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Thursday September 25th 2008

More corporates are implementing carbon management strategies to tackle climate change

EcoSecurities and ClimateBiz reveal findings of one of the first research studies to focus on corporate attitudes in relation to the concept of carbon offsetting.

The main highlights of the research findings, which sampled 65 large and multinational organisations, included:

43% of organisations had already implemented an existing carbon management strategy, with a further 34% of organisations claiming to be in the process of developing one.

74% of all respondents indicated that their organisation had already started implementing internal emission reduction activities.

Over 88% of organisations were either currently undertaking carbon offsetting activities or would consider offsetting in the future.

Experience and Brand/Reputation of the carbon credit supplier, at nearly 88% and 86% respectively, are ranked as most important when making a purchasing decision.

The most desirable project location for the purchase of carbon offsets was North America, closely followed by South America.

According to the responses received energy efficiency commands the highest average price per tonne at €13.10 per carbon credit, whereas large-scale hydro projects commands the least at €5.9 per tCO2e.

Lisa Ashford, Head of Commercialisation, Europe, at EcoSecurities commented, “What is extremely encouraging about this research is to see how seriously corporations are taking the issue of climate change, and how proactive many of them are being in developing long-term strategies to minimise their carbon impact.” Ashford continued, “In addition, the survey shows that the voluntary carbon market is becoming much more transparent in terms of pricing, preferred project types and locations of offset projects. Corporate buyers wishing to offset have come a long way up the learning curve in the last year which is a very positive sign for the future development of the market.”

"As the first study to look at the decision-making processes of the large, multinational companies who are purchasing these carbon offsets, this survey adds useful new insight into the factors that are helping to shape the voluntary carbon market," said Matthew Wheeland, Managing Editor, ClimateBiz. "It also suggests that companies are looking seriously at offsets as a supplement to their own environmental goals, not just as a marketing tool."

The survey received over 65 responses from leading large and multinational corporations, covering a diverse mix of sectors and industries. It provides significant insight into how organisations are dealing with the transition to a low carbon economy.

Tagged as: responsible retailing | climate change | carbon

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