FOREWORD
 Global warming is now universally accepted as being the greatest environmental threat to mankind in the current century. The impacts are staggering. Antarctic ice is thinning at increasingly rapid rates, with correspondingly massive influxes of fresh water into the world’s oceans. Siberia has warmed 3°C as compared to 1960.
All these changes are due mostly to human activities, particularly in raising the levels of CO2, a major greenhouse gas (GHG). Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have risen 35% since the Industrial Revolution. This increase is primarily due to anthropogenic activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Reducing the rate of GHG emissions will be an enormous challenge for everyone throughout the world which must be fought on many fronts.
To create awareness among APO member countries, a workshop was organized in November 2008 in the Republic of China on Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions. During the workshop, the participants expressed the need for comprehensive guidelines for the estimation and reduction of GHG emissions. This manual has been prepared to help APO member countries estimate their GHG emissions from business establishments; residential, commercial, and institutional buildings; and transport sectors, which are the major GHG contributors, and develop appropriate action plans for their mitigation.
Dr. Thomas Fuller, an 18-century British physician, said: “Get the facts, or the facts will get you. And when you get them, get them right, or they will get you wrong.” The APO hopes that this manual will help in striking a balance between development and the environment in APO member countries and elsewhere.
Shigeo Takenaka
Secretary-General
Tokyo, December 2009
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