CPA Firm Issues SOC 2SM Report on Controls over Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy at Locus Technologies

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 24 September 2012 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in Cloud-computing enterprise software for environmental, energy, air, water, and compliance management,

A SOC 2SM report is designed to meet the needs of existing or potential customers  who need assurance about  the effectiveness of controls at Locus that are relevant to  the security, availability, or processing integrity of the system used by Locus to process customers’  information, or the confidentiality or privacy of that information. The SOC 2SM report places Locus in a rare category among environmental data management providers to have attained this rigorous classification. In today’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) and risk-management environment, it is essential that service providers like Locus demonstrate that they have adequate controls and safeguards in place so customers can be confident that their data are safe.

“We are pleased that our SOC 2SM report has shown that we have the appropriate controls in place to mitigate risks related to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy of customers’ environmental, energy, sustainability, and compliance data stored in Locus Cloud,” said Dr. Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus. “The culture here at Locus is to put our customers first at all times, and it is essential that they feel secure in trusting us with their data.”

The following principles and related criteria have been developed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) for use by practitioners in the performance of trust services engagements:

  • Security. The system is protected against unauthorized access (both physical and logical).
  • Availability. The system is available for operation and use as committed or agreed.
  • Processing integrity. System processing is complete, accurate, timely and authorized.
  • Confidentiality. Information designated as confidential is protected as committed or agreed.
  • Privacy. Personal information is collected, used, retained, disclosed and destroyed in conformity with the commitments in the entity’s privacy notice and with criteria set forth in generally accepted privacy principles issued by the AICPA and CICA. 

A SOC 2SM report is an internal control report on the services provided by Locus to its customers and provides valuable information that existing and potential customers of the service organization need to assess and address the risks associated with an outsourced service.

Locus Scores in Green Quadrant of Environmental Management Software Report

Locus’ Cloud-based Software Recognized for Deployment Capabilities

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 17 September 2012 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in Cloud-computing enterprise software for environmental, energy, air, water, and compliance management, has been recognized as one of 12 leading environmental management software suppliers globally in the report “Green Quadrant® Environmental Management Software, 2012.” This report by Verdantix, an independent analyst firm who provide data, analysis and advice in the areas of energy, environment and sustainability,  reveals that Locus offers a compelling feature/function set, and its large-scale deployments across industries respond to customers’ preferences for solutions that can match the expanding scale of their EH&S programs.

The Verdantix report recognizes Locus for having strong environmental management software capabilities, and awards it high scores for providing domain-specific and predefined environmental monitoring functionality. It recognizes Locus for providing easily configurable gateways for integration, strong target setting, benchmarking, and analytics tools; among a group of suppliers, the report recommends Locus’ suite of products and services for both firms that require a high level of integration, and firms that have mature strategies.

Thanks to Locus’ presence in the environmental management market for more than 10 years, boasting a solid customer base, and because Locus’ services are offered through the Cloud, its business model allows for flexible pricing models, quicker product updates to follow regulations, and faster deployment. In addition, the report notes that Locus has invested resources to develop specialized capabilities in waste and subsurface water-quality data management within its EIM software.

‘’In the past, implementing EH&S software has been driven by compliance and risk-reduction concerns. Our analysis uncovered a new desire among customers in sectors like chemicals and manufacturing to use software to improve environmental performance. This expands the business case beyond a narrow compliance mind-set,” said Emilie Beauchamp, Verdantix Industry Analyst. “Software suppliers now offer new capabilities to respond to firms’ ever-growing requirements to manage, report and optimize their environmental performance across greenhouse gases, hazardous waste, water, toxic releases, toxic chemicals, and refrigerants.’’

Locus ePortal addresses this need for broad-ranging environmental data management functionality. It provides full integration of energy and environment-related sustainability applications into environmental enterprise-resource planning (EERP). This platform for end-to-end energy and environmental sustainability management has been the core of Locus’ offering via the Cloud since 1999.

“We are very pleased that Verdantix has recognized Locus as one of the top suppliers of environmental management software,” said Dr. Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus. “The report recognized what long has been Locus’ strategy— shifting the agenda from that of a support and compliance process function up to a strategic and cost-reduction function for private and public-sector organizations. With our suite of diverse but well integrated products to organize water, energy, waste, and carbon emissions information across different regulatory frameworks, Locus will continue to lead the environmental software market,” noted Dr. Duplan.

“Forward-looking firms are already starting to deploy environmental management software on a global scale, but most multinationals have immature EH&S technology strategies. They manage their environmental data, systems, and processes through a patchwork of legacy apps, spreadsheets, and internally developed tools,’’ remarked David Metcalfe, CEO of Verdantix. “This Verdantix Green Quadrant product benchmark provides an independently researched, data-driven platform to help EH&S directors and CIOs accelerate and de-risk environmental management software selection.”

 

ABOUT VERDANTIX

Verdantix is an independent analyst firm. We provide authoritative data, analysis and advice to help our clients resolve their energy, environment and sustainability challenges. Through our global primary research and deep domain expertise we provide our clients with strategic advice, revenue generating services, best practice frameworks, industry connections and competitive advantage.

For further information, please visit www.verdantix.com.

Australia Will Join EU Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme

Australia recently announced that it will join the European Union’s carbon emissions trading scheme starting in mid-2015, a decision that most likely stemmed from the fact that they are one of the world’s worst greenhouse gas emitters per capita, mostly because of their use of coal to generate power. This decision will result in the biggest emissions trading market on the planet.

Australia’s major polluters can currently start buying European carbon permits to cover their liabilities from July 2015, but Europeans must wait to buy Australian permits until mid-2018.

An unpopular carbon tax was passed in Australia on July 1st of this year. It stated that almost 300 of its biggest polluters had to pay 23 Australian dollars, which is equal to 24 US dollars, for every metric ton of carbon dioxide, or an equivalent carbon gas, that they emit. Due to this tax, Australians feared losing their competitive edge from being charged more than other countries. However, the linking of the Australian and EU systems has calmed these concerns.

This bond will provide the possibility of reducing compliance costs to businesses with operations both in Europe and Australia, and will support the overall goal of lowering emissions and battling climate change through international collaboration.

Locus Joins Water Week by Offering Water Quality Management Software in the Cloud

While some scientists may still disagree as to whether or not greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities are largely responsible for global warming change, there is almost no dispute that water-related issues represent a challenge to mankind that is of no less importance than climate change.

Any emission of unwanted gases into the air can be almost instantly remediated by cutting off the source. However, any gases that have escaped cannot be recaptured to be remediated. In contrast, water that is contaminated frequently can be treated, but the process is generally lengthy, costly, and energy-intensive.

Amid the rapidly growing concerns regarding the degradation of water quality and water scarcity, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) launched the CDP Water Disclosure, an initiative that seeks to increase reporting on water-related risks and opportunities, especially by companies operating in water-intensive sectors.  Governments and other voluntary reporting organizations such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) are expected to provide the industry with more water reporting frameworks in the near future that are similar to those that exist for carbon reporting. Furthermore, water-related activities such as pumping, purification, irrigation, energy production, hydro fracturing, etc. are some of the biggest, if not the biggest contributors to GHG emissions. It is estimated that over 25 percent of GHG emissions in California are attributable to water-related activities. The entire output of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant is spent on moving water in California, and that’s a lot of Giga-Watt hours (GWh).

Of all the types of water-related data that companies need, one stands out in terms of its sheer quantity and complexity: the measurements pertaining to water quality. Existing regulations require monitoring and reporting of the contamination of surface water bodies and groundwater by various industrial processes, spills, and other releases.  Monitoring and reporting on such activities generate enormous quantities of data that until recently have rarely been used for anything other than to comply with regulatory reporting requirements.  However, entities such as the CDP Water Disclosure project and the GRI reporting initiative are starting to shift the focus from compliance–based monitoring and reporting of effluents, to the scarcity and quality of drinking water supplies and the impact of energy associated with water activities on carbon emissions.

As detection technology improves and human exposure to low-level contamination is linked to more diseases, more testing will be required for ever smaller and smaller concentration levels.  All of this means only more and more information that needs to be captured, stored, managed, and reported.

If one can find information on almost any topic within seconds on the web and for free, why should companies pay their consultants to mine their own water, carbon, and other environmental data to find information that the company already owns? A different approach is called for, one that relies on new web-based software that gives environmental professionals Google-like abilities to search complex water data sets and growing piles of seemingly unrelated water quality information. Finding water quality information on the fly should be no different and as easy as creating graphs showing financial performance of the stock over time using one of the popular financial websites, such as Yahoo Finance.

New Web 2.0 technologies provide a low cost means of making critical information available that organizations need to understand and manage their overall water or carbon footprint. Web-based Environmental Information Management systems offered through Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms (increasingly referred to these days as Cloud Computing), can provide the collaborative software tools businesses need to (1) organize and manage their water quality information from a single virtual location, (2) automate workflow processes, 3) gain ownership of their data, and (4) open up relevant datasets to the public via overlays on web-based GIS technologies such as Google maps.  An added benefit of these systems is that they allow for the possibility of accessing and linking not just water quality data, but all relevant environmental information, including compliance, greenhouse gases, sustainability and climate change data, and even health data and information, from a single entry point on the web.

Governmental agencies, companies, and other NGOs that have to manage water quality data would benefit from adopting the Cloud Computing model. Cloud computing-based software allows companies to manage and organize their water quality data on a larger and more comprehensive scale, including water and carbon footprint reporting, thus avoiding the need to buy additional software or store the same data in more than one location.  It is slowly making its way into companies that have to manage large quantities of water quality data and meet routine compliance requirements. The Cloud-based enterprise software model fits the way environmental information needs to be managed through the use of mashups (applications that integrate data or functionality from multiple sources or technologies), and has the potential to completely upend the way corporations manage their water, carbon and other environmental data.  And with proliferation of smart phones connected to the Web, one can collect and report data in real time directly from a smart phone. In summary, what industry needs is Cloud-based Environmental Enterprise Resource Planning, or EERP.

Water quality issues pose potential liabilities of billions of dollars to businesses worldwide.  Companies would find themselves able to make quicker, more confident decisions at less cost if they managed the data associated with these risks using robust web-based information management systems similar to existing ERP systems.  What industry needs is a portal-like software platform that allows Single Sign On (SSO) to multiple applications for managing, organizing, and visualizing air, water, soil, emissions, energy and sustainability data that can easily mash up.

Locus Verifiers Accredited Under New California GHG Reporting Rule

Locus among the first to be accredited by California Air Resources Board

SAN FRANCISCO 19 April 2012 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in web-based environmental compliance and information management software, has been accredited by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to provide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions verification services. Locus is one of a select few companies to obtain this accreditation.

Locus has provided verification services since 2010 for dozens of reporting entities. Recent amendments to the CARB regulation have prompted the regulators to retest and recertify all verifiers to ensure thorough understanding of the new regulations. Locus verifiers passed the first round of re-certification, in which less than half of previously certified verifiers were re-certified. Locus verifiers were also re-approved to complete verifications under all three specialty sectors, including transactions, oil and gas, and process emissions. Locus is approved to begin the verification process immediately for the 2011 reporting year. Verification of that data is due 1 September 2012.

The GHG verification services cover facilities in California that are regulated by the California Air Resources Board. Locus is accredited as a verification body through CARB and has lead verifiers certified in all reporting sectors. While verification is a requirement this year through AB 32, companies are also using third-party verification to promote their brands and the accuracy of their emissions information.

“We are very pleased to receive this confirmation that our verification staff are among the top experts in the field of greenhouse gases. Locus continues to expand its carbon practice at a rapid pace. Coupled with our carbon software services and domain expertise in all three key AB 32 reporting sectors in California, Locus is becoming a partner of choice for all companies wishing to be credible in their carbon reporting practices,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus.

Locus Technologies Wins Environmental Business Journal’s 2011 Business Achievement: Information Technology Award

Environmental Business Journal Recognizes Locus for Record Sixth Time for Growth and Innovation

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 23 January 2012 — Locus Technologies (Locus) announced today that
Environmental Business Journal® (EBJ) granted the company the award for Information Technology in
the environmental and energy industry for the sixth time in last 10 years. No other company has earned
this prestigious ranking in Information Technology more than three times in the past 10 years.
Locus is one of 50 companies EBJ has honored for revenue growth, acquisitions, innovative project
designs, technology applications, new practice areas, social contributions, and industry leadership in
2011. Locus was recognized for its continued innovation and ability to predict market shifts from data
management exclusively at environmentally impacted sites, to carbon, to energy, and finally water quality
management for business operations in general.

Specifically, Locus Technologies stood apart from the industry for achieving 56 percent revenue growth in
2011 and a 20 percent increase in staff. Locus won a significant multi-year contract to manage more than
40 years of environmental data at the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Los Alamos National Laboratory
Locus also signed up DOE’s Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1 in southern California, expanding Locus’s
DOE customer base. Locus opened a new office in Asheville, North Carolina, and established a GIS
center of excellence. New customers in 2011 included Kodak, Arizona Public Service, Southern California
Edison, Energenic, Roca Honda, and multiple mining customers, such as Stillwater, Denison, Geovic, and
Strathmore.

Locus also entered a new market, the food industry, signing up such companies as Del Monte Foods,
Safeway, and Sugar Cane Growers. Locus entered into a strategic business alliance with
ChemADVISOR, Inc. that will provide Locus customers with direct access to a world-class chemical
database for environmental compliance, regulatory frameworks, and waste disposal needs. Locus also
introduced what it is referring to as the industry-first iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch application for field data
collection, called eWell.

“In what is widely regarded as a stable market, a number of companies exceeded the norms of low
single-digit growth with double-digit growth or ambitious ventures into new practice areas or technology
development,” said Grant Ferrier, president of Environmental Business International Inc. (EBI, San
Diego), publisher of Environmental Business Journal. “Locus continues to influence the industry with its
forward-thinking product set and eye for customer needs.”

“We are very pleased to be selected for the sixth time for the prestigious EBJ Information Technology
award in environmental business. No other company has accomplished anything close to this level of
recognition,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus. “And I think the reason is that no other
company comes close to matching Locus’ domain knowledge, longevity, and depth of experience in
developing integrated environmental and energy enterprise software in the Cloud. The culture here is to
put the customers first at all times and lower their operational costs while addressing global concerns
around sustainability and climate change. My hat is off to our incredibly dedicated team of developers and domain experts. This honor goes to them and I thank and congratulate the entire Locus team and our customers who entrusted Locus to put their data in the Cloud to make this world a better place.” The Environmental Business Journal is a business research publication that provides high-value strategic business intelligence to the environmental industry. The 2011 EBJ awards will be presented at a special ceremony at the Environmental Industry Summit X in Coronado, Calif., March 14-16, 2012. The Environmental Industry Summit is an annual three-day event hosted by EBI Inc.

 

ABOUT THE EBJ BUSINESS ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
In October-December 2011, Climate Change Business
Journal solicited nominations for the EBJ Business Achievement Awards. Nominations were accepted in
200-word essays in either specific or unspecified categories. Final awards were determined by a
committee of EBJ staff and EBJ editorial advisory board members. (Disclaimer: company audits were not
conducted to verify information or claims submitted with nominations.)

 

ABOUT EBI
Founded in 1988, Environmental Business International Inc. (EBI, San Diego, Calif.) is a
research, publishing and consulting company that specializes in defining emerging markets and
generating strategic market intelligence for companies, investors and policymakers. EBI publishes
Environmental Business Journal®, the leading provider of strategic information for the environmental
industry, and Climate Change Business Journal®, which covers nine segments of the Climate Change
Industry. EBI also performs contract research for the government and private sector and founded the
Environmental Industry Summit, an annual three-day event for executives in the environmental industry.

Locus and ChemAdvisor Team Up to Offer Integrated Portal for Chemical and Regulatory Information Management

Two Industry Leaders to Address a Growing Need for Integrated Regulatory and Chemical Management

SAN FRANCISCO, CA and PITTSBURGH, PA., 9 January 2012 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in web-based environmental, energy, and compliance software, and ChemADVISOR, Inc., the leader in regulatory products, chemical databases, and regulatory compliance needs, announced today the signing of a formal partnership between the two premier environmental software companies. The popular ChemADVISOR Chemical Regulatory database will be integrated into and offered as a module within Locus’ award-winning ePortal via a Single Sign On (SSO).

ChemADVISOR maintains the List of Lists (LOLI) database, which contains almost 4,000 regulatory lists from around the world. These lists are useful for material safety data sheet (MSDS) preparation and other regulatory compliance needs. Data sources include inventories, physical properties, and toxicity data, as well as data necessary for U.S. and international environmental, health, and safety compliance.

ChemADVISOR will refresh the LOLI database through the Locus ePortal to ensure the lists continually reflect the most up-to-date information in the industry. Locus ePortal customers who subscribe to the LOLI database will have seamless access to a fast, reliable, and cost-effective way to search for regulatory information on specific chemicals and chemical groups. They will have an efficient way to perform an occasional regulatory check on a chemical that is managed and reported from one of Locus’ ePortal modules without needing to log into a separate application. Customers will be able to for search CAS numbers by chemical name, PMN number, EINECS, number and more.

“With the integration of ChemADVISOR into ePortal, customers will have even more comprehensive tools to manage all aspects of their regulatory compliance, energy and water usage, water quality, air emissions, greenhouse gas reporting, and health and safety through one online portal,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus. “More than half a million records on hundreds of thousands of chemicals can be searched in seconds. Customers can check chemicals against ChemADVISOR inventory lists, extensive sets of health and safety regulations and advisory sources, or both, all while in ePortal performing other compliance tasks. They can compare chemicals at their facility to regulatory frameworks that are associated with those chemicals and may be relevant to their sites. That is very powerful because it saves times, reduces risk of non-compliance, and improves regulatory diligence.”

Included in ePortal will also be The Transportation Database that contains all of the information from the U.S. Department of Transportation, ADR, ADN, RID, Canadian TDG, IATA, ICAO and IMO hazardous materials tables in a database format. This list includes proper shipping names, packing groups, CFR notations, synonyms, and more.

“Using the Locus ePortal, integrated with the ChemADVISOR database, clients can take a more holistic view of their enterprises, which can enable them to manage their compliance expenditures and operational costs more effectively. The industry needs integrated solutions that allow fewer people to manage more using less. That was the main impetus behind our decision to join forces with Locus and offer an integrated solution in the Cloud,” said Andrew Dsida, President and CEO of ChemADVISOR.

“Indeed, the market has lacked an integrated solution that brings many-if not all-environmental, energy, water, and other compliance and consumption requirements under a single portal infrastructure and sign-on online,” added Duplan. “With the addition of ChemADVISOR to ePortal, customers now have the integrated system, similar to ERP, that will manage all environmental, energy, water, and other sustainability needs.”
ABOUT ChemADVISOR
Since 1986, ChemADVISOR, Inc. has been the chemical industry’s indispensable source of Environmental Health Safety & Transportation information. Specializing in providing regulatory consulting services, products and training, ChemADVISOR has a solution ready to meet your compliance needs. Our LOLI database is the largest and most comprehensive regulatory database available, providing a single source of world-wide regulatory information at your fingertips.

For more information, visit www.chemadvisor.com or email info@chemadvisor.com.

After All, EPA to Regulate Climate Change via The Clean Air Act

The Environmental Protection Agency is set to make final new air-pollution standards for coal-fired power plants by mid-December, sparking disagreement among power companies about how quickly aging coal plants need to be pushed offline.

The EPA wants to give coal-fired plants three years to comply with the new standards—either by shutting down or going through expensive retrofits—with the possibility of a one-year extension.

The maintenance of baseload power is likely to be appropriate in many locations, meaning some coal fired and natural gas fired plants will not be de-commissioned. However, the likelihood of investors preferring the lower costs of green energy will mean that they will replace most sources.

The new rules will make some coal powered plants to shut down as it will not be economical to retrofit them. They will most likely be replaced by the new plants powered by natural gas. Renewables will pick some slack, but that is negligible in the big scheme of things. Unfortunately, US nuclear industry is still not ready to come back. We will probably wait another 10 years, and at that time probably buy nukes from Chinese who will perfect new technology and get experience building AP1000 reactors (AP1000® pressurized water reactor or PWR. It is the only Generation III+ reactor to receive Design Certification from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)) long before we put one on the drawing board permitting process.

But in summary, EPA is moving to regulate climate change via The Clean Air Act, and because of the coal power plants shut down we may very well meet the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill–aka the American Clean Energy and Security Act, ACES, H.R. 2454. The bill would put a cap on emissions of greenhouse gases, and would require high-emitting industries to reduce their output to specific targets between now and the middle of the century. The bill covers 85 percent of the overall economy, including electricity producers, oil refineries, natural gas suppliers, and energy-intensive industries like iron, steel, cement, and paper manufacturers. Emission cuts would start in 2012 and EPA is right on track.

The goals for U.S. emission reductions, below 2005 levels are 3 percent cut by 2012; 17 percent cut by 2020; 42 percent cut by 2030; more than 80 percent cut by 2050. We may achieve 2020 goals with retrofitting and shutdowns of coal powered plants and slowing economy. We will not meet other goals without injecting nuclear power.

EPA to Ease Air Emissions Rule on Power Plants

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under industry pressure, is expected to ease an air quality rule that would require power plants in 27 states to slash emissions, said the Wall Street Journal. It appears that changes are needed because the original rule from July 2011 required steep reductions too quickly. This summer the administration, pressed by industry, forced the EPA to abandon an air-quality rule to curb ozone-forming smog. The agency also has delayed a rule on greenhouse-gas emissions.

The power-plant rule affects about 1,000 plants, requiring them to cut sulfur dioxide by 73% and nitrogen oxide by 54% from 2005 levels. Reductions must begin in January 2012, with compliance by 2014. Companies are expected to install new pollution controls or switch from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas.

The EPA plans to allow certain states and companies to emit more pollutants than it previously permitted. EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said, “While we don’t have anything to announce at this time, EPA often makes technical adjustments … because data, including data in some cases provided by industry, turns out to be incorrect, outdated or incomplete.” It is interesting that EPA is using the real world and real time data and information to fine tune the rule. This is welcome news for both industry and environmental groups as it shows that future rule making will rely more on actual data and less on politics.

The move comes amid a backlash over the rule enacted last July, which the EPA has said will protect public health and prevent up to 34,000 premature deaths. Critics contend it will cost jobs, increase power costs and threaten electric reliability.

The EPA changes are expected to allow for emissions increases ranging from 1% to 4% above the July requirement, depending on the pollutant, said the WSJ. The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is intended to reduce smog-forming chemicals emitted from power plants that often drift into other states. The pollutants can cause heart attacks and respiratory illnesses.

When the rule is in place some utilities are planning to shut down a portion of their operation in order to comply. Some states have attacked the rule and sued the EPA, saying the regulations are unnecessary and dangerous.