Companies must be prepared for future government regulation in the transition to a low carbon economy according to a white paper – Making sense of the low carbon economy. The paper calls on companies to take urgent action by developing low carbon services and products. The research was commissioned by energy company RWE npower and carried out by Forum for the Future. It comes after research revealed that many businesses are still confused by what a low carbon economy means.
Barclaycard, Tesco, O2, British Gas, B&Q, M&S, HSBC, Royal & SunAlliance and Sky have launched We’re In This Together – a partnership that aims to encourage consumers to tackle climate change through initiatives that range from eco-insurance to more energy efficient clothes washing. The partnership is supported by the National Consumer Council, Defra, The Climate Group and the Energy Saving Trust. www.together.com
Briefing comment
This initiative draws together some major household names who are offering consumers easy access to a growing range of products and services that can reduce their impact on the environment. Some may scoff that it is simply a new route to market and promote existing ‘light green’ consumer goods.
However, there is no denying the real potential to bring about positive change. What is striking about this partnership is that it will track and publish the reductions in CO2 emissions resulting from peoples’ efforts.
This type of transparency is likely to prompt action as people can see the benefit of doing something together to tackle climate change.
In brief
Bank of America has pledged $20bn over ten years to support the development of environmentally friendly products and launched the first of these services on April 11 – a donation programme for new home equity customers. www.bankofamerica.com
Henderson, the international investment management company, has announced that it is going carbon neutral. The company is to take a number of steps, one of them being that the electricity at the London head office will be from 100% renewable sources. www.henderson.com
ABN AMRO launched the world’s first Climate Change & Environment Index at the end of March. The rules-based index will track the performance of stocks related to businesses that are involved in combating climate change and mitigating environmental degradation. www.abnamro.com.au
News Corporation has become the first global media company to commit to becoming carbon neutral. On May 9, chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch, announced that the company will be carbon neutral by 2010 and added that this was only the first step towards improving energy efficiency and educating audiences. It also joined The Climate Group, a non-profit which encourages business leadership on climate change. www.newscorp.com
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