Benchmarking

The generic idea of benchmarking greenhouse gases emissions is simple. It means comparing emissions of a given installation/sector against a group of peers and/or best practices. Benchmarking is a process which has a wide range of applications in the field of climate change policy. It helps to visualise which emission levels are achievable by implementing best-available-technology (BAT) and may serve as an instrument for defining emissions baselines and/or targets.

For any entity – be it a country, a sector, an industrial association or a company - understanding the own performance and potential in terms of greenhouse gases emissions is a key element of any climate strategy. Perspectives provides expert advice to help you understanding how your entity compares with peers in terms of relative performance. According to your situation and upon the evaluation of your potential, different abatement options available to your entity can be analysed. This analysis can be carried out on a quantitative as well as qualitative basis. Such options are for example policies, practices or technology measures. Hence, benchmarking is a process of identifying your current situation and will be a first and important step in developing a coherent climate strategy.

Perspectives’ staff has a proven track record in applying benchmarking for defining climate strategies, framing climate policies, designing emission trading schemes and offset mechanisms and international climate negotiations, etc.

Perspectives’ benchmarking services include:

• Benchmarking for countries, sectors or companies to draft an energy and climate strategy
• Identification of mitigation potential
• Evaluating the impact of compliance regimes, such as Emission Trading Schemes
• The development of benchmarking based CDM and JI methodologies
• The development of benchmarking as a design feature of Emissions Trading Schemes
• The use of benchmarking for sectoral approaches and NAMAs (Nationally appropriate mitigation options)