The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) has again highlighted the imminent shortage of trained Carbon quantification and verification personnel at an executive forum of business, industry, environmental and government leaders held at the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC.

According to Suzanne Kiraly, president of CSA Standards, as things stand, the US will require 10,000 facilities to begin reporting carbon emissions in 2010. However when legislators do pass carbon verification or management legislation, this requirement is set to increase dramatically.The CSA has played a key role in setting common standards, and developing policy internationally. The CSA has also recently been very active in the Carribean, working with the Cariri (Caribbean Industrial Research Institute), holding ISO14064 training workshops and a recent seminar at Trinidad and Tobago.

Here at Carbon Action we can see the same scenario playing out as legislators in Europe move towards developing requirements and standards to enable organisations to measure and manage their carbon footprint.