Verdad Verde

National legislation on climate change appears to be inevitable. Some proactive companies are seeing the writing on the wall and have started taking the initiative to reduce their carbon footprints. Dell, Google, and Nike are just a couple of examples of forward thinking companies wanting to be ahead of the curve. These companies have voluntarily taken it upon themselves to become carbon neutral by buying carbon offsets in America’s voluntary carbon market. It is not just businesses who see the writing on the wall, as even those in the investment community are forecasting national climate change legislation in the near future.

What is prompting some companies to start looking at their carbon footprints is the forthcoming Congressional debate of the Lieberman-Warner bill, also called America’s Climate Security Act. Other reasons for businesses to jump into the voluntary carbon market are to gain experience in the carbon market “in order to increase authority and influence in policy discussions about climate change,” to prepare for potential regulatory requirements, to enhance brands and/or differentiate products, and to attract investors. Some states are not waiting on the outcome of the Lieberman-Warner bill and have passed climate change legislation. For example, power plants in 10 Northeast states “will face regional carbon cap-and-trade rules beginning next year.” Not one to be left out of the environmental movement, California is looking at legislating “a more extensive system [that] could affect virtually all businesses starting in 2012.”

Regardless of the outcome of the Lieberman-Warner bill, climate change legislation will continue to be in the national spotlight as all the remaining presidential candidates support some type of carbon market. If not already doing so it would serve a company well to begin looking at its carbon footprint and what it can do to reduce its environmental impact. As Henry Derwent, chief executive of the International Emissions Trading Association, put it “[y]ou don’t even have to believe all this climate change stuff, you just have to believe that all the politicians believe.”