It's hardly a secret that cutting the collective carbon footprint of U.S. industry hovers near the top of the current administration's to-do list. Many companies have already been pondering their options, assuming that some form of legislation will become a reality. Most of the compliance talk has centered on the Waxman-Markey cap and trade bill, which has yet to pass, but we've noted that the EPA's Mandatory Reporting Rule requires many businesses to report their emissions by March 2011 with data collection to start in January 2010. The likes of GE, Ford and Wal-Mart are already acting on the carbon emissions front. Many have set voluntary targets.

This will take some investment and any good program will require a set of internal monitoring and reporting capabilities. Risk management and compliance will be a big part of this. The big vendors are likely working on some sort of offering right now, but at this early point, companies are going to have to grapple with this aspect of carbon reduction by themselves. No doubt processes will be manual to start. The issue is how fast companies can get beyond that. 

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