• The Road from Bali
  William L. Thomas
  
  

  The Thirteenth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Third Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP13/MOP3) concluded in Bali on 15 December 2007. A number of proposals were adopted which will, at various levels, impact on the carbon business community. Perhaps most importantly, parties agreed a framework in which to negotiate the establishment of a new commitment period after the end of the 2008-2012 commitment period. William Thomas revisits some of the storylines and development in Bali.

• Carbon Performance
  Paul Dickinson
  
  

  How are companies that are reporting carbon performing? Paul Dickinson reports how carbon emission reduction strategies are paying off.

  

• The optimistic environmentalist
  Andrew Hoffman
  
  

  It's not an oxymoron to be an optimistic environmentalist.
  And it's not a contradiction to base that optimism on the power of the market.

  It is profitable to reduce your energy consumption, appeal to your customers' sense of propriety, avoid regulatory penalties and show profits. This is carbon management - simply twenty-first century business. Climate change is the drive of transformation and increases our awareness of how to improve business performance and governance. Andrew Hoffman illustrates how business innovation and keen strategies are all part of being an environmentalist.

  

• Climate change risk: Risk governance for critical complex infrastructural systems
  Maurizio Sajeva
  
  

  Following the liberalisation of markets, critical infrastructural systems have developed new kinds of risk and vulnerabilities. Climate change risk represents one of the main threats to critical infrastructures. Whether or not the country signs up to Kyoto they must still manage the risk. New models for the governance of risk should address the particular infrastructure criticalities, public benefit and relevance for economic development. Maurizio Sajeva sets out a model.

• The big green yonder
  Richard Lanyon-Hogg, CTO, IBM (UK) GTS
  
  

  Innovators and fast-thinking engineers are applying their skills to the problem of climate change and in doing so, changing their company's processes, altering staff behaviour and creating new business channels to boot. Richard Lanyon-Hogg explains how IBM reboots on carbon management.

• Voluntary action to reduce GHG emissions
  Robert Dornau
  
  

  The problem with reporting, reducing and offsetting carbon is that we need proof that it has been done. We also need to appreciate the terminology of carbon management so that we can differentiate between 'offseting' and 'reducing'. Companies which are turning their efforts to deal with climate change into selling points could be at rish of misleading customers. Robert Dornau writes about the nedd for standards and how they are essential to establishing trust with all stakeholders in the voluntary emissions market.

• State of the carbon market
  IETA
  
  

  The carbon market in North America has seen remarkable growth, which, until recently, has often gone unnoticed in the rest of the global carbon market. The opportunities are now greater than ever, but new challenges are also arising. With increased volumes and value, there is a correspondingly increased public profile that has drawn troublesome attention to the lack of a prevalent market standard. The place of renewable energy, and in particular renewable energy certificates (RECs), in the carbon market has become a divisive issue, in some ways distracting from the broader need to reaffirm public trust. As regulatory market programmes emerge at the state and provincial level, the landscape is becoming progressively more complex.

• Carbon as a new asset class
  Emmanuel Fages
  
  

  Concerted international action to address the issue of climate change can be traced back to the setting up of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. It was established by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess all the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, and to examine the options for adapting to and mitigating its effects. Emmanuel Fages provides a synopsis of the development of climate change mitigation through the market mechanisms.

• Beat the skills shortage: employ the right people
  Mark Vidler
  
  

  Invariably there is a skills gap that follows any buoyant or fast-developing market sector. The low carbon skills shortage will not be resolved overnight and that fact presents competitive organisations with an international challenge: how to beat the skills shortage? Mark Vidler explains.

• Investing in the carbon markets bring more than just emissions reduction
  David Hopkins
  
  

  The carbon markets are a primary provider of investment in technologies that can, especially in developing countries, provide relief from dependence on carbon. David Hopkins identifies some of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects that are delivering not just short-term profits for the investors, but long-term social benefits for the countries involved.

• US carbon finance 2007 - a year and review
  Tiffany McCormick Potter
  
  

  Tiffany McCormick Potter rounds up the action in the US markets and highlights key political plays across the nation.

• Responding to global need
  Alice LeBlanc
  
  

  Climate change is causing companies to change the way they operate, but it also brings opportunities and no other business sector is more aware of the risks than the insurance industry. Climate chnage policies, programmes and products help American International Group Inc. (AIG) pave the way to a low carbon future. Alice LeBlanc discloses an insurer's strategies and initiatives.

• Sustainable travel and carbon offsetting
  Brian Mullis
  
  

  Travelling is one of our biggest carbon footprints. A year's carbon reductions from switching to a hybrid car, insulating your house and installing solar panels can be obliterated by one trip from Europe to California, and that does not take into account what you do when you arrive. Brian Mullis explains tha opportunities for businesses and travellers.

• Taxing times
  Charles Komanoff
  
  

  There is a growing belief that taxing emissions will lead not just to greater investment in low carbon technologies, but more importantly, wider adoption; when you start hitting people's pockets for their energy production and consumption you change their behaviour into the bargain. But that's not the whole story according to Charles Komanoff who believes that the time is right to set about taxing our carbon emissions.

• Simplicity wins: making US carbon legislation work
  Lewis Hay III
  
  

  A carbon fee, not cap-and-trade, in the US's best alternative to swiftly addressing greenhouse gas-induced climate change. From the corporate heart of the energy industry, Lewis Hay explains why.

Archives

• ISSUE 1 SUMMER 2007
• ISSUE 2 AUTUMN 2007
• ISSUE 3 SPRING 2008

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