Carbon credits within reach of companies

by Sapumali GALAGODA

All companies in Sri Lanka have the opportunity to go carbon neutral and get carbon credits and this is good for Sri Lanka, said Managing Director CarbonNeutral Company, Jonathan Shopley. He was speaking at the launch of the Carbon Consulting Company (CCC) in Colombo last week. The easiest way to manage the eco system is to grow trees.

He said that the world needs to reduce global green house gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

Therefore, a concerted effort by all people is a must. At present, there are 30 giga tons of global emissions in USA, G7 countries, India and China.

He said that, "the increased awareness among businesses of the opportunities available to them is demonstrated by the 65 percent global 500 companies which have announced that they have implemented emission reduction through the Carbon Disclosure Project."

The CCC was launched to help local corporates go green and offers a complete solution to companies that are committed to reduce their carbon emissions. CCC has international expertise, as well as some well-known Sri Lankans.

CCC was set up by young entrepreneurs including Deputy Chairman, Eswaran Brothers Exports, Subramaniam Eassuwaran, Managing Director, Rainco (Pvt) Ltd Fazal Fausz and SAP Solution Architect and Consultant Sydney, Azam Ameer under the guidance of Nobel Laureate, Prof. Mohan Munasinghe and conservationist, Dr Ranil Senanayke.

Carbon Consulting Company was appointed as an approved reseller of the services of CarbonNeutral Company including carbon offsets and Carbon Neutral certification.

It has also developed emission assessment capabilities that position it to effectively measure the carbon emissions produced by businesses and their products. CCC is also recognised by the UK Government's Carbon Trust as a "Footprint Expert" for product carbon footprinting.

Subramaniam Eassuwaran said that Sri Lanka is poised to ride the next wave of development and is on the verge of a development boom.

Therefore, we cannot rely on FTAs to compete globally. Instead Sri Lankans need to talk the same language of the investors if we are to attract large investments to Sri Lanka.

Many companies in Sri Lanka are doing their own calculations but it is not sufficient as Sri Lanka has to be benchmarked against global standards.

"Carbon has a big impact on climate change - it increases the sea level, floods, droughts and also the temperature.

In 2009 at the Copenhagen summit on climate change, Kofi Annan had said that 300 million people have been already affected by climate change", said Prof. Munasinghe.

The CabonNeutral Company (CNC) was set up in 1997. CNC, a worldwide leading provider of Carbon reduction solutions has worked with over 300 major businesses in 32 countries to develop offset inclusive of carbon reduction programs. It has purchased credits from over 200 projects in 24 countries.

The company has offices in New York, London and Singapore. The CarbonNeutral Company is a founding member of the ICROA.