changes in the minimum requirements for registered emission reductions. § 300.2 Definitions. This section provides definitions for commonly used terms in this part. Activity of a small emitter Aggregator Anthropogenic Avoided emissions Base period Base value Biogenic emissions Boundary de minimis Carbon dioxide equivalent Carbon stocks Climate Leaders Climate VISION De minimis emissions 2 Department DOE Direct emissions Distributed energy EIA Emissions Emissions intensity Entity (1) Is recognized under any U.S. Federal, State or local law that applies to it; (2) Is located and operates, at least in part, in the United States; and (3) The emissions of such operations are released, at least in part, in the United States. First reduction year Fugitive emissions Greenhouse gases (1) Carbon dioxide (CO 2 (2) Methane (CH 4 (3) Nitrous oxide (N 2 (4) HydrofluorocarbonsHFC-23 [trifluoromethane-(CHF 3 2 2 2 3 3 2 3 2 3 3 3 2 2 3 3 2 2 3 2 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 3 3 2 (5) Perfluorocarbons (perfluoromethane-CF 4 2 6 3 8 4 10 4 8 5 12 6 14 (6) Sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6 (7) Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11 [trichlorofluoromethane-CCl 3 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 3 2 (8) Other gases or particles that have been demonstrated to have significant, quantifiable climate forcing effects when released to the atmosphere in significant quantities and for which DOE has established or approved methods for estimating emissions and reductions. ( Note: Incidental lands (1) Transmission, pipeline, or transportation right of ways that are not managed for timber production; (2) Land surrounding commercial enterprises or facilities; and (3) Land where carbon stock changes are determined by natural factors. Indirect emissions Large emitter 2 Net emission reductions Offset Registration Reporting entity Reporting year Sequestration 2 Simplified Emission Inventory Tool (SEIT) Sink 2 Small emitter 2 Source Start year Subentity Total emissions United States U.S. § 300.3 Guidance for defining and naming the reporting entity. (a) A reporting entity must be composed of one or more businesses, public or private institutions or organizations, households, or other entities having operations that annually release emissions, at least in part, in the United States. Entities may be defined by, as appropriate, a certificate of incorporation, corporate charter, corporate filings, tax identification number, or other legal basis of identification recognized under any Federal, State or local law or regulation. If a reporting entity is composed of more than one entity, all of the entities included must be responsible to the same management hierarchy and all entities that have the same management hierarchy must be included in the reporting entity. (b) All reporting entities are strongly encouraged to define themselves at the highest level of aggregation. To achieve this objective, DOE suggests the use of a corporate-level definition of the entity, based on filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission or institutional charters. While reporting at the highest level of aggregation is encouraged, DOE recognizes that certain businesses and institutions may conclude that reporting at some lower level is desirable. Federal agencies are encouraged to report at the agency or departmental level, but distinct organizational units (such as a Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuge) may report directly if authorized by their department or agency. Once an entity has determined the level of corporate or institutional management at which it will report ( e.g. (c) A name for the defined entity must be specified by all reporters. For entities that intend to register reductions, this should be the name commonly used to represent the activities being reported, as long as it is not also used to refer to substantial activities not covered by the entity's reports. While DOE believes entities should be given considerable flexibility in defining themselves at an appropriate level of aggregation, it is essential that the name assigned to an entity that intends to register reductions corresponds closely to the scope of the operations and emissions covered by its report. If, for example, an individual plant or operating unit is reporting as an entity, it should be given a name that corresponds to the specific plant or unit, and not to the responsible subsidiary or corporate entity. In order to distinguish a parent company from its subsidiaries, the name of the parent company generally should not be incorporated into the name of the reporting subsidiary, but if it is, the name of the parent company usually should be secondary. § 300.4 Selecting organizational boundaries. (a) Each reporting entity must disclose in its entity statement the approach used to establish its organizational boundaries, which should be consistent with the following guidelines: (1) In general, entities should use financial control as the primary basis for determining their organizational boundaries, with financial control meaning the ability to direct the financial and operating policies of all elements of the entity with a view to gaining economic or other benefits from its activities over a period of many years. This approach should ensure that all sources, including those controlled by subsidiaries, that are wholly or largely owned by the entity are covered by its reports. Sources that are under long-term lease of the entity may, depending on the provisions of such leases, also be considered to be under the entity's financial control. Sources that are temporarily leased or operated by an entity generally would not be considered to be under its financial control. (2) Entities may establish organizational boundaries using approaches other than financial control, such as equity share or operational control, but must disclose how the use of these other approaches results in organizational boundaries that differ from those resulting from using the financial control approach. (3) Emissions from facilities or vehicles that are partially-owned or leased may be included at the entity's discretion, provided that the entity has taken reasonable steps to assure that doing so does not result in the double counting of emissions, sequestration or emission reductions. Emissions reductions or sequestration associated with land, facilities or other sources not owned or leased by an entity may not be included in the entity's reports under the program unless the entity has long-term control over the emissions or sequestration of the source and the owner of the source has agreed that the emissions or sequestration may be included in the entity's report. (4) If the scope of a defined entity extends beyond the United States, the reporting entity should use the same approach to determining its organizational boundaries in the U.S. and outside the U.S. (b) Each reporting entity must keep separate reports on emissions or emission reductions that occur within its defined boundaries and those that occur outside its defined boundaries. Entities must also keep separate reports on emissions and emission reductions that occur outside the United States and those that occur within the United States. (c) An entity that intends to register its entity-wide emissions reductions must document and maintain its organizational boundary for accounting and reporting purposes. § 300.5 Submission of an entity statement. (a) Determining the type of reporting entity. (1) Large emitters that intend to register emission reductions; (2) Small emitters that intend to register emission reductions; and (3) Emitters that intend to report, but not register emission reductions. (b) Choosing a start year. (1) For all entities, it is the year immediately preceding the first year for which the entity intends to register emission reductions and the last year of the initial base period(s). (2) For entities intending to register emission reductions, the start year may be no earlier than 2002, unless the entity has made a commitment to reduce its entity-wide emissions under the Climate Leaders or Climate VISION program. An entity that has made such a commitment may establish a start year derived from the base period of the commitment, as long as it is no earlier than 2000. (i) For a large emitter, the start year is the first year for which the entity submits a complete emissions inventory under the 1605(b) program. (ii) The entity's emissions in its start year or its average annual emissions over a period of up to four years ending in the start year determine whether it qualifies to begin reporting as a small emitter. (3) For entities not intending to register reductions, the start year may be no earlier than 1990. (c) Determining and maintaining large or small emitter reporting status. 2 2 (2) An entity must estimate its total emissions using methods specified in Chapter 1 of the Technical Guidelines (incorporated by reference, see § 300.13) or by using the Simplified Emission Inventory Tool (SEIT) provided by EIA and also discussed in Chapter 1. The results of this estimate must be reported to EIA. [ Note: (3) After starting to report, each small emitter must annually certify that the emissions-related operations and boundaries of the entity have not changed significantly since the previous report. A new estimate of total emissions must be submitted after any significant increase in emissions, any change in the operations or boundaries of the small emitter, or every five years, whichever occurs first. Small emitters with estimated annual emissions of over 9,000 metric tons of CO 2 (d) Entity statements for large emitters intending to register reductions. (1) The name to be used to identify the participating entity; (2) The legal basis of the named entity; (3) The criteria used to determine: (i) The organizational boundaries of the entity, if other than financial control; and (ii) The sources of emissions included or excluded from the entity's reports, such as sources excluded as de minimis (4) The names of any parent or holding companies the activities of which will not be covered comprehensively by the entity's reports; (5) The names of any large subsidiaries or organizational units covered comprehensively by the entity's reports. All subsidiaries of the entity must be covered by the entity's reports, but only large subsidiaries must be specifically identified in the entity statement; (6) A list of each country where operations occur, if the entity is including any non-U.S. operations in its report; (7) A description of the entity and its primary U.S. economic activities, such as electricity generation, product manufacturing, service provider or freight transport; for each country listed under paragraph (d)(6) of this section, the large emitter should describe the economic activity in that country. (8) A description of the types of emission sources or sinks to be covered in the entity's emission inventories, such as fossil fuel power plants, manufacturing facilities, commercial office buildings or heavy-duty vehicles; (9) The names of other entities that substantially share the ownership or operational control of sources that represent a significant part of the reporting entity's emission inventories, and a certification that, to the best of the certifier's knowledge, the direct greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration in the entity's report are not included in reports filed by any of these other entities to the 1605(b) program; and (10) Identification of the start year. (e) Entity statements for small emitters intending to register reductions. (1) The name to be used to identify the participating entity; (2) The legal basis of the named entity; (3) An identification of the entity's control over the activities covered by the entity's reports, if other than financial control; (4) The names of any parent or holding companies the activities of which will not be covered comprehensively by the entity's reports; (5) An identification or description of the primary economic activities of the entity, such as agricultural production, forest management or household operation; if any of the economic activities covered by the entity's reports occur outside the U.S., a listing of each country in which such activities occur; (6) An identification or description of the specific activity (or activities) and the emissions, avoided emissions or sequestration covered by the entity's report, such as landfill gas recovery or forest sequestration; (7) A certification that, to the best of the certifier's knowledge, the direct greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration in the entity's report are not included in reports filed by any other entities reporting to the 1605(b) program; and (8) Identification of the start year. (f) Entity statements for reporting entities not registering reductions. (1) The name to be used to identify the reporting entity; (2) The legal basis of the entity; (3) An identification of the entity's control over the activities covered by the entity's reports, if other than financial control; (4) A description of the entity and its primary economic activities, such as electricity generation, product manufacturing, service provider, freight transport, agricultural production, forest management or household operation; if any of the economic activities covered by the entity's reports occur outside the United States, a listing of each country in which such activities occur; and (5) A description of the types of emission sources or sinks, such as fossil fuel power plants, manufacturing facilities, commercial office buildings or heavy-duty vehicles, covered in the entity's reports of emissions or emission reductions. (g) Changing entity statements. (2) From time to time, a reporting entity may choose to change the scope of activities included within the entity's reports or the level at which the entity wishes to report. A reporting entity may also choose to change its organizational boundaries, its base period, or other elements of its entity statement. For example, companies buy and sell business units, or equity share arrangements may change. In general, DOE encourages changes in the scope of reporting that expand the coverage of an entity's report and discourages changes that reduce the coverage of such reports unless they are caused by divestitures or plant closures. Any such changes should be reported in amendments to the entity statement, and major changes may warrant or require changes in the base values used to calculate emission reductions and, in some cases, the entity's base periods. Changes in the scope of reporting made on or before May 31 of a given calendar year must be reflected in the report submitted covering emissions and reductions for the following calendar year. Reporting entities may choose to postpone incorporating changes in the scope of reporting made after May 31 until submitting the report covering emissions and reductions for the year after the following calendar year. However, in no case should there be an interruption in the annual reports of entities registering emission reductions. Chapter 2 of the Technical Guidelines (incorporated by reference, see § 300.13) provides more specific guidance on how such changes should be reflected in entity statements, reports, and emission reduction calculations. (h) Documenting changes in amended entity statements. (1) For significant changes in the reporting entity's scope or organizational boundaries, the entity should document: (i) The acquisition or divestiture of discrete business units, subsidiaries, facilities, and plants; (ii) The closure or opening of significant facilities; (iii) The transfer of economic activity to or from specific subentities covered by the entity's reports, such as the transfer of operations to non-U.S. subsidiaries; (iv) Significant changes in land holdings (applies to entities reporting on greenhouse gas emissions or sequestration related to land use, land use change, or forestry); (v) Whether the reporting entity is reporting at a higher level of aggregation than it did in the previous report, and if so, a listing of the subsidiary entities that are now aggregated under a revised conglomerated entity, including a listing of any non-U.S. operations to be added and the specific countries in which these operations are located; and (vi) Changes in its activities or operations ( e.g. § 300.6 Emissions inventories. (a) General. 2 2 (b) Quality requirements for emission inventories. (1) Entities may at any time choose to modify the measurement or estimation methods that they use for their current or future year emission inventories. Such modifications would enable entities to gradually improve the quality of the ratings over time, but prior year inventories may be modified only to correct significant errors. (2) Entities that have had their emission quantities and the quantity-weighted quality rating of their emissions inventory independently verified may report their emissions and average quality ratings by greenhouse gas, indirect emissions and sequestration, rather than by source or sink category. (3) Entities that certify that they have used only A or B methods, may forego indicating in their reports the quality ratings of the methods used and may forego calculating the quantity-weighted average quality of their emission inventories. (c) Using estimation methods not included in the Technical Guidelines. (d) Direct emissions inventories. e.g. e.g. (e) Inventories of indirect emissions associated with purchased energy. (2) Entities may choose to report other forms of indirect emissions, such as emissions associated with employee commuting, materials consumed or products produced, although such other indirect emissions may not be included in the entity's emission inventory and may not be the basis for registered emission reductions. All such reports of other forms of indirect emissions must be distinct from reports of indirect emissions associated with purchased energy and must be based on emission measurement or estimation methods identified in the Technical Guidelines (incorporated by reference, see § 300.13) or approved by DOE. (f) Entity-level inventories of changes in terrestrial carbon stocks. (g) Treatment of de minimis emissions and sequestration. 2 (2) After starting to report, each reporting entity that excludes from its annual reports any de minimis (h) Separate reporting of domestic and international emissions. (i) Covered gases. (j) Units for reporting. e.g. 2 e.g. 2 § 300.7 Net emission reductions. (a) Entities that intend to register emission reductions achieved must comply with the requirements of this section. Entities may voluntarily follow these procedures if they want to demonstrate the achievement of net, entity-wide reductions for years prior to the earliest year permitted for registration. Only large emitters must follow the requirements of paragraph (b) of this section, but small emitters may do so voluntarily. Only entities that qualify as small emitters may use the special procedures in paragraph (c) of this section. Entities seeking to register emission reductions achieved by other entities (offsets) must certify that these emission reductions were calculated in a manner consistent with the requirements of paragraph (d) of this section and use the emission reduction calculation methods identified in § 300.8. All entities seeking to register emission reductions must comply with the requirements of paragraph (e) of this section. Only reductions in the emissions of the first six categories of gases listed in the definition of “greenhouse gases” in § 300.2 are eligible for registration. (b) Assessing net emission reductions for large emitters. 2 (2) If it is not practicable to assess the changes in net emissions resulting from certain entity activities using at least one of the methods described in § 300.8 of this part, the entity may exclude them from its estimate of net emission reductions. The entity must identify as one or more distinct subentities the sources of emissions excluded for this reason and describe the reasons why it was not practicable to assess the changes that had occurred. DOE believes that few emission sources will be excluded for this reason, but has identified at least two situations where such an exclusion would be warranted. For example, it is likely to be impossible to assess the emission changes associated with a new manufacturing plant that produces a product for which the entity has no historical record of emissions or emissions intensity (emissions per unit of product output). However, once the new plant has been operational for at least a full year, a base period and base value(s) for the new plant could be established and its emission changes assessed in the following year. Until the emission changes of this new subentity can be assessed, it should be identified in the entity's report as a subentity for which no assessment of emission changes is practicable. The other example involves a subentity that has reduced its output below the levels of its base period. In such a case, the subentity could not use the absolute emissions method and may also be unable to identify an effective intensity metric or other method. (3) In calculating its net annual emission reductions, an entity should exclude any emissions or sequestration that have been excluded from the entity's inventory. The entity should also exclude all de minimis (c) Assessing emission reductions for entities with small emissions. 2 (i) Perform a complete assessment of the annual emissions and sequestration associated with each of the activities upon which they report, using methods that meet the same quality requirements applicable to entity-wide emission inventories; and (ii) Determine the changes in the emissions, eligible avoided emissions or sequestration associated with each of these activities. (2) An entity reporting as a small emitter must report on one or more specific activities and is encouraged, but not required to report on all activities occurring within the entity boundary. Examples of small emitter activities include: vehicle operations; product manufacturing processes; building operations or a distinct part thereof, such as lighting; livestock operations; crop management; and power generation. For example, a farmer managing several woodlots and also producing a wheat crop may report emission reductions associated with managing an individual woodlot. However, the farmer must also assess and report the net sequestration resulting from managing all the woodlots within the entity's boundary. The small emitter is not required to report on emissions or reductions associated with growing the wheat crop. (3) A small emitter must certify that the reductions reported were not caused by actions likely to cause increases in emissions elsewhere within the entity's operations. This certification should be based on an assessment of the likely direct and indirect effects of the actions taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (d) Net emission reductions achieved by other entities (offset reductions or emission reductions submitted by aggregators). (e) Net emission reductions to be reported by other entities as offset reductions. (f) Adjusting for year-to-year increases in net emissions. 2 (2) [Reserved] § 300.8 Calculating emission reductions. (a) Choosing appropriate emission reduction calculation methods. (i) How the entity's subentities are defined; (ii) How the reporter will gather and report emissions data; and (iii) The availability of other types of data that might be needed, such as production or output data. (2) For some entities, a single calculation method will be sufficient, but many entities may need to apply more than one method because discrete components of the entity require different calculation methods. In such a case, the entity will need to select a method for each subentity (or discrete component of the entity with identifiable emission or reductions). The emissions and output measure (generally a physical measure) of each subentity must be clearly distinguished and reported separately. Guidance on the selection and specification of calculation methods is provided in Chapter 2 of the Technical Guidelines (incorporated by reference, see § 300.13). (b) Identifying subentities for calculating reductions. (c) Choosing a base period for calculating reductions. (d) Establishing base values. (e) Emission reduction and subentity statements. (1) An identification and description of the method used to calculate emission reductions, including: (i) The type of calculation method; (ii) The measure of output used (if any); and (iii) The method-specific base period for which any required base value will be calculated. (2) The base period used in calculating reductions. When an entity starts to report, the base period used in calculating reductions must end in the start year. However, over time the reporting entity may find it necessary to revise or establish new base periods and base values in response to significant changes in processes or output of the subentity. (3) A description of the subentity and its primary economic activity or activities, such as electricity generation, product manufacturing, service provider, freight transport, or household operation; and (4) A description of the emission sources or sinks covered, such as fossil fuel power plants, manufacturing facilities, commercial office buildings or heavy-duty vehicles. (f) Changes in calculation methods, base periods and base values. (g) Continuous reporting. (h) Calculation methods. (1) Changes in emissions intensity. (i) A reasonable indicator of the output produced by the entity; (ii) A reliable indicator of changes in the entity's activities; (iii) Related to emissions levels; and (iv) Any appropriate adjustments for acquisitions, divestitures, insourcing, outsourcing, or changes in products have been made, as described in the Technical Guidelines (incorporated by reference, see § 300.13). (2) Changes in absolute emissions. (3) Changes in carbon storage (for actions within entity boundaries). (4) Changes in avoided emissions (for actions within entity boundaries). (i) The measurement and calculation methods used comply with the Technical Guidelines (incorporated by reference, see § 300.13); (ii) The entity certifies that any increased sales were not attributable to the acquisition of a generating facility that had been previously operated, unless the entity's base period includes generation values from the acquired facility's operation prior to its acquisition; and (iii) Generators of distributed energy that have net emissions in their base period and intend to report reductions resulting from changes in eligible avoided emissions, use a method specified in the Technical Guidelines (incorporated by reference, see § 300.13) that integrates the calculation of reductions resulting from both changes in emissions intensity and changes in avoided emissions. (5) Action-specific emission reductions (for actions within entity boundaries). (i) Uses output, utilization and other factors that are consistent, to the maximum extent practicable, with the action's actual performance in the year for which reductions are being reported; (ii) Excludes any emission reductions that might have resulted from reduced output or were caused by actions likely to be associated with increases in emissions elsewhere within the entity's operations; and (iii) Uses methods that are in compliance with the Technical Guidelines (incorporated by reference, see § 300.13). (i) Summary description of actions taken to reduce emissions. (j) Emission reductions associated with plant closings, voluntary actions and government (including non-U.S. regulatory regimes) requirements. (2) If emission reductions were, in whole or in part, the direct result of plant closings that caused a decline in output, the report must identify the reductions as such; these reductions do not qualify for registration. EIA will presume that reductions calculated using the emissions intensity method do not result from a decline in output. (3) If the reductions were associated, in whole or part, with U.S. or non-U.S. government requirements, the report should identify the government requirement involved and the effect these requirements had on the reported emission reductions. If, as a result of the reduction, a non-U.S. government issued to the reporting entity a credit or other financial benefit or regulatory relief, the report should identify the government requirement involved and describe the specific form of benefit or relief provided. (k) Determining the entity responsible for emission reductions. § 300.9 Reporting and recordkeeping requirements. (a) Starting to report under the guidelines. (b) Revisions to reports submitted under the guidelines. (i) Revised reports may be submitted to correct errors that have a significant effect on previously estimated emissions or emission reductions; and (ii) Emission inventories may be revised in order to create a consistent time series based on improvements in the emission estimation or measurement techniques used. (2) Reporting entities must provide the corrected or improved data to EIA, together with an explanation of the significance of the change and its justification. (3) If a change in calculation methods (for inventories or reductions) is made for a particular year, the reporting entity must, if feasible, revise its base value to assure methodological consistency with the reporting year value. (c) Definition and deadline for annual reports. (d) Recordkeeping. (1) The content of entity statements, including the identification of the specific facilities, buildings, land holding and other operations or emission sources covered by the entity's reports and the legal, equity, operational and other bases for their inclusion; (2) Information on the identification and assessment of changes in entity boundaries, processes or products that might have to be reported to EIA; (3) Any agreements or relevant communications with other entities or third parties regarding the reporting of emissions or emission reductions associated with sources the ownership or operational control of which is shared; (4) Information on the methods used to measure or estimate emissions, and the data collection and management systems used to gather and prepare this data for inclusion in reports; (5) Information on the methods used to calculate emission reductions, including the basis for: (i) The selection of the specific output measures used, and the data collection and management systems used to gather and prepare output data for use in the calculation of emission reductions; (ii) The selection and modification of all base years, base periods and baselines used in the calculation of emission reductions; (iii) Any baseline adjustments made to reflect acquisitions, divestitures or other changes; (iv) Any models or other estimation methods used; and (v) Any internal or independent verification procedures undertaken. (e) Confidentiality. § 300.10 Certification of reports. (a) General requirement and certifying official (b) Certification statement requirements. (1) The information reported is accurate and complete; (2) The information reported has been compiled in accordance with this part; and (3) The information reported is consistent with information submitted in prior years, if any, or any inconsistencies with prior year's information are documented and explained in the entity statement. (c) Additional requirements for registering. (1) The entity took reasonable steps to ensure that direct emissions, emission reductions, and/or sequestration reported are neither double counted nor reported by any other entity. Reasonable steps include telephone, fax, letter, or e-mail communications to ensure that another entity does not intend to report the same emissions, emission reductions, and/or sequestration to DOE. Direct communications of this kind with participants in demand-side management or other programs directed at very small emitters are not required; (2) Any emission reductions reported or registered by the entity that were achieved by another entity (other than a very small emitter that participated in a demand-side management or other program) are included in the entity's report only if: (i) The other entity does not intend to report or register theses reductions directly; (ii) There exists a written agreement with each other entity providing that the reporting entity is the entity entitled to report or register these emission reductions; and (iii) The information reported on the other entity would meet the requirements of this part if the entity were reporting directly to DOE; (3) None of the emissions, emission reductions, or sequestration reported were produced by shifting emissions to other entities or to non-reporting parts of the entity; (4) None of any reported changes in avoided emissions associated with the sale of electricity, steam, hot or chilled water generated from non-emitting or low-emitting sources are attributable to the acquisition of a generating facility that has been previously operated, unless the entity's base period includes generation values from the acquiring facility's operation prior to its acquisition; (5) The entity maintains records documenting the analysis and calculations underpinning the data reported on this form and records documenting the analysis and calculations underpinning the base values used in calculating annual reductions are maintained in accordance with § 300.9(d) of this part; and (6) The entity has, or has not, obtained independent verification of the report, as described in § 300.11. § 300.11 Independent verification. (a) General. (b) Qualifications of verifiers. i.e., (i) The lead individual verifier and other members of the verification team are accredited by one or more independent and nationally-recognized accreditation programs, described in paragraph (c) of this section, for the types of professionals needed to determine compliance with DOE's 1605(b) guidelines; (ii) The lead verifier has experience managing an auditing or verification process, including the recruitment and allocation of other individual verifiers, and has been empowered to make decisions relevant to the provision of a verification statement; and (iii) All members of a verification team have education, training and/or professional experience that matches the tasks performed by the individual verifiers, as deemed necessary by the verifier accreditation program. (2) As further guidance, all members of the verification team should be familiar with: (i) The subject matter covered by the scope of the verification; (ii) The requirements of this part; (iii) Greenhouse gas emission and emission reduction quantification; (iv) Data and information auditing sampling methods; and (v) Risk assessment and methodologies and materiality analysis procedures outlined by other domestic and international standards. (3) An individual verifier should have a professional degree or accreditation in engineering (environmental, industrial, chemical), accounting, economics, or a related field, supplemented by specific training and/or experience in emissions reporting and accounting, and should have his or her qualifications and continuing education periodically reviewed by an accreditation program. The skills required for verification are often cross-disciplinary. For example, an individual verifier reviewing a coal electric utility should be knowledgeable about mass balance calculations, fuel purchasing accounting, flows and stocks of coals, coal-fired boiler operation, and issues of entity definition. (4) Companies that provide verification services must use professionals that possess the necessary skills and proficiency levels for the types of entities for which they provide verification services. Continuing training may be required to ensure all individuals have up-to-date knowledge regarding the tasks they perform. (c) Qualifications of organizations accrediting verifiers. (d) Scope of verification. (i) The content of entity statements, annual reports and the supporting records maintained by the entity; (ii) The representation in entity statements (or lack thereof) of any significant changes in entity boundaries, products, or processes; (iii) The procedures and methods used to collect emissions and output data, and calculate emission reductions (for entities with widely dispersed operations, this process should include on-site reviews of a sample of the facilities); (iv) Relevant personnel training and management systems; and (v) Relevant quality assurance/quality control procedures. (2) DOE expects qualified verifiers to refer to the growing body of literature on methods of evaluating the elements listed in paragraph (d)(1) of this section, such as the California Climate Action Registry Certification Protocol, the Climate Leaders Inventory Management Plan Checklist, and the draft ISO 14064.3 Protocol for Validation, Verification and Certification. (e) Verification statement. (1) The verifier has examined all components listed in paragraph (d) of this section; (2) The information reported in the verified entity report and this verification statement is accurate and complete; (3) The information reported by the entity has been compiled in accordance with this part; (4) The information reported on the entity report is consistent with information submitted in prior years, if any, or any inconsistencies with prior year's information are documented and explained in the entity statement; (5) The verifier used due diligence to assure that direct emissions, emission reductions, and/or sequestration reported are not reported by any other entity; (6) Any emissions, emission reductions, or sequestration that were achieved by a third-party entity are included in this report only if there exists a written agreement with each third party indicating that they have agreed that the reporting entity should be recognized as the entity entitled to report these emissions, emission reductions, or sequestration; (7) None of the emissions, emission reductions, or sequestration reported was produced by shifting emissions to other entities or to non-reporting parts of the entity; (8) No reported changes in avoided emissions associated with the sale of electricity, steam, hot or chilled water generated from non-emitting or low-emitting sources are attributable to the acquisition of a generating facility that has been previously operated, unless the base year generation values are derived from records of the facility's operation prior to its acquisition; (9) The verifying entity has procedures in place for the maintenance of records that are sufficient to document the analysis and calculations underpinning this verification. The verifying entity shall maintain such records related to base period data submitted by the reporting entity for the duration of the reporting entity's participation in the 1605(b) program and records related to all other verified data for a period of no less than three years; and (10) The independent verifier is not owned in whole or part by the reporting entity, nor provides any ongoing operational or support services to the entity, except services consistent with independent financial accounting or independent certification of compliance with government or private standards. (f) Qualifying as an independent verifier. § 300.12 Acceptance of reports and registration of entity emission reductions. (a) Acceptance of reports. (b) Registration of emission reductions. (c) Rejection of reports. (d) EIA database and summary reports. § 300.13 Incorporation by reference. The Technical Guidelines for the Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases (1605(b)) Program (January 2007), referred to throughout this part as the “Technical Guidelines,” have been approved for incorporation by reference by the Director of the Federal Register in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. You may obtain a copy of the Technical Guidelines from the Office of Policy and International Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20585, or by visiting the following Web site: http://www.policy.energy.gov/enhancingGHGregistry/technicalguidelines/. http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/code_of_federal_regulations/ibr_locations.html. [71 FR 20805, Apr. 21, 2006, as amended at 72 FR 4413, Jan. 31, 2007]