As economic recovery worldwide begins to take hold, issues of sustainability in general, and carbon management specifically, that were temporarily pushed out of the frame, are now back in the picture.

Two years ago, most corporations were looking at their carbon management as a communications or compliance exercise. Today, the majority of projects around carbon management and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions not only involve emissions tracking but also significant focus on forecasting and emissions reduction.

The shift from monitoring and compliance concerns to forecasting and reducing emissions, signals a growing acceptance of carbon management as a cost of doing business, and a potential source of cost-savings. Once a company has understood that bringing their environmental footprint under control and reducing their carbon emissions has a real and direct impact on the bottom line, carbon management strategies and projects take on a much higher profile within companies.  

Recession's Impact

With evidence of a widespread recovery from the global economic crisis, corporations have been returning to  carbon management and GHG emissions controlth programs or are initiating new ones. As always, such trends are regional, with North American companies still lagging behind their Australian and European counterparts in assessing their carbon footprints and devising ways to reduce them.

But most recently, U.S. corporations have picked up their efforts. The general political atmosphere has become more favorable. And, undoubtedly, the run-up to Copenhagen has helped spur corporate thinking regarding carbon management issues-independent of whether any binding accord actually issues from the talks. But the main motivator here has been the growing recognition that resource efficiency and carbon management have become an intrinsic part of doing business. Where becoming a better corporate citizen was once regarded as attractive, if not quite essential, it's now largely viewed as part of a much broader agenda with definable benefits, the most important among them being: cost-savings, new business opportunities and competitive advantage.

How are Corporations Responding?

Sustainability and environmental initiatives, including carbon management, fall into two main categories: short term tactical actions based on waste, energy use, and carbon emissions reduction; and longer term strategic actions focused on transforming the overall footprint of companies. At the moment, tactical actions predominate. But recent corporate projects are trending toward the strategic. 2010 may prove to be pivotal in this respect.

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