The Sustainability Network

Iveridis Seeks Telesales/New Business Executive

2011-04-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

Location: London UK, Global

iVeridis is seeking a proven, target-carrying telesales person to help us grow our clients' and our own UK and global customer base. We are a young, dynamic company providing a range of sustainability software and outsource/managed service solutions to sustainability service providers. Based in central London and San Francisco, we deal primarily with multinationals and a broad range of sustainability solution providers. Our mission is to accelerate the sales success of sustainability companies. One of our services is to outsource our clients' telesales function.

The ideal candidate will be required to will be able to work within our clients' environment to make outbound sales calls selling both a range of carbon and sustainability software and services solutions. Key responsibilities include generating new business in a new market, playing a key role in creating demand and building strong relationships with clients.

Responsibilities include:

Deliver a solid pipeline of new business by making outbound calls to Businesses.
Searching constantly for new revenue generating chances to meet the company targets.
Accomplishing the agreed levels of calling activity to raise revenue or volume streams.
Consistently achieve other KPI targets as set by line management.
Provide supporting information as required to assist in the sales process.
Provide first class customer service
Forecast sales activity and revenue achievement, while creating satisfied and referenceable customers
Demonstrating software products via the Web.
Developing and maintaining new database contacts and details of potential customers.
Maintaining detailed records and accounts of all telesales promotions.
Updating Customer Relationship Management database of an organization with new information.

In addition the Telesales Executive will be expected to:

Support the Exec Team in new business opportunities.
Participate in marketing efforts at trade shows and conferences.
Develop an up-to-date knowledge of the characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of both iVeridis and clients' products and services.
Develop a good knowledge of the sustainability and carbon markets; demand, competition and prices.

Maintain up-to-date information on all customer interactions in the CRM system

Required Experience:

2 years telesales/outbound experience
Background and or hands-on experience in carbon markets and sustainability is strongly preferred.
Experience of working on behalf of other clients
Self driven, results -orientated and resilient
Excellent communication skills with the ability to speak to people of all levels.
Ability to work under pressure and to strict targets
Experience selling business applications is strongly preferred.
Track record of over-achieving targets in past positions
Ability to work in a fast pace and dynamic, team environment

Required Skills:

University Degree preferably in environmental field
Previous Telesales Methodology training
Strong and demonstrated written and verbal communications skills
Strong computer skills, including CRM Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel

Experience in a start-up or entrepreneurial environment would be an advantage

References:
Employer references will be required and client references are desirable

Green is Good

2010-12-20T08:43:00.000-08:00

The release of "Money Never Sleeps" the long-awaited sequel to Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" has led to the inevitable overuse of its most famous quote- Gekko's "greed is good". Our current financial crisis and the role that over zealous bankers played in creating it again illustrates the dichotomy of the statement. What however is the role that greed and profiteering play in influencing positive changes to the environment and the mitigation of climate change? Do the ends justify the means and in fact make the statement 'greed is good' apropos?

Granted this concept is well outside the traditionally boundaries of how the green movement has been historically perceived and pursued. That being said, how fast is the movement really advancing in achieving a sustainable planet, particularly in the global centre of capitalism, America. In the current 'down economy' environmental issues have taken a back seat to fiscal stimulus and reform with the exception of a few shining beacons of environmental change like the UK and California. In the meantime atmospheric levels of carbon continue to rise, as does the corresponding temperature and incidence of extreme weather events. Paul Hawken et al., sum this negative cycle succinctly in their groundbreaking "Natural Capitalism":

The environmental debate is conducted in a predictable cycle: Science discovers another negative human impact on the environment. Trade groups and business counter, the media reports both sides, and the issue eventually gets consigned to a growing list of unresolved problems.

In the case of climate change this is an unacceptable outcome. Therefore if you can't beat them, why not join them?

The opportunities to capitalise on the new green movement are immense, even if the traditional models of investment have not always proven successful. The green movement needs to shift its focus from the negative impact of industry on environmental change to the positive impact of making money from the mitigation of environmental disaster. Providing the necessary guidance, technology and infrastructure to improve efficiency and reduce emissions is just good business-green and industry should be working in tandem to achieve this. Leaders of the green movement need to seek out industry leaders that are willing to collaborate on ways to make money by saving the planet.

The Definition of Irony? Facebook and the Campaign Against Coal

2010-09-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

In the Sci-fi classic "2001: A Space Odyssey" a super-intelligent talking computer named HAL slowly gains control of a ship on a deep space mission- at the expense of astronaut Dave Bowman. The film highlights the diminishing divide between computers and machines that had been growing through the 1970/80's. This classic Frankensteinian (sic) story of the monster consuming the maker may be happening to social media giant Facebook.

Whilst I may be being a tad dramatic, the case of Facebook and its predominantly coal-fired power producer Pacific Power started gaining steam (no pun intended) on September 1st when John Vidal of the Guardian published an article exposing the story http://bit.ly/ddi8Cu and citing a movement led by Greenpeace that has seen a community of 500,000+ protesting the weighting of coal in the electricity provided by the power company: http://bit.ly/av8MF9. According to Vidal "Facebook will not say how much electricity it uses to stream video, store information and connect its 500m users but industry estimates suggest that at their present rate of growth all the data centres and telecommunication networks in the world will consume about 1,963bn kilowatt hours of electricity by 2020. That is more than triple their current consumption and more electricity than is used by France, Germany, Canada and Brazil combined."

The crux of the issue is the weighting of coal that Pacific Power utilises in its energy mix-67% which is higher than the national average. What is unstated is this mix is significantly higher than the average of the coal mix for the West Coast states and other power producers, many of which source energy from cleaner sources including hydro and wind-suggesting that Facebook has other viable source of cleaner power.

The relevance of social media has been growing for years, as a result of and to the benefit of, Facebook. The company may not have found a way to fully capitalise on the monetary value of this movement however its total net worth has soared to ridiculous levels and spawned a wave of innovation. The coal issue reflects the power that social media's growing effect can have on issues that matter to Facebook's users. More importantly, this campaign may see a trickle-down effect on power producers like Pacific Power-and hopefully its parent company MidAmerican.

With mounting competition in the social media market, Facebook cannot afford to let its market share of users slide through something as simple as where the company source's its power. Equally, losing a customer like Facebook is bad business for Pacific Power, particularly when you consider the growth potential of that company through its energy use in the datacenter and the impact this campaign may have on other tech companies. With or without regulatory control of GHG emissions through cap-and-trade schemes, pressure on a company's bottom line is what is going to drive change.

Let's wait and see what Facebook decides to do...

Career Transition

2010-09-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

All good things must come to an end they say; and so it is with my career at Carbonetworks/ENXSuite. Carbonetworks began as an idea hatched by Michael Meehan long ago before carbon accounting, management, etc became en vogue (and subsequently out of vogue it would seem). I met Michael in about 2003 during our MBA at the University of Victoria and by January 2005 we had incorporated a new company that went on to achieve many milestones. I am very proud of our accomplishments and the wild ride we had, particularly in the early days when we were creating a market and seeking investors.

I believe that Carbonetworks was the first to take significant venture investment and the first to go to market with true enterprise ready SaaS for a new market. We pioneered a new market that now sees over 109 vendors (perhaps more vendors than total number of deals???)! I worked with some true professionals and had the opportunity to meet the real trailblazers of the sustainability market. Carbonetworks has become ENXSuite and is now lead by a team of Valley professionals who I hope will shepherd the company through the next stage in its lifecycle. I wish them all the best.

As for me it is time for other things. I have garnered incredible knowledge and great contacts during this wild ride. I hope to leverage this in future endeavours. As I do this, I intend to share my thoughts on this nascent and burgeoning market and encourage others to comment, contradict or otherwise through my blog.

Thanks for listening and look for more!

CarbonetworksTM Selected to Provide Unified Greenhouse Gas Performance Metrics for Chicago Climate Action Plan

2010-05-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

May 26, 2010 08:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA--(Marketwire - May 26, 2010) - Carbonetworks™, the leading provider of performance management software for energy, greenhouse gas (GHG), and sustainability solutions, announced today that it has been selected by the Chicago Climate Action Plan (CCAP) team as its strategic technology partner.

Launched in September 2008, CCAP is a comprehensive and detailed strategy to help lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and address climate change. CCAP builds on the many efforts the City and its partners have already implemented to make Chicago one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the nation.

The Chicago Climate Action Plan is a roadmap of five strategies: (1) Energy Efficient Buildings, (2) Clean and Renewable Energy Sources, (3) Improved Transportation Options, (4) Reduced Waste and Industrial Pollution and (5) Adaptation – which outlines how the city will achieve its goal of reducing Chicago's greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. The City and its CCAP partners have made significant progress in each of these strategies. With the growing complexity of full-scale implementation, Carbonetworks will help streamline CCAP's overall performance measurement tracking system.

"We need a robust technology partner that can handle the complexity, scalability, security, and functional requirements of our initiative. Carbonetworks shares our commitment to mitigating and adapting to climate change," says City of Chicago Department of Environment Commissioner Suzanne Malec-McKenna.

"We are honored to join Chicago in its quest to become the 'greenest' city in the world," said Michael Meehan, CEO and president of Carbonetworks. "Chicago has already established itself as a pioneer by bringing together local businesses, residents, non-profits, and other stakeholders to collaborate on solutions to the climate change crisis. Our technology Network will help CCAP improve this collaboration by delivering relevant applications, information, services, and content aimed at reducing carbon emissions and other environmental impacts in the most cost-efficient manner."
The Kresge Foundation has generously supported the Chicago Climate Action Plan in this effort. Developing effective solutions for tracking progress toward climate change goals is a critical next step for cities tackling climate change.

About Chicago Climate Action Plan:
The Chicago Climate Action Plan is Chicago's roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. The dynamic plan outlines 26 actions to mitigate greenhouse gases, as well as nine actions to adapt to climate changes already occurring. For more information about the CCAP, please visit www.chicagoclimateaction.org.

About Carbonetworks:
Carbonetworks provides software and services to help organizations around the world run their energy, GHG and sustainability initiatives using consolidated corporate scorecards for measuring performance. The company's solutions evaluate energy and carbon inventories and reduction projects, measure their financial returns, and help execute those that optimize the company's business performance and have the highest returns. Carbonetworks has over a decade of experience in the industry and was founded with the goal of enabling companies manage and reduce their impact on the environment while enhancing their bottom line. With nearly 9,000 sites implemented on its platform and hundreds of companies in over 40 countries in its network community, Carbonetworks operates the largest energy and GHG management network in the world. For more information, please visit www.carbonetworks.com.

West Fraser Timber Selects Carbonetworks to Provide Integrated Carbon and Energy Performance Management Solution

2010-05-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA--(Marketwire - May 4, 2010) - Carbonetworks™, the leading provider of performance management software for energy, greenhouse gas (GHG), and sustainability solutions, today announced that West Fraser Timber Co Ltd. (TSE:WFT), one of the largest forest product companies in North America, has selected Carbonetworks after a comprehensive evaluation.

West Fraser embraces environmental excellence as a key element of its strategy and is committed to the continual improvement of their forest practices and manufacturing procedures. The company's Canadian facilities have already reduced emissions by more than 28% since 2000, clearly demonstrating their commitment to environmental stewardship. To date the company has utilized manual processes and spreadsheets to manage energy data, GHG emissions and compliance reporting. In order to mitigate risk, time, and cost, West Fraser desired to leverage a technology solution to help automate these processes. The Carbonetworks solution enables West Fraser to efficiently manage and reduce its energy usage and carbon footprint, transforming Energy, GHG, and Sustainability initiatives into measurable business results.

"West Fraser manages energy and carbon as a business, which is in alignment with the Carbonetworks Network Philosophy. Carbonetworks stood out from competitors on multiple levels, including the capability to set and monitor reduction goals, model project paybacks and track energy/ghg reduction initiatives across multiple facilities from one central vantage point," said Veikko Paivinen, Financial Manager, Energy and Carbon. "Carbonetworks reputation for customer service and responsiveness was also a significant factor in our decision."

"We are thrilled to partner with an industry leader such as West Fraser," said Michael Meehan, CEO and President of Carbonetworks. "West Fraser has adopted the full cycle of carbon and energy management from basic inventory measurements to compliance reporting to carbon trading – all in the context of financial returns and business value – which will be made more scalable and predictable with the help of Carbonetworks technology."

About West Fraser Timber:
West Fraser is an integrated wood products company producing lumber, wood chips, LVL, MDF, plywood, pulp and newsprint. The Company has operations in western Canada and the southern United States. West Fraser shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol: "WFT".

About Carbonetworks:
Carbonetworks provides software and services to help companies around the world run their energy, GHG and sustainability initiatives using consolidated corporate scorecards for measuring performance. The company's solutions evaluate energy and carbon inventories and reduction projects, measure their financial returns, and help execute those that optimize the company's business performance and have the highest returns. Carbonetworks has over a decade of experience in the industry and was founded with the goal of enabling companies manage and reduce their impact on the environment while enhancing their bottom line. With nearly 8,000 sites implemented on its platform and hundreds of companies in over 40 countries in its network community, Carbonetworks operates the largest energy and GHG management network in the world. For more information, please visit www.carbonetworks.com.

For more information, please contact
Carbonetworks Corporation
Christine Urchison
(250) 298-4200 x 154
www.carbonetworks.com
or
West Fraser Timber
Veikko Paivinen
(250) 992-4642
www.westfraser.com

Carbonetworks Named "Cool Vendor" by Leading Analyst Firm

2010-04-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Apr 28, 2010 13:56 ET
Carbonetworks Named "Cool Vendor" by Leading Analyst Firm
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA--(Marketwire - April 28, 2010) - Carbonetworks™, a leading software provider for energy, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and sustainability solutions has been selected as a "Cool Vendor" in the Cool Vendors in Sustainability 2010 report by the leading analyst firm Gartner Inc.

Carbonetworks was chosen as one of five vendors in Gartner's "Cool Vendors" report, which highlights the increasing and diverse role IT is playing in improving sustainability performance of organizations. Companies included in the report were selected based on their role in improving the sustainability performance of organizations. The report went on to say that "enterprises need to find well-funded solution providers with domain expertise that will be around for a while, that take carbon management beyond compliance and transparency, and can provide insight into opportunities for efficiencies."
"Carbonetworks is committed to providing software to help our clients optimally achieve their energy and greenhouse gas reductions targets, and help monetize them. We believe this analysis by Gartner further validates the need for scalable solutions to manage sustainability intelligence and confirms Carbonetworks' place as an innovative market leader in sustainable performance management software," said Michael Meehan, President and CEO of Carbonetworks.

"Enterprises should be developing capabilities in energy and carbon management right now as a matter of efficiency and risk management," said Simon Mingay, co-author and research vice president at Gartner.

Carbonetworks' Performance Management Platform helps companies run their energy, GHG, and Sustainability initiatives like a business, reducing costs and maximizing the financial returns of sustainability initiatives. The company's modular approach to sustainability ensures that companies and governments of all sizes can start managing their energy and carbon reduction initiatives quickly and easily. With over 9,000 sites deployed on its software, Carbonetworks is the most widely deployed energy and carbon management network in the world.

About Gartner's Cool Vendors Selection Process
Gartner's listing does not constitute an exhaustive list of vendors in any given technology area, but rather is designed to highlight interesting, new and innovative vendors, products and services. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness of a particular purpose.
Gartner defines a cool vendor as a company that offers technologies or solutions that are: Innovative, enable users to do things they couldn't do before; Impactful, have, or will have, business impact (not just technology for the sake of technology); Intriguing, have caught Gartner's interest or curiosity in approximately the past six months.
About Carbonetworks
Carbonetworks provides software and services to help companies around the world run their energy, GHG and sustainability initiatives using consolidated corporate scorecards for measuring performance. The company's solutions evaluate energy and carbon inventories and reduction projects, measure their financial returns, and help execute those that optimize the company's business performance and have the highest returns. Carbonetworks has over a decade of experience in the industry and was founded with the goal of enabling companies manage and reduce their impact on the environment while enhancing their bottom line. With nearly 9,000 sites implemented on its platform and hundreds of companies in over 40 countries in its network community, Carbonetworks operates the largest energy and GHG management network in the world. For more information, please visit www.carbonetworks.com.
For more information, please contact
Carbonetworks Corporation
Christine Urchison
(250) 298-4200 x 154
www.carbonetworks.com

How Green Jobs Drive the Innovation Economy

2010-01-28T00:31:00.000-08:00

How Green Jobs Drive the Innovation Economy

These days, you hear a lot of talk from people who claim to advocate for businesses on the dangers of cap and trade for the economy. They create catastrophic scenarios and talk about potential losses to the GDP. Working with Fortune 500 customers every day, I can tell you that this simply isn’t true. Carbonetworks is growing fast, now with 8,000 sites deployed, because our customers can save money by using our technology. I am proud to say we are a living, breathing example of innovation that is creating “green jobs” . And we aren’t alone – a recent report from the Global Climate Network predicts that in the U.S., the stimulus package and the American Clean Energy and Security Act could help create 1.9 million new green jobs over the next decade.

Of course going green is the right thing to do for our environment and our economy. I got the idea for my own company while studying environmental management in my undergraduate program in the mid-1990s. I firmly believe we must be responsible stewards of the earth and providing business with the proper incentives is the best path to environmental stewardship. But we also must realize that progress on emissions and energy reductions from a policy perspective represents a potential boon for U.S. innovation and business.

Re Posted from Carbonetworks Blog- Michael Meehan

Top Environmental Software Company Seeks Qualified Applicants

2008-06-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

June 25th, 2008

Carbonetworks is starting a fairly comprehensive hiring campaign and I'd like to post this in case some of our readers are in the job market - or know quality people who are. We're a Canadian-based software company that helps businesses and governments create effective carbon reduction strategies. We do this by getting our clients' carbon inventories under control, automatically evaluating the many options to reduce, and then taking them into the markets via investments, internal initiatives, verified offsets, partnerships, and much more. We're growing rapidly and are looking to fill several positions. You can learn more about our vacancies on our careers page. We're a well-funded startup, growing rapidly, and currently have hundreds of clients in 23 countries. You can read more about us on our website, or in the media.

We're looking for:

Enterprise Sales Managers
Inside Sales Reps
Business Development Managers
Java Developers
QA Engineers

Some of these positions are located in Canada but we also need people in the US and Europe. At Carbonetworks we value our West Coast eco-lifestyle - we are looking for people who share our environmental vision and who are committed to making a difference. In addition to our competitive benefits package, we offer eco-perks such as employee bicycle and ride-share programs, off site work sessions, and more. We are located in Victoria British Columbia, Canada - one of the world's most beautiful and environmentally-friendly cities. If one of our vacancies sounds like a career that fits with your lifestyle - or the one you want to have - we'd like to hear from you!

Carbonetworks to Provide Carbon Management Services for Governments, Consultants and Offset Project Developers

2008-02-20T15:43:00.000-08:00

Victoria, BC – February 14, 2008 – Carbonetworks Corporation, a leading provider of enterprise software that helps companies create effective greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions strategies, today announced it will expand its service offerings to governments, consultants and offset project developers. Carbonetworks will offer these sectors simple, comprehensive and cost effective solutions for GHG and carbon emissions management.
Government. Carbonetworks gives governments a way to communicate their GHG reductions and their leadership in reducing carbon emissions. Carbonetworks software lets this public sector consolidate their emissions inventories into one platform, which fosters a better understanding and easier management of their carbon footprint. Carbonetworks also helps governments evaluate options to reduce their footprint by linking them to multiple verified offsets.
Consultants. With Carbonetworks software, consultants now have access to the best tools to help their clients manage their emissions strategies. The platform allows consultants to organize their customers' emissions data more efficiently on one central dashboard, which helps customers better control and understand their GHG emissions strategies. Consultants can lease the Carbonetworks' platform and integrate it into their existing software platform.
Offset project developers. Carbonetworks software gives offset developers control over their projects and insight into how these projects are performing. It lets developers realize their project's benefits via specific metrics and timelines that compare actual and projected performance and also allows for direct access to thousands of companies who need their projects.
"We've built on our core business platform to provide valuable services to all players in the emissions management value chain," said Michael Meehan, CEO of Carbonetworks. "Governments now have a way to communicate their GHG reductions and show true leadership in carbon management with custom calculators, jurisdictional inventories and dashboards. By working with us, consultants and offset project developers can stay ahead of their competition by giving their clients new ways to be more strategic about their GHG emissions."
About Carbonetworks
Carbonetworks is a leading provider of enterprise software that helps over 3,400 organizations around the world create effective greenhouse gas emissions strategies. The company provides executive-level views on emissions inventories and management decisions made anywhere in the organization or supply chain, and links to world markets to provide real-time valuation and GHG scenario planning, bringing bottom-line analysis into GHG decisions. Carbonetworks is based in British Columbia, Canada.

Developing a Carbon Strategy

2007-09-18T19:23:00.000-07:00

Business leaders are inundated with conflicting reports on climate change. With so much information and so little historical context, executives have been left to blindly navigate through this new "carbon-constrained" world in hopes of understanding how their own business will be affected. In some cases, the decisions made, or avoided, could be the most significant of their tenure.

Organizations of all sizes are engaged in developing coherent business strategies but are getting caught up in sorting through the science, propaganda, and greenwashing inherent in the climate change problem. Needless to say, this is not the ideal environment for making sound, strategic business decisions.

Many executives in North America have a basic understanding of carbon markets. Implementations of previous cap-and-trade systems have led many businesspeople to believe that a compliance market will be implemented here: It is simply a question of when.

Unfortunately, most companies are limited in both their knowledge and resources for addressing this impending reality. They are further confounded by not knowing who in the organization should do what, or what they should be doing. Many executives say they are waiting to see
what the regulations will look like but in reality, they don't have a coherent strategy in place.

For top executives, all problems are disguised opportunities. In order to steer a company away from the pitfalls of a carbon market, leaders need to develop and implement effective strategies. These five steps can serve as a basis for developing such a strategy:

1. Get Control Over the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory

Companies must have an accessible and auditable carbon inventory. The good news is that historical emissions data likely exists somewhere in the organization. The bad news is that the data may be old, inaccurate or inaccessible.

When examining an inventory, ask the following questions:

Is the inventory recent, accurate and auditable?
Are there tools in place to analyze the data at the business level?
Can it be shared and reported to all of the organization's key stakeholders?

The ubiquitous spreadsheet has been employed judiciously for creating emissions inventories and has served its purpose well for organizations that need to simply record air emissions. Using spreadsheets to manage multiple emission points, however, can in many cases lead to the much
larger problem of unmanaged data growth propagating and compounding errors.

Spreadsheets are simply tables of data and require understanding and human knowledge to make them useful -- knowledge that often leaves when employees depart. Today's executives are asking for the business implications of this spreadsheet data, not the data itself. This is an
extremely important distinction that can directly affect corporate mandates around regulatory compliance, best practices, and ultimately, the company's financial health.

2. Understand Your Position

Elite organizations are adept at analyzing and managing the risks and opportunities for their business operations. Very few, however, realize their carbon-related implications. Most executives are quick to recognize the "Stroke of the Pen" risk -- the threat that new
legislation will change their business environment on emissions. Few recognize other equally serious risks or the opportunities posed by emissions reduction plans that may be different even across business units within their own organization.

Taking the lead in a new market can become a significant competitive advantage. The basis of the cap-and-trade system is to make organizations competitively reduce their emissions, yet few are taking the lead.

By acting now companies can realize a significant competitive advantage, enhance their corporate image, increase their perceived company valuation and access to capital, expose new business opportunities, and discover unrealized assets in a trading environment. These are just some ways companies can take problems and turn them into tangible opportunities that can benefit them financially.

3. Establish a Financial Perspective

Emissions trading is based on market mechanisms. As a result, carbon emissions are no longer merely a by-product of production but can have a direct impact on the bottom line of an organization. As such they must be:

Monitored and accounted for
Inventoried and forecasted
Planned and managed
Valued against some financial baseline

The key to success in this market is not compliance but rather performance, and learning how to leverage emission assets while mitigating liabilities.

Anything that affects a company's revenue and profitability must be reflected on the balance sheet, but until now carbon emissions have been absent. Companies need to put a price tag on their emissions, measure their output versus a cap or target over a time-line that extends into the future, and then use this to develop a strategy.

Familiar tools from other lines of business can be used to do this. Engage the financial experts from within the organization to create a carbon balance sheet and other financial tools to see how a properly managed (and monetized) emissions inventory can influence the company's financial performance.

4. Build a Strategy

The key to developing a carbon strategy is to look forward and move from compliance to performance-based standards. Explore all of the options available to the organization before buying into the first mitigation strategy offered. Compliance-based carbon credits may prove
to be a good financial choice, but will not be a panacea to your company's carbon problems. Search your organization for potential unrealized assets that may mitigate your carbon risk. Both in advance of and following mandated targets, explore the options of pre-compliance offsets, energy efficiency improvements and partnerships. Finally, use the human resources you have in your company to find new ways to lower your carbon footprint and be competitive.

5. Execute and Evaluate

With the multitude of options an organization faces, it can be difficult to avoid 'analysis paralysis' when it comes to acting on an emissions strategy. Executives should ensure that once a strategy has been developed, the company has the resources available to execute and monitor the progress of the strategy. Many companies in North America and around the world have begun to create new positions specifically suited to strategic analysis and execution of an emission strategy.

Companies need to find a better way to track their emissions position. Some Fortune 500 companies have built their own emission monitoring and trading platforms but these can be costly to maintain. When shopping for a solution, look for software that can grow as needs
grow and focus on strategy as well as compliance.

Window of Opportunity

Across all sectors, companies have shown an interest and willingness to participate in the carbon market. Many have put together quality greenhouse gas inventories to meet proposed regulatory
compliance needs. Unfortunately, rather than developing a coherent proactive emissions strategy, executives find themselves being reactive. As with any strategy, leaping before you look can be an expensive and risky proposition, and too often these organizations will jump straight into the carbon credit market, buy an unverified offset, or implement a well-meaning but ill-advised reduction project without fully understanding their own position.

It is important to examine a corporate carbon footprint the way an institutional investor would manage a stock portfolio – by understanding what they have, their risks, and what makes the best
financial sense now and into the future. Remember, there is presently a window of opportunity where the competition views the emission market as a mandatory compliance game rather than a strategic opportunity.

There is a clear competitive advantage available to companies that realize this opportunity -- the key will be to act while the window is still open.

Press Release: CNX Marketplace

2007-05-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE

www.carbonetworks.com/marketplace

New platform to assure quality standards in the voluntary market

Frankfurt, April 27, 2007. 3C Group and Carbonetworks have entered a transatlantic partnership leading to the development of Carbon Offset Marketplace™ enabling companies to select Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Projects based on their preferences to meet their voluntary or compliance greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Victoria, British Columbia based Carbonetworks Corporation announced the beta release of the industry’s first Carbon Offset Marketplace™, enabling companies to find the quality, verified emissions offset projects they need to meet their emissions requirements. The company has entered a partnership with Frankfurt, Gemany based 3C Group, a leading and globally expanding Carbon Asset Management Company. In order to better serve their clients in the US, 3C Group recently launched 3C The Carbon Credit Company, LLC - a wholly owned subsidiary located in Washington, D.C.

“The 3C Group was instrumental in realizing the Carbon Offset Marketplace™ project. Their focus on high quality standards not only for carbon offsets but also for transparent, streamlined processes is echoed in our new product. Their market insights helped us to better understand the drivers of global companies seeking to reduce climate damaging emissions,” says Stephen Mooney, VP Sales and Marketing at Carbonetworks. “As a packaged solution, we empower companies to select projects based on their specific needs.”

“Our partnership with carbonetworks is an effort to support initiatives that help to harmonize globally needed quality standards related to carbon offsets. By ensuring that all carbon offsets result in permanent, real and verifiable GHG emission reductions, companies no longer have to sacrifice on quality when selecting projects”, says Bjoern Fischer, Managing Director for 3C The Carbon Credit Company, LLC. “Projects listed on the platform comply with the VER+ -standard as a minimum standard. This assures transparency, high quality and credibility of the credits sourced from respective projects for offsetting. The VER+ -standard has been jointly developed by 3C and the globally active Munich-based verifier TUEV SUED. The VER+ standard is closely related to the CDM standard. Unlike commodity exchanges, the CNX Marketplace™ takes the best the market has available and links it directly with demand from the corporations who need them”.

As the newest component of the Carbonetworks Emissions Management software platform, the CNX Marketplace™ is an open, freely available registry for verified offset projects for purchase, bid, or partnerships. Carbonetworks makes qualified offset projects available from network participants and companies looking to make their projects available to emitting companies. These projects can be for sale, for bid, or for partnership.

The CNX Marketplace™ beta is available to the public. For more information, visit http://www.carbonetworks.com/marketplace/.

About Carbonetworks - Carbonetworks Corporation is a leading provider of enterprise software to help companies create effective greenhouse gas emissions strategies. The company provides executive-level views on emissions inventories and management decisions made anywhere in the organization or supply chain, and links to world markets to provide real-time valuation and GHG scenario planning, bringing bottom-line analysis into GHG decisions.

About 3C Group - As one of the leading Carbon Asset Management firms in Europe, 3C (http://www.3c-company.com) originates and procures carbon credits from CDM and JI projects around the world. 3C Group draws upon an extensive international network of project developers, financial institutions, technology providers and emission reduction experts. 3C Consulting’s Carbon Investment Advisory offers fund managers comprehensive expertise on Carbon Funds and project based Kyoto-mechanisms. In terms of offset volumes, 3C Consulting is the world’s leading company for climate neutrality services. 3C Markets provides consulting services to the industry regarding emission trading and hedging strategies, especially for the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Contact:

3C The Carbon Credit Company LLC
Bjoern Fischer
Managing Director
Tel.: +1 (202) 331-3363
Fax: +1 (202) 331-3383
bjoern.fischer@3c-company.com 3C Holding AG
Fritz Wilhelm
Head of Corporate Communications
Tel.: +49 (0)6101 5 56 58-34
Fax: +49 (0)6101 5 56 58-77
fritz.wilhelm@3c-company.com
Carbonetworks Corp.
Stephen Mooney
VP Sales & Marketing
Tel.: +1 (800) 571-0694
stephen.mooney@carbonetworks.com

Press Release

Why Can't We Just Get Along-Canada's Green Plan

2007-05-06T08:41:00.000-07:00

John Baird and the Canadian Conservative government recently announced their new and improved Green Plan. Designed to replace the previous plan proposed by former Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, the plan looks to go a little further to satisfy a Canadian commitment to reduce GHG emissions. Without getting hung up with too many gory details of the plan I wanted to look at some of the politics and economic impact behind the plan.

It has been suggested that up thousands of jobs could be lost as a result of fixed emission reduction targets on industry. I will preface that I am no economist, my only experience being a C- in Micro Economics on my way to a BA in History, and a blundering 2nd attempt at the same subject during my MBA. Environmental Minister John Baird has suggested that an economic hit of $8Billion annually will occur in Canada up until 2020. Keeping my limitations in mind, some other economic 'Heavyweights' have also weighed in on the subject:

- Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers, was quoted: "Thankfully, they didn't harm the industry any further, we can live with the announcement that was made today."
-Nexen CEO Charlie Fischer believes that a lack of certainty of the government plans threatens to undermine expansion of future oilsands projects.

-David Suzuki weighed in with his own take to the economic subject. "I think they're willing to suck it in and accept that they're going to have to pay more but they want it to be fair. The thing I hear over and over again is: 'Some sectors in Canada are getting a softer ride, and why should we as consumers have to pay when, say, the tar sands or the auto sector are not being asked to meet their obligations as well?' "

All of this posturing and quoting makes me think of Rodney King's famous quip from the LA Riots, "can't we all just get along?" Of course both ends of the political spectrum are going to argue that this plan goes too far or does not go far enough. Seeing this reminds me of some sage advice my father told me about politics when I was a kid. As a rule he said, if a politician makes a statement or policy that pisses off both sides equally, it is probably the right decision.

The fact of the matter is that is about bloody time that Canada does something. We have been dithering between two governments that can’t get it together enough to reduce emissions. Most Canadians (excluding Albertans) now agree with the bulk of the scientists that climate change is real and at least partly cause by humans. A strong argument can be made that Canada’s overall emission level pales in comparison to our neighbors to the South or developing countries such as India or China. I compare our symbolic commitment to that of our commitment to economic, military and poverty relief around the globe. As a first world nation, Canada must be a clear leader in the direction we want to see the world take. As magnificent as it sounds, certain people around the globe do still respect Canada and look to it in some small part for direction on matters of importance.

In the end though, perhaps the most important argument against the naysayer is the consequence of being wrong. The argument that we will fall into some economic peril-which I do not believe, does not hold up against the whole end of the world argument. As a founder of an environmental software company focusing on GHG emission, I have the threat of economic misery and embarrassment to face. That’s still better than the end of existence for me or my kids-if I had kids.

Economically, Canada does face the risk of a slowing manufacturing economy-which has been slowing for years, and a decline in Oil Sands output. As an investor in some of these companies, that is something that affects my pocketbook. However the lack of direction over an issue that I see as inevitable, allows us to miss the proverbial boat on other areas that could create jobs and improve the economy. There will absolutely be a G8 nation that leads the way on technology to improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions. Assuming the inevitability of it all, why shouldn’t Canada lead the way? Large multinationals like BP got this 5 years ago.

To finish with one more cliché, there are no such things as problems, only solutions. Let’s get to work finding them, and allow Canada to be a leader.

The CNX Carbon Balance Sheet

2007-04-03T14:48:00.000-07:00

Press Release

On January 1, 2007 Carbonetworks Corporation announced the general availability of the industry's first Carbon Balance Sheet(TM), enabling companies to track their greenhouse gas emissions through carbon assets and liabilities.

As part of the Carbonetworks Emissions Management software platform, the Carbon Balance Sheet helps companies understand how their greenhouse gas emissions and offsets contribute to their bottom line. A highly scalable solution, the Carbon Balance Sheet helps companies view the financial contribution of all emissions, carbon credits, and offset projects on a single pane.

"The Carbon Balance Sheet is a significant leap forward in emissions management software" says Stephen Mooney, co-founder of Carbonetworks Corporation. "It helps our clients understand how their emissions reductions can directly affect their financial performance. It's an innovative and effective way for companies to view their environmental performance on a single pane of glass-whether it's for one facility or a thousand."

The Carbon Balance Sheet is available for the CNX Professional tier network subscriptions and above. For more information visit http://www.carbonetorks.com.

About Carbonetworks: Carbonetworks Corporation is a leading provider of enterprise software to help companies create effective greenhouse gas emission strategies. The company provides executive-level views on emissions inventories and management decisions made anywhere in the organization or supply chain, and links to world markets to provide real-time valuation and GHG scenario planning, bringing bottom-line analysis into GHG decisions.