The market for voluntary carbon credits continues to grow, fueled by an ever-increasing number of corporate responsibility initiatives. According to data compiled in State of the Voluntary Carbon Market 2009, a report published by Ecosystem Marketplace, trading volume on the world’s voluntary carbon markets nearly doubled, surging from 65 million tons in 2007 to 123 million tons in 2008. Increased volume is a clear indication that the number of organizations aligning sustainability with their core operating functions continues to trend upward.
“The fact that the volume of the market has grown even in the most stressed times indicates that people are looking at the sustainability of their business,” said Caroline Angoorly, head of Environmental Markets for North America at JP Morgan, a report contributor.
The U.S. remains the largest provider of voluntary offsets (28 percent) and, collectively, U.S.-based companies are the largest buyers (39 percent) according to the report. Asia contributed 45 percent of all carbon credits bought on the over-the-counter (OTC) market in 2008, and the Middle East emerged as a key source of credits, supplying 15 percent of OTC transaction volume in 2008.
Experts suggest that compliance with existing (European Union, Australia) or proposed (U.S.) climate change regulations will drive increased carbon market activity this year. As more EHS professionals discover the benefits of sustainable operations, it is likely that efficiency and cost savings will be the primary driver for sustainability initiatives, which will be good for the enterprise, good for the environment and good for the long term viability of carbon markets.
Tags: Carbon Allowance Market climate change regulations corporate responsibility Ecosystem Marketplace sustainability voluntary carbon credits
May 29th, 2009
I’ve noticed that organizations are continuing to invest in corporate sustainability programs, including robust environmental, health and safety (EHS) information management systems, despite the challenging market environment. Momentum for sustainability continues because corporate decision makers understand those initiatives deliver both immediate and long-term benefits to the enterprise.
Authors Bruno Berthon and Eric Lowitt, provide ample evidence of sustainability benefits in “Don’t Give up Sustainability Now or You’ll Pay Later,” an article recently published in Forbes Magazine.
Berthon and Lowitt flatly assert, that “sustainability is closely aligned with critical moves companies need to make in a downturn–moves like doing more with less, returning to basics and investing prudently.”
Sustainability supports solid goals that are good for businesses in any economic environment. For instance, corporate managers are always looking for ways to reduce waste and inefficiency to enhance their profit margins. A growing number of companies have discovered that sustainability can generate associated cost reductions and operating efficiencies.
Building Sustainability in Hard Times, a recently published ESS white paper, provides solid evidence about the correlation between sustainability and profitability.
Berthon and Lowitt also suggest that sustainability offers other business benefits, including opportunities for:
- Business growth in the expanding market for consumer products and services that improve energy efficiency; and
- Partnerships that influence future government regulations. Numerous ESS clients have joined the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a nonprofit that has worked closely with federal regulators to craft climate change legislation under consideration in Washington.
In times like these when companies are looking for strategies that deliver reliable benefits, experts like Berthon and Lowitt show that investments in sustainability – including EHS information management – clearly deliver bottom-line results that can help companies survive the current market instability and provide a foundation to help your business thrive for many years to come.
Tags: climate change corporate sustainability cost reductions ehs information management u.s. climate action partnership
May 18th, 2009
A new regulatory scheme adopted by the government of Hong Kong has attracted the attention of experts who follow the electric utility industry in Asia. This approach, called “scheme of control,” ties future electric rate levels to emission reductions by the territory’s electricity providers, CLP and Hong Kong Electric.
Scheme of control is an intriguing approach because of its carrot-and-stick approach to environmental oversight. It’s an especially interesting development because we’ve recently applied our solution to address the rapidly changing regulatory scheme in Hong Kong.
This may be a precursor of things to come for other utility companies.
According to an article from The New York Times, the agreement “authorizes the companies to charge electricity rates that will give them a 9.99 percent return on assets. If either company exceeds regulatory limits for any pollutant, however, it would be required to charge customers less, reducing its allowed rate of return by 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points.
“If the companies manage to cut their pollution rates more than required, then they are allowed to raise prices to the point where they effectively earn bonuses of 0.05 to 0.1 percentage point on their rate of return.”
With a strong incentive to reduce emissions, it won’t be surprising if Hong Kong Electric and CLP take steps to strengthen their pollution control programs so they meet their emissions reduction targets.
This is yet another example of rapidly changing worldwide regulatory requirements that are driving organizations to implement enterprise-wide platforms for EHS management and voluntary sustainability reporting. Under the Hong Kong scenario, EHS technology not only helps organizations save time and reduce operational costs; it also becomes a powerful driver for business opportunities that can provide significant long-term payoffs. With regulatory activity accelerating across the globe, a growing number of organizations are leveraging the power of EHS technology to generate those benefits and more.
We’ll continue to follow developments with Hong Kong’s implementation of this regulatory scheme to determine how it impacts the territories’ utility companies.
Tags: china clp ehs management ghg emissions greenhouse gas Hong Kong Electric utility companies
May 8th, 2009
Organizations worldwide are conducting massive emergency response operations to protect workers, employees and other stakeholders from the A/H1N1 influenza virus, which, according to the World Health Organization, is considered a global pandemic. Because the virus represents a major threat to public health, corporate security heads and government incident commanders needed to gather and analyze information quickly so they could mobilize a quick response to protect their stakeholders.
Once news of the pandemic spread, I learned that some of our clients — both private and public organizations — are leveraging ESS’ robust crisis management solution, Essential Emergency™, to track how the virus is spreading across affected jurisdictions and coordinate emergency procedures with local health care providers for a timely and effective response.
Organizations worldwide started mobilizing after Dr Margaret Chan, WHO’s Director-General, raised the current level of influenza alert to Phase 5 and advised national emergency management officials to activate their pandemic preparedness plans.
Incident commanders are leveraging our scalable platform to track locations where the illness has spread, organize resources and establish lines of communication for timely crisis response. They are also taking advantage of functionality that permits access to sensitive incident information only to designated decision makers to prevent rumors and mass panic.
Corporate users are using the technology to provide travel warnings and updated threat assessments so executives can avoid travel to locations where A/H1N1 infections have been reported.
ESS has been helping organizations streamline emergency response for nearly two decades, including hurricanes Ike, Rita and Katrina, and the Oklahoma City terrorist bombing. I’m always pleased to know that our software products are playing an important role in ensuring the health and safety of our clients and their stakeholders.
Tags: A/H1N1 influenza virus crisis response emergency response ess software Essential Emergency Swine Flu Pandemic Response World Health Organization
April 30th, 2009
Is your enterprise ready to meet the challenges of a carbon-constrained business environment?
Earth Day 2009 arrives at a watershed moment for business and industry. If proposed U.S. regulatory changes are adopted, an organization’s ability to limit greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants will be a factor in determining winners and losers in the new economy. Fortunately, a growing corporate sustainability movement – supported by many leading corporate CEOs — shows clearly that Earth Day’s goals aren’t just for treehuggers any more.
This year’s event offers an important opportunity to demonstrate how companies across industry sectors have taken a leading role in slowing the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. A growing number of organizations are participating in voluntary reporting programs sponsored by environmental advocates like the Global Reporting Initiative and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Investor-driven initiatives have resulted in companies publishing performance data from their sustainability initiatives.
It’s a sea change from the days when Earth Day symbolized inefficient, labor intensive regulatory compliance that increased operational costs without gaining any significant business benefit. Corporate sustainability is now recognized as an integral component of sound operational planning and execution. Soon it will be a key factor that will impact your company’s risk profile, brand viability, and its ability to attract capital.
ESS has supported the goals of Earth Day for nearly two decades. During that time, we have enabled thousands of organizations to improve emissions management performance, reduce compliance risk and achieve cost savings through improved information management. ESS’ integrated software platform provides up-to-date EHS data that supports better daily management decisions and empowers users to develop innovative practices to assure environmental best practices – including management of greenhouse gas emissions – and improve energy efficiency. We have even provided free downloads of our Waste Reporter software to help organizations fulfill requirements for the EPA Biennial Hazardous Waste Reporting.
Information management is the key to ensuring that your business can gain a competitive advantage in this rapidly-changing regulatory climate. We hope that this time next year, you will join us in celebrating your company’s success at transforming your environmental challenges into drivers for bottom-line success.
Do you agree that this Earth Day represents a historic opportunity for companies like yours?
Tags: earth day environmental challenges ghg global reporting initiative greenhouse gas emissions information management sustainability wbcsd
April 21st, 2009
Now that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established its intent to reduce air emissions from industrial and land transportation sources, the agency is proposing to broaden its recent assault on carbon by launching a campaign to improve air quality at major port areas.
EPA recently announced plans to create a 230-mile enforcement zone around most of the nation’s coastline where regulators would enforce air emissions standards around major port areas. The regulations would primarily target large commercial ships and would apply to both U.S. and internationally-chartered vessels.
Under EPA’s proposal, there would be stricter limits on the sulfur content of fuel used by vessels starting in 2015. A year later, new ships would be required to install advanced emission-control technologies to limit sulfur emissions.
Engines on U.S.-flagged oceangoing vessels are currently subject to emission standards that rely on engine-based technologies to reduce emissions.
According to a study by the International Council on Clean Transportation, commercial ships release more sulfur dioxide particulate than the combined total of all land transportation vehicles. The study also indicated that ships produce an estimated 27 percent of the world’s nitrogen oxide emissions.
The primary driver for this action: EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson estimated that 40 of the 100 largest U.S. ports are located in metropolitan areas that fail to meet federal air quality standards. Once the current business downturn abates, industry and government officials say global trade could double the volume of shipping traffic and further exacerbate persistent air quality concerns.
The agency’s proposal would likely drive port authorities, shipping companies and support businesses to launch initiatives to measure and monitor emissions to establish an emissions inventory for the affected area and comply with federal tougher emissions standards.
The World Shipping Council, a trade organization representing international container ship operators, is not opposed to the proposed standards. International shipping companies participated in discussions regarding the proposed regulations prior to EPA’s announcement.
Tags: air emissions standards air quaility carbon reduction epa sulfur emissions U.S. ports vessels world shipping council
April 16th, 2009
Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading oil producer, has told delegates at the United Nations’ climate talks in Copenhagen that proposed measures to limit carbon would pose a threat to the kingdom’s economic survival.
“It’s a matter of survival for us. So we are among the most vulnerable countries, economically,” said Mohammad Al Sabban, the Saudi lead negotiator.
The Saudis position represents one of many interests that must be considered as the world begins to address the change to a carbon-constrained global economy. Businesses, too, are struggling with similar issues as they begin to asses the potential costs.
With the prospect of a global climate treaty looming and cap-and-trade proposals under consideration in the United States, nearly every kind of organization –large or small, public or private, retail or manufacturing, will be impacted by the proposals to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The Saudis are hoping that investments in wind and solar technologies can help them maintain their market position in the midst of a changing global economy.
Just as governments are adjusting to the new economic model, businesses need to understand how climate change proposals will impact their operations – and how they manage compliance risks – before those proposals are enacted.
Business success in tomorrow’s carbon-constrained world will depend on an organization’s ability to reduce risks and costs associated with managing carbon emissions and energy consumption. Early adopters are already reaping the benefits of enterprise-wide initiatives to better manage EHS-related costs and risks. Global industry leaders have proven that the key to effective emissions management is adoption of a robust information management platform.
It appears that major regulatory changes are inevitable. Will your organization be ready to maintain its competitive position in a carbon-constrained economy?
Tags: cap and trade carbon emissions global climate treaty greenhouse gas emissions oil demand saudi arabia
April 13th, 2009
There has been lots of discussion about greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations, focused on proposals under consideration in Washington. However, there’s an equally important proposal under consideration in California that could have a significant impact on all industries whose air conditioning or refrigeration systems hold 50 pounds or more of a regulated or GHG refrigerant. California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32) was introduced in 2004, and state officials recently completed public hearings to prepare for final implementation.
AB 32 is designed to reduce emissions of refrigerants with high global warming potential (GWP) from stationary refrigeration and air-conditioning systems through leak repair, reporting, improved refrigerant recovery rates and other approaches.
To help businesses prepare for anticipated regulatory changes, ESS has published a new white paper, entitled “Refrigerant Management: An ESS White Paper on Climate Change and the Bottom Line” that analyzes the state of regulations governing coolants for air conditioning and refrigerant units and provides timely advice to businesses that would be impacted if AB 32 were adopted in other jurisdictions.
“It is important for senior management to help the organization understand the big picture – details regarding the organization’s carbon management initiatives – and then they must know their own day-to-day responsibilities to support the initiative,” the white paper states.
The current AB 32 draft requirements for refrigerant management would effectively:
require facility registration or implementation fees, based on system size;
establish leak detection, repair verification testing, monitoring, and mandatory leak repair requirements.
Although California is the only U.S. state that is poised to adopt regulations governing refrigerants, experts I’ve talked to say that other states are likely to follow California’s lead, once AB 32 is implemented. We think this white paper is a must for any affected business owner who wants to prepare for the significant changes ahead.
I’m sure this informative white paper will provide useful information to guide you through the rapidly-changing regulatory environment. ESS was the first company to introduce software to support efficient refrigerant management and it remains the industry standard. Our experts have helped organizations avoid compliance risks while streamlining refrigerant management for over a decade.
Tags: ab 32 california global warming solutions act climate chanage ghg regulations greenhouse gas regulations gwp refrigerant management
April 3rd, 2009
Is your business ready for mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting?
The U.S. EPA has done what most experts have been predicting for months: announced that it will propose guidelines for limits on GHGs (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride and perfluorocarbons) linked to global warming.
EPA requirements would apply to businesses based on a capacity-based threshold or an annual 25,000 metric ton limit. Affected vertical industries include oil and gas, manufacturing, chemicals and some forms of agribusiness that have confined animal feeding operations.
From our vantage point, the most interesting detail from this weeks’ announcement was that initial reporting would start in 2011 which will require businesses to collect data starting in 2010.
To meet that deadline, businesses will need to quickly mobilize to develop protocols for collecting and communicating emissions data. The Climate Registry and World Resources Institute have developed best practices that support effective reporting and verification.
Also, our CIO Guide to Global Climate Change provides detailed information to help your company establish a carbon management program, including guidelines for implementing robust IT tools for GHG reporting.
It’s worth noting that businesses like Caterpillar, Duke Energy and Alcoa that have well-established programs are lobbying for implementation of federal GHG limits. Because those industry leaders have mature programs for carbon measurement and management, the new federal rules would put them at a strategic advantage over competitors that have not implemented GHG emission management programs.
It’s clear that regulatory change is just around the corner. Is your business prepared to operate in a carbon-constrained environment?
Tags: carbon management epa ghg emissions greenhouse gas reporting the climate registry world resources institute
March 13th, 2009
It’s no secret that business decision makers believe the best way to survive the current economic morass is to ensure your organization executes the time-tested “do more with less” mantra.
In that same manner, investments in the environmental, safety, and social domain —including those that are IT-related— are being carefully scrutinized, even as companies take steps to minimize environmental risk exposure and ensure transparent sustainability to satisfy investor and stakeholder demands.
ESS has documented how companies are bridging the gap between streamlined sustainability and efficient EHS information technology in a newly-published white paper entitled, “Building Sustainability in Hard Times.”
The report reminds decision makers that there’s an inextricable link between driving sustainability and having the data management systems in place to measure and drive daily performance. Robust EHS information management has a proven track record for delivering increased efficiency and reduced costs even in a tough business environment.
“Building Sustainability in Hard Times” provides a detailed roadmap for implementing a technology solution that meets your organization’s needs and shows how to leverage EHS IT assets to generate benefits such as:
- Uncovering operational risks
- Robust baseline data to support strategic decisions
- Eliminating risks to an organization’s license to operate
- Supporting a solid climate change strategy
- Streamlining and reducing compliance costs
If you want to know more about leveraging EHS technology for a competitive advantage, I highly recommend you take a look at this outstanding report.
Tags: climate change strategy compliance costs ehs technology ess sustainability white paper
March 5th, 2009
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