On 1 July over 150 people gathered on the Terrace of the House of Lords at an event hosted by Lord Oxburgh to celebrate five years of the Carbon Trust Standard.

Since it was launched in 2008 as the world’s first international standard for measuring, managing and reducing organisational greenhouse gas emissions, the Carbon Trust Standard has certified over 230 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. To put that amount in context, it is greater than the total annual emissions from all UK power generation and buildings combined.

The Carbon Trust Standard was launched with a number of trailblazing organisations that had piloted the methodology, including Morrison’s, B&Q and the Department for International Development. Over the past five years over 1,000 successful certifications have been awarded to organisations around the world that have committed to measuring, managing and reducing their emissions year on year.

Today the Carbon Trust Standard has been adopted by Britain’s biggest businesses, government departments, local authorities, NHS Trusts, universities and leading SMEs. It provides a framework for measure, managing and reducing greenhouse emissions, as well as being used to communicate real environmental performance and commitment.

An international network of affiliates has also been established to deliver the Carbon Trust Standard around the world in countries such as Ireland, Italy and China. A major partnership with the Korea Productivity Center has seen the Carbon Trust Standard take off in the Republic of Korea with some of the country’s largest businesses achieving certification, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Engineering and Construction, and Korea Electric Power Corporation.