With global warming continuing to permeate political discussion, companies will be more eager than ever to offer up environmental indicators to show their good citizenship. A handful of governments—those of Spain, Norway and Canada among them—may create incentives for (or demand) better reporting from troublesome industries.

The Global Reporting Initiative, an organisation based in the Netherlands, has been issuing reporting guidelines on sustainability since 2000. (It includes human-rights and workforce issues as well as environmental ones.) GRI reporting has grown: the organisation expects 1,750 global companies to issue reports based on its guidelines in 2008, triple the number in 2005.

in most countries green accounting has few teeth.

In America, the world’s great energy guzzler, “sustainability reports” are voluntary. It is nice to learn how many tonnes of waste are recycled at UPS, and to read that Proctor & Gamble’s Pampers are getting slimmer (so using less material). But what about the issues that companies don’t want to report? It would be no surprise if one day California—which has already passed a cap on carbon emissions—decides to require, say, corporate water-usage reports

One big problem is that most sustainability reports are not audited by outsiders (verification is especially rare in America). This could change as investing in “sustainable companies” grows.

In 2007 an American website called Climatecounts.org created an online scorecard that rates large corporations such as Apple, Dell and Nike on their efforts to reduce carbon emissions. In 2008 the green-besotted media will start investigating corporate environmental claims. Are companies really reducing their energy use as much as they say? And is organic cotton from abroad really organic?

Meanwhile green accounting of a sort for consumers is also poised to take off. Green labels that claim to declare the carbon footprint of products from shoes to food will proliferate. And carbon offsets—such as purchases of guarantees to plant trees, which absorb carbon dioxide and therefore make up for gas-guzzling behaviour—will become ubiquitous. In 2007 General Electric began offering a credit card that buys carbon offsets with reward points, and more gimmicks will surely arrive in 2008.

But the real breakthroughs will come in home energy usage. “Smart meters” that show real-time power consumption (and the cost of it) are on their way. Thus, for example, people will be able to see how much their costs spike when they run the dishwasher or the dryer. This will encourage conservation and off-peak energy use.

America’s main green-building certification programme, called LEED, is about to broaden its horizons from commercial buildings to homes. And the more aware consumers become of their own green footprint, the more pressure they will put on companies to come clean.

Companies in the news

Zerofootprint gets calculated about climate change

The centerpiece of Zerofootprint’s business is a personal carbon calculator. Enter details on your personal life — how much you drive, fly, eat, heat your house — and it will tell you how many tons of carbon dioxide you’re responsible for releasing into the atmosphere.  Once carbon output is calculated, users can see tips on lowering their own emissions, join groups and communities of like-minded people, and stay tied in with local news and events about environmentalism. This personal calculator has gotten some attention — reportedly, even former VP Al Gore uses it for himself.

Cities can roll out their own version of the Zerofootprint calculator to their residents and thus encourage them to make cuts that matter locally. Once they’ve made their calculation, local options for carbon reduction are suggested — for example, local transit options or carpooling groups for individuals who drive a lot

corporations, the Zerofootprint calculator is, so far, just a nice accessory to their business practices. PriceWaterhouseCoopers, for instance, used the calculator in Australia to determine the amount of savings they’d receive, in terms of carbon emissions, from video-conferencing with clients rather than flying consultants out to them. Handily, there was an attached economic benefit. But government regulation requiring corporations to limit their emissions will probably be required before they take serious interest in carbon-cutting. If and when such regulations do take place, it will be a company like Zerofootprint that they turn to.

separate for-profit arms that handle building out the calculator for cities and other companies.