AMR analysts Stephen Stokes and Hiranya Fernando present a detailed view on the history and issues relating to greenhouse gases in a new report: 2009: The Year When Carbon Counted.

They say that in 2009, on virtually a month-by-month basis, the reporting on and management of greenhouse gas emissions "emerged as a new compliance factor, a new category of supply chain risk, a new basis for performance optimization and product, corporate, and supply chain differentiation, and a new competitive advantage. The game has changed, whether or not the Copenhagen COP-15 meeting delivers new international emission reduction targets."

The analysts note that regional cap-and-trade and national mandatory emission reporting are now a fact of life. In the coming year they anticipate that the Senate will pass climatic legislation, which will substantially extend the regulatory regime. Market factors and the reorientation of the challenges to focus on energy and other resources will serve to further transition the economy to one which embraces an increasingly pragmatic and resource-based form of enterprise and supply chain sustainability.

"History is likely to be most kind not to those who managed to attend and interact at Copenhagen, but to those who fully planned and prepared for the full scale of the economic transformation, which has been gaining traction over the past year," they conclude.

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