In lieu of instituting mandatory cuts on greenhouse gas emission, Former President George W. Bush launched voluntary climate programs, such as the EPA's Climate Leaders and the Department of Energy's Climate VISION . Now the EPA is evaluating these and other voluntary programs, which assist businesses in reducing emissions beyond usual practices, according to Climate Wire.

EPA Adminstrator Lisa JacksonEven as President Obama and Congress set the wheels in motion to establish mandatory emission cuts, the voluntary programs may continue to play an important role in certain sectors where mandatory cuts would be unviable, inefficient, or intrusive.

The problem with voluntary programs is that they have often been found to lack accountability and transparency. Such flaws have prompted the EPA to announce that it is halting the Bush-era Performance Track program. 

On the positive side, voluntary programs have helped businesses learn how to track and reduce their emissions. Moreover, its participation in these programs has provided the EPA with experience dealing with a wide variety of business sectors, which will hopefully ease the transition to a regulatory program.   

It remains to be seen if companies that have participated in volunteer programs will receive future carbon credits for the reductions they made in the past.