U.S SEC Views on Disclosure Bring Focus to Carbon Impact

Recently, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) offered both a view and a reminder on release of data related to climate change impact. The interpretation is located at:

http://www.sec.gov/rules/interp/2010/33-9106.pdf

For businesses, this means a greater focus on carbon impact and greenhouse gas emissions. For data center owners, it goes beyond efficiency on the data center. Energy consumers will need to understand the “carbon-makeup” of the energy streams they’re consuming. For example, is the source a coal-fired, natural gas or hydroelectric power plant? Or is the energy a mixture of different sources? Utilities like PG&E provide information on their energy mix via their website:

http://www.pge.com/myhome/edusafety/systemworks/electric/energymix/index.shtml

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a wealth of information on their website at:

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/index.html

As agencies and the business community gains a greater awareness of climate change impact, we (in IT) must gain a greater understanding of our impact as well.