Welcome

It has been another busy month for the Green Carbon team. We have been juggling a move into our new office, cityside which is now suitably sized for our growing team. Our new abode is located on Level 3, 272 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland along with our new phone number, +64 9 929 4530. As we are now more central, we'd love to have you visit to see how we can be of service.

June was also home to another 'Carbon Friendly Drinks'. Thank you to all who attended. It was great to see and hear some of the buzz from the various discussions and lively [constructive] debates around sustainability strategies and economic growth. A special thanks goes to our guest speaker Victoria Carter, CEO of Cityhop who provided an enlightening history and evolution of New Zealand's first car sharing service, www.cityhop.co.nz.

If you missed our last event, not to worry as there will be another in due course. We would also love to hear from you if you have a product or service you believe is worth showcasing?

How to hop in the city

If you didn't make it to our event, then you are probably wondering how a car sharing service like Cityhop works. How is that different to other car rentals? Here's a quick overview:

- Cars are located at designated car parks in and around the City.
- Book the times you want the car for (by the hour) either online or by phone
- Make your way to the car, swipe a special access card to unlock and off you go.
- Once done, you return the car back to its original parking spot for the next person to use.
- The hourly pricing is all inclusive, so there's no need to worry about fuel, insurance or maintenance of the car.

And why it is good for the environment?

- The cars in the fleet are Daihatsu Sirions or Mitsubishi i-cars, both of which are very low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, amongst other eco-friendly qualities.
- It also gives people additional choice of not needing to own that second car, or even a car at all.
- Research conducted by US-based Zipcar, the world's largest car-share firm, found that every car in such a programme takes 20 privately-owned cars of the road. Less cars, less emissions.

If you want to learn more or find out if there is a business case for your business please don't hesitate to drop us a line.

State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets

If you haven't already picked up on this, last month saw the release of the '2009 State of the voluntary Carbon Market', which is an annual report produced by EcosystemMarketplace on the global carbon markets (available here). Green Carbon was amongst those surveyed from around the world to provide insight into what has been happening over the last year and forecast for the future. Some key points of interest:

- The voluntary market continues to double in size again from last year (now est at USD 700M), but still form only a fraction of the overall carbon market (est USD 120 B). This is a clear sign of the sure momentum behind this market and its continued growth into the future.

- Asia and the US account for over 70% of credit origination in the market.

- With Europe and the US making up over 90% of the purchases. An interesting observation particularly for NZ exporter or those looking to expand overseas,  as to the interest placed by these markets on carbon.

- Not suprisingly, the commentary on the NZ market was referred to as the "Great Barren Reef". A reflection of the "pause" button hit on the NZ carbon market when the ETS was put under review.

It is a complex and evolving market. That is why here at Green Carbon, we take pride in providing a clear framework to help your business navigate towards success in a low carbon economy of the future.

Industry News

- North Shore City Council has saved $1.2m from city-wide and in-house initiatives with a positive environmental outcome over the past 12 months.

- New Green Hotel Top Choice for Eco Conscious Corporates: A new Auckland hotel is fast becoming a popular destination for eco-conscious dignitaries and business travelers wanting to lower their carbon footprint. Read more here.

- The emissions trading scheme (ETS) review committee might not release its report until as late as August, placing the review body on hold.

- New insulation and clean heating programme with aims to retrofit more than 180,000 New Zealand homes over the next 4 years starts 1st July 2009. Learn more from EECA here.