Challenges in environmental monitoring and reporting

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) represents about 170 crude oil and natural gas exploration, development and production companies in regulatory hearings and legal proceedings. Its principal role is to enhance the economic well-being and sustainability of the Canadian upstream petroleum industry. This presentation explores the role that information technology (IT) plays in knowledge and information management and how this role relates to meeting Canada's target for greenhouse gas emissions reductions set by the Kyoto Protocol. Actions such as the Voluntary Challenge Registry (VCR) and emissions reductions trading are re-visited and the information requirements associated with these actions are highlighted. It is shown that among others, emissions databases between jurisdictions (provincial, national, international) have to be integrated, reduction claims must be tracked, verified and cross-referenced to eliminate double counting, comprehensive databases to monitor all sources of GHG have to be created, and financial links have to be created and maintained. All of these tasks would be nearly impossible without information technology. Indeed, it was predicted that the importance of information technology will grow with the advance of globalization as a result of more complex interlocking of financial and trade matters, and increasing global environmental regulations. 1 fig