Large procurers such as BT, McDonalds and Wal-Mart are increasingly requiring evidence of suppliers’ environmental credentials while multinationals such as Apple and Unilever are shifting from a narrow ‘enterprise sustainability’ view to focus on product level sustainability. Both of these developments lead back to thinking about the best use of voluntary environmental product labels....
Verdantix Blog
DNV’s Acquisition Of Kema Adds Fuel To Energy Services Fire
A recent development in the global energy services market saw testing and certification firm DNV acquire a controlling 74.3% stake in energy consultancy Kema to form DNV Kema Energy & Sustainability. The firm gained regulatory approval to operate on 29 February 2012 and is headquartered in Arnhem, the Netherlands. With 500 employees from DNV and 1,800 from Kema, across 30 countries, the new company increases DNV’s former energy and sustainability employee headcount by 460%....
- Tagged in :
- Smart Grid,
- Energy Management,
- Sustainable Real Estate
China’s Mixed Messages On Carbon Are A Precursor To Legislation
The Chinese government continues to send mixed messages over plans for a carbon tax on energy-intensive industries by 2015. The past six months have seen a series of state-backed news agencies suggesting China will introduce a carbon tax....
North American State Governments Take The Lead On GHG Reductions In The Midst Of Central Governments’ Inertia
The central governments of Canada and the US have up to now failed to introduce meaningful greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction legislation, stalling sustainable business spending because of regulatory uncertainty. With Canada officially withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol in December 2011, the renegade continent could seem a hopeless case, unable to provide the necessary legislative incentives for heavy polluters to decrease their GHG emissions. But in the shadows of federal inertia, a pocket of state-level authorities have stepped up to take leadership over GHG reductions....
No More Hiding: US EPA Lifts Lid On GHG Emissions
On January 11, 2012 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publically revealed the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of over 6,700 US emission-intensive facilities and fossil fuel suppliers. This is the first time the US EPA has released comprehensive GHG data accounting for over 80% of the country’s total emissions. Under the US EPA’s GHG Mandatory Report Rule (MRR) facilities emitting more than 25,000 tCO2 per year (as well as entities supplying fossil fuels) have been mandated to monitor and report emissions since January 2010....
SCIenergy Acquires Transcend To Provide Clients With Fully Funded Sustainable Retrofit Services
The energy efficiency market consistently reports that the greatest barriers to enabling retrofits of the existing built stock are the split incentive between landlord and tenant, the inability to make a business case because of flawed data and financing. SCIenergy is now tackling two of these, continuing the trend for acquisitions of specialist energy management assets. SCIenergy, the energy management software and services firm, announced on March 13th 2012 the acquisition of retrofit financing specialist Transcend Equity for an undisclosed sum. Transcend Equity’s 7 employees have joined the SCIenergy team where post integration Transcend founder Stephen Gossett Jr. will lead SCIenergy’s new financing team....
Green Button Initiative Will Not Solve The Home Energy Management Conundrum
How do you engage consumers in managing the energy in their homes? This is a question which has increasingly occupied the minds of technology firms, telecoms firms and software start-ups eyeing revenue opportunities for their businesses. Power utilities also see opportunity as home energy management offers the possibility of reducing peak load and thereby removing the need for investment in new generation capacity....
- Tagged in :
- Smart Grid,
- Energy Management
Where does it come from? Traceability issues inspire sustainable supply chain progress
Traceability in the supply chain is rapidly becoming a hot sustainability topic as global brands realise that tackling their most significant environmental impacts requires digging down several tiers into their supplier base. Puma’s Environmental Profit & Loss account reveals that 57% of the value of its impacts lies with Tier 4, raw material suppliers. ...
- Tagged in :
- Energy Management,
- Carbon Strategy,
- Sustainability Marketing,
- Product LCA
C3 Acquisition Of Efficiency 2.0 Enhances Innovation Tool Kit For Utilities
On May 1, C3, a provider of enterprise-class energy management software acquired Efficiency 2.0 a provider of web portals and energy efficiency programmes that help utilities to engage their residential and small business customers....
- Tagged in :
- Energy Management,
- Energy Management Software
South Korea’s Government Sells Carbon Cap-And-Trade As De-Risking The Economy
South Korea’s introduction of a carbon cap-and-trade scheme was derailed at the last minute when, on February 16, 2012, the South Korean Parliament delayed their vote on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that proposed to cap emissions of South Korea's largest polluters from early 2015. This vote was the final hurdle for the ETS which has been in the pipeline since 2009, having been passed by South Korea’s National Assembly on climate change on February 8, 2012. ...
FirstCarbon Strengthens Its Environmental Management Capabilities by Acquiring Michael Brandman Associates
FirstCarbon Solutions, a publisher of sustainability and GHG management software, recently announced the acquisition of California-based environmental services firm Michael Brandman Associates (MBA). The move may look like it runs counter to a typical environmental software firm’s usual development of sales channels by aligning with third party consulting firms to help sell products to clients (see Verdantix IHS Launches Ecosystem for Sustainability Transformation). But FirstCarbon has a history of bringing such consulting expertise in-house. Faced with a maturing market for its core data aggregation software technologies, FirstCarbon’s move signals its desire to expand its client services by integrating environmental consulting with software services....
Hitachi Consulting Acquires PRIZIM, Builds Out Environmental Sustainability Practice
Reflecting overall growth in the market for sustainable technology services and sustainability business consulting , Hitachi Consulting acquired PRIZIM, Inc on April 17, 2012 for an undisclosed sum. PRIZIM bills itself as a provider of environmental and energy management services, is located in Maryland and had 45 employees when it was acquired. PRIZIM offers audit services for energy, facilities, GHG emissions, pollution and sustainability; consulting on environmental management systems, contingent liabilities from environmental impacts, fuel cost savings and compliance assistance....
- Tagged in :
- Energy Management
EPA places limits on emissions from coal: Smokescreen or step forward?
Greenhouse gas (GHG) regulation finally seems within the US federal government’s reach. But with US coal production projected to hold steady over the next decade, the US may end up outsourcing global warming....
- Tagged in :
- Environmental Policy & Regulation
