On September 30, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officially ended its Climate Leaders program. One element of the Climate Leaders program was the Small Business Network (SBN) which offered small businesses tools and resources to assist them with managing and reducing their GHG emissions. In direct response to E.O. 13514, EPA and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) utilized the Climate Leaders SBN as the foundation to launch the Federal Supplier Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Pilot ("the Pilot") in August 2010 to assess the benefits and challenges experienced by small businesses in completing and reporting a GHG emissions inventory. The Pilot is a voluntary, three-year program in which small businesses are required to develop annual GHG emissions inventories through September
2013. The small businesses are also required to develop and implement GHG emissions reductions strategies and review their progress towards meeting their reduction goals and the associated benefits. Through this interagency agreement, EPA continues to support the Pilot with education and technical assistance. EPA has developed this renewal ICR to ensure that the Pilot remains credible by obtaining continued authorization to collect information from its participants to ensure that they are meeting their GHG goals. Companies that joined the Pilot voluntarily agree to the following: Setting a corporate GHG reduction goal; submitting a GHG inventory management plan; reporting to EPA, on an annual basis, the company's GHG emissions inventory, and progress toward their GHG reduction goal via the Annual GHG Inventory Summary and Goal Tracking Form. The information contained in the inventories of the companies that participate in the Pilot may be considered confidential business information and is maintained as such. EPA uses the data obtained from the companies to assess the success of the Pilot in achieving its goals and to identify the type of outreach, training, and other direct assistance and incentives that will help small business federal suppliers meet the objectives of E.O. 13514. Responses to the information collection are voluntary.
EO: EO 13514 Name/Subject of EO: Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance
There is a decrease of 18,670 hours in the total estimated burden currently identified in the OMB Inventory of Approved ICR Burdens. This decrease reflects EPA's phase down of the Climate Leaders program on September 30, 2011. As a result, the number of respondents to this ICR decreased to include only those 46 small businesses participating in the joint EPA-GSA Federal Supplier Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Pilot.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.