Carbon offsetting important despite economy

Sep. 24, 2009, New York – Ecosecurities
has released the results of its second carbon offsetting survey: Carbon
Management and Offsetting Trends Survey Report 2009. Ecosecurities is involved in sourcing,
developing, and trading carbon credits from greenhouse gas emission reduction
projects, and prepared the report in collaboration with Baker & McKenzie, a
climate change law firm, and Climatebiz, a resource for climate management.

The carbon management and offsetting
trends survey was originally undertaken in 2008 to identify what the business
consumer thought about the voluntary carbon market and understand the varying
views and opinions about the use of carbon offsets as part of a wider,
integrated carbon management strategy. Now, one year later, there is still the
same underlying impetus that climate change must be addressed, with businesses
playing vital and important roles in helping society as a whole in its
transition to a low-carbon economy.

Highlights of the research, which sampled
280 global, multinational, and regional organizations, and 31 carbon companies,
include the following:

–  Over three-quarters of companies have implemented or have started developing a carbon management strategy;

–  Two-thirds of respondents have already offset their carbon emissions or will consider offsetting in the future;

–  72% of participants nominated the United States as the most desirable geographic region for purchasing offsets; this may reflect the desire for domestic projects, as 56% of the respondents came from North America. Africa and South America were also rated as highly desirable locations for emission reduction projects;

–  Respondents prefer renewable energy projects above any other project type, with solar scoring 92% and wind 86%.

"It's highly encouraging to see this
growth in interest from companies taking climate action, despite the
doom-and-gloom outlook on the global economy this year," said Matthew
Wheeland, managing editor of Climatebiz.