 As in the two previous years, Ecosystem Marketplace and New Carbon Finance have released their annual report on the state of the voluntary carbon markets.
The document, subtitled Fortifying the Foundation, is based on the reported activity during 2008 of 182 developers, aggregators, brokers and retailers of voluntary carbon credits.
It’s easy to be encouraged by the first paragraph in the executive summary. Global transaction volume jumped from 66m tonnes of CO2e in 2007 to 123.4m tonnes in 2008. But dig a little deeper, and the picture isn’t so rosy.
Read More »
April 28, 2009 – 11:05 am
 In a little more than a week, Europe’s largest conference on corporate social responsibility (CSR) - The Responsible Business Summit - will be taking place in the UK on May 11 and 12 in London. If you are working in the area of the environment, or just think that CSR is something you would like your company to be a part of, then this conference may be up your alley.
Until a few years ago, when people starting buying carbon offsets and trimming their carbon emissions, CSR might have meant donating corporate money and time to a local kids’ soccer team, or giving money to the poor. Now with more complicated issues at stake, like climate change, CSR is not just an opportunity to market your company, it is in some cases an imperative in order to stay relevant.
Of course your business might be suffering from the economic downturn, but how to come out shining, despite the crisis, is something top CEOs from around the world will be speaking about at the annual event. Mitigating corporate risks and taking charge of your responsibility in fighting climate change, will be an important part of the conference. Among the expert speakers will be Anders Dahlvig, the CEO of IKEA, Jeff Swartz, the CEO of Timberland, and Daniel Franklin, the CEO of the Economist.
Attendees will be able to learn how to seamlessly embed CSR activities into their business plan, while learning how to mitigate climate risk with less money and resources. Speakers, like the ones we’ve mentioned above, will be giving corporate players opportunities one should be focusing on today. Additionally, some cost-cutting and environmentally sound business tips will be part of the day as business leaders speak about how to run operations on a tighter budget without compromising the company’s ethics and values.
That’s right, folks! The recent economic collapse in the US, which is sending shock waves around the world, doesn’t mean you have to toss your company’s carbon offsetting ideas out the window.
For more about the conference, see the website of Ethical Corporation.
If you’d like a little more to chew on, and to start investigating carbon offsets to buy, or how they work, visit Carbon Catalog’s directory. European-based readers might find our European carbon offset providers, a good place to start.
And of course, there’s our very handy book review on 5 Books For Greening Your Business.
April 19, 2009 – 12:33 am
 They may be behind in women’s rights, but two Middle East countries Qatar and United Arab Emirates seem to be ahead of the pack in their bid to fight global warming. Two important announcements were made in the last week:
Etihad Airways from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that it is working with Masdar - the same body developing the world’s first carbon neutral city - to measure, manage and reduce the carbon footprint of the international carrier. It will focus on sustainable and energy-efficient measures, reports the company.
According to a company-issued press release Masdar will help Etihad develop carbon management solutions so the company complies with the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, coming into effect for aviation in 2012, and Masdar will also support the airline’s voluntary carbon reduction initiatives.
Read More »
 First discussed on Carbon Catablog a year ago, the UK government has finally launched its “Quality Assurance Scheme for Carbon Offsetting”.
A quality mark, shown alongside, can be used by offset providers to label specific carbon offsets that meet the government’s guidelines. (Our inclusion of the mark here is for informative purposes, and bears no relation to the offsets listed in Carbon Catalog.)
So what does the mark actually mean? Read More »
January 6, 2009 – 7:38 am
 Airlines striking deals with carbon offsetters might not like this development, but we sure do: San Francisco International Airport will soon be offering certified carbon offset credits for purchase at kiosks inside the airport.
It is the first airport to offer such kiosks in the world. The only thing we don’t like about the service is the 30% transaction fee.
Working like the check-in kiosks at airports, a flyer would punch in their destination, and the computer would calculate how much it would cost to offset the journey. Paying with a credit card, offsetting a two hour flight inside the US is expected to cost about $4 and a flight from San Francisco to Europe about $36, making the offset process easy and straightforward. And not altogether that costly, compared to the cost of the flight.
Read More »
December 5, 2008 – 2:06 am
You might see their little purple delivery truck zooming around a street near you –– if you live in the Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Vancouver areas. Painted with the word spud! (for Small Potatoes Urban Delivery), the little green grocer on wheels is setting a fine example for small business owners everywhere.
By taking orders for local and organic foods online, not only does spud! help save the environment by reducing transport emissions, it also has a number of philanthropy activities and programs that give back to the earth.
One of spud!’s goals is to be a carbon neutral company by the end of this year. Carbon Catalog speaks with Normal Hill, the procedures coordinator
of spud! on the nuts and bolts of going carbon neutral.
Some advice your business can glean from our interview: you can pass the cost of offsetting onto consumers –– in spud!’s case that’s 22 cents a delivery; watch out for fluctuating currency exchange rates; and –– says Hill –– one of the biggest challenges any business can face, may be changing the habits of your employees.
Did you feel pressure from your customers to become carbon neutral? No, we made the decision proactively, because we want to become an even more sustainable business, and because we believe that all businesses must do as much as possible to address the climate change crisis. Read More »
December 2, 2008 – 3:23 am
 As we’ve mentioned before, most carbon offsets are purchased by companies rather than individuals. In the past few months, two interesting reports have been published relating to this growing market — one for corporate offsetters, and one about them.
Read More »
October 24, 2008 – 5:02 am
 Considering the financial implosion happening around the globe, I can’t help but feel a little strange writing about carbon offsets. With stock markets down up to 50%, banks evaporating, and whole countries going bankrupt, who has the time or money to think about carbon emissions?
But the Earth hasn’t stopped turning and we haven’t stopped pouring carbon into the atmosphere. Nor have we stopped burning up our fossil fuels. At best we’ve slowed down a little.
I’d take things a step further. The capitalist system depends on constant economic growth. We expect interest rates above the rate of inflation. This allows us to get richer, in terms of real-world goods, simply by lending out money. But the economy depends on a finite planet. What happens when we run into the limits of this planet, like depleted oil reserves or climate-induced shrinkage of the agriculture base? How can we keep growing then?
Read More »
October 7, 2008 – 4:38 am
If you’ve been following our interviews on corporate carbon offsetting (managing corporate carbon legally, eight steps to offsetting your business and why consumer offsets are failing), no doubt other questions before or beyond offsetting have popped into your mind. Carbon offsetting, experts recommend, is important to consider at the end of the line –– after your business has become as energy efficient as possible. Carbon audits, we learn from Carbon Concierge, is not only good for the planet, but it’s also very good for the bottom line. They help you see energy hogging processes in the business, and can offer immediate steps to turn the problem around.
Today Carbon Catalog offers 5 green reads you can follow to help your company become more planet-friendly. Consider buying these books for executives in your business, or the “green” – leaning people on staff. Who knows, these books might start a whole new chapter in your business’ practices of corporate social responsibility. And as we learn, being energy-efficient (and green) is also good for the bottom line. Read More »
October 3, 2008 – 12:36 am
 Personal, voluntary carbon offsets are a drop in the bucket compared to what companies can achieve. As we’ve learned earlier from Carbon Concierge, streamlining processes, opting for cleaner power, and making employees aware are some important first steps to take before offsetting. For the full interview, see Carbon Concierge Balances Business and Carbon Offsets With Eight Steps.
Today we speak with John Laumer. Most popularly known for his writing on TreeHugger.com, in his day job John’s a corporate and products advisor for all things lifecycle and environment related.
Getting down to the nuts and bolts of things, John gives an insider’s take on what pitfalls companies can avoid while on the road to carbon neutrality. While carbon offsetting is a bold and noble step for your company to take, there are risks to consider to make sure the road taken is a straight and steady one.
How should a company get started with carbon management? Start with difficult, strategic and administrative questions. Let the tactical choices come second as they are relatively easy to tend to once the strategic and administrative questions are answered. (See the end of this post for an important checklist of questions.) Read More »
By Karin Kloosterman
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Posted in Business, Standards
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Tagged carbon emission, carbon inventory, carbon management, carbon neutral, carbon offset, clean energy, climate change, corporate offset, global warming, laws, verifier
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