NEW YORK - The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced that it had become one of the founding members of The Climate Registry, a non-profit organization established to measure and publicly report greenhouse gas emissions in a common, accurate and transparent manner consistent across industry sectors and borders.

“Moving 8.5 million people per day without automobiles saves an enormous amount of carbon from entering the atmosphere,” said Elliot G. Sander, MTA Executive Director and CEO. “But it does result in some carbon emissions. We hope that by voluntarily reporting our emissions to The Climate Registry, we will better understand our environmental impact and therefore work more effectively at reducing it. We also hope that this initiative will contribute to the public’s understanding of the role that mass transit plays in reducing carbon emissions.”

Environmental sustainability is one of Sander’s seven strategic priorities for the MTA. The blue ribbon Commission on Sustainability and the MTA issued a series of interim recommendations last month on ways that the agency can reduce its carbon footprint, and this action resulted from discussions that began during the Commission’s deliberations.

“The MTA has demonstrated exemplary environmental leadership by courageously stepping forward to support The Climate Registry in its preliminary stages,” said Gina McCarthy, Chair of The Climate Registry. “We are deeply grateful for its integral support in helping to address the challenge of climate change.”

As a member of The Climate Registry, the MTA has agreed to measure, independently verify and publicly report its greenhouse gas emissions on an annual basis using the Climate Registry General Reporting Protocol. The protocol is based on the internationally recognized greenhouse gas measurement standards of the World Resources Institute and World Business Council on Sustainability.