Cono Sur works with The CarbonNeutral Company to offset the carbon emissions produced by its own deliveries and it has now made a further green committment to offset the carbon emissions from the travel of visitors to the Wines of Chile trade tasting. To take advantage of this service visitors simply have to provide their postcode and mode of transport to the Cono Sur team.

Since its formation in 1997, The CarbonNeutral Company has worked with over 300 major businesses and thousands of small and medium sized companies across the globe to develop offset inclusive carbon reduction programmes. It will guide organisations within the FBS Community to set credible carbon reduction targets and meet them immediately and cost effectively through offset inclusive reduction strategies.

Mr Tan Cheng Gay, Chairman and CEO of EnGro Corporation Limited, a leading specialty cement producer in Singapore said, “We are delighted to have the support of a world leading provider of carbon reduction solutions as the official carbon offsetting partner of FBS. It is hoped that The CarbonNeutral Company will guide FBS members to fully account for their emissions.”

Mr Tan continues, “EnGro will also work with The CarbonNeutral Company to offer CarbonNeutral® products and solutions to its customers. As a member of the FBS Community, this is indeed an exciting time for the newly launched FBS Community and with this expertise, we look towards FBS Community being able to share with Singapore businesses of the benefits of adopting carbon offset inclusive strategies.”

The CarbonNeutral Company, Managing Director, Rani Virdee explains, “We know first-hand that voluntary action on climate change is a strategic issue for highly competitive companies within the construction sector to compete for market share, improve supply chain relations and to respond to tenders. The FBS Community is a secure platform where businesses can exchange their environmental experiences in order to help achieve the benefits from reducing direct carbon emissions. Our carbon reduction knowledge will help businesses extract immediate business value by taking direct action to the long-term challenge of climate change.”

ENDS:

Notes to Editors:

The triple bottomline refers to the three most important focal points of Sustainable Development (SD):
Economic - Profits
Environment - Planet
Social - People

The FBS Community aims to tackle these three key points of SD through its activities focused on energy efficient and emission reduction projects.

About EnGro Corporation Limited (“EnGro”)
EnGro has established itself as a leading specialty cement producer in Singapore. Since 2005, the Group has strengthened the supply-chain by leveraging on its GGBS joint venture production base in China coupled with its Pulau Damar Laut bulk-terminal cum logistics services undertaken by Top-Mix ready-mix concrete operations.

The extended supply chain allows EnGro to meet stringent requirement for specialty cement and high-performance concrete supply. With this integration, EnGro is able to undertake supply of voluminous quantity timely to prestigious mega projects. As the first local cement company granted the Singapore Green Label for its eco-friendly VCEM brand of GGBS products, EnGro is well-positioned to contribute to the growing green building needs of the regional construction industry.

EnGro has built 2 core businesses, namely the specialty cement and the specialty polymer. Operationally, it is driven by these 2 growth engines supplemented by evergreen venture capital (VC) investment activity in technology-driven businesses. EnGro is also now playing a role to help companies in the region achieve carbon neutrality targets by supplying cost-effective credit carbon credits which help companies and individuals offset the remainder carbon emission that they cannot do so by their own best efforts.

For more information, please refer to our corporate website www.engro-global.com.

About the Friends of Building Sustainability (”FBS”) community
The Friends of Building Sustainability community is a multi-stakeholder private initiative serving various industry sectors in hope of bringing together like-minded entities who want to share and exchange up-to-date knowledge related to sustainable development and climate change whilst encouraging cross-fertilizing of innovative ideas that allow entities to enhance their “green” awareness.

The FBS community, due to its private and informal structure, hopes to forge a symbiotic working relationship with various Singapore government statutory bodies and agencies to encourage private entities implement and embed sustainable development best practices into their corporate DNA.

For more information, please refer to the FBS website www.fbscommunity.com.

“Scientific evidence points to a need to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 to avoid catastrophic global warming,” said Emmanuel Issaurat, president and founder of WAT.  “To help reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to our business we have launched a carbon offset program. We calculate the CO2 emissions from each transfer and counter balance this by saving an equivalent amount of CO2 through a renewable energy project.”

Issaurat said that WAT has teamed up with The CarbonNeutral Company, which helps businesses achieve carbon reduction goals.  Businesses are provided with tools that help them measure their carbon footprint, set carbon reduction targets, plan an offset inclusive carbon management program and communicate their action to stakeholders.

Rebecca Fay, Marketing Director, The CarbonNeutral Company said, “Transport accounts for 15% (1) of global carbon emissions and World Airport Transfer is taking a positive step towards reducing this through its carbon offset program for client transfers.  Making this sort of commitment is what sets businesses apart as they take full responsibility for their carbon emissions and support the development of clean and renewable technologies around the world. “

Also new with WAT are enhanced functionalities and useful new features on www.world-airport-transfer.com. The new website version sports a new user-friendly design, with improved navigation and easier access to specific ground transportation options. There are specific pages for a listing of airport transfers available per continent, country, city and airport. An airport guide is provided for easily accessed from the home page. Another way to search airports is by entering the airport code in a search field on the home page.

WAT also offers private and shared-ride transfers from train stations and ports used by cruise ships. On the redesigned website, these services are more visible. A major website feature is the Quick Quote of rates for transfers for any number of persons from specific airports to destinations on given date and time. 

WAT continues to deliver fast and efficient booking process, now improved with a simplified booking form. Upon completion, a link to the booking status page is given together with the time frame for confirmation of the booking.

(1) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

About World Airport Transfer
Since 1997, World Airport Transfer has offered economical and hassle-free transport options to and from airports worldwide. Through an Internet-enabled Reservation Service, travel agents, corporations, Internet users, hotels, and airline passengers can book seats for airport-ground transportation at over 400 major airports.

The company provides online booking, 24-hour toll-free reservations centers, and customer-service in 15 languages (English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Dutch, and Greek).

Its full range of transportation options, including shared-ride shuttle vans, private vans, sedans, limousines, mini coaches, and deluxe motor coaches, can be customized for all kinds of needs and to complement any type of travel experience.

World Airport Transfer was created by Tours and Co Associates Inc, which also operates an international leader in the Tours and Activities industry, City Discovery. The company has offices in the USA, France, Greece, Italy, Brazil, and the Philippines.

As an advocate for actively tackling climate change, David Miliband spearheaded the Climate Change Bill as Environment Secretary (2006-2007)– setting the world’s first legally binding framework for cutting carbon emissions.

In May 2010, at the start of the Labour leadership contest, David announced at the Progress Annual Conference that he would strive to ensure that his campaign didn’t harm the environment. Working with The CarbonNeutral Company, the world leading provider of carbon reduction solutions, the David Miliband Campaign chose to offset its carbon emissions using Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), carbon credits from Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects.

David Miliband, Shadow Foreign Secretary, Labour Party said, “Science is telling us that global greenhouse gas reductions of 80% are necessary by 2050. This is a significant challenge and therefore tackling climate change is a key focus for the UK and for my team. By reducing the Campaigns’ carbon emissions to net zero with The CarbonNeutral Company we are taking full responsibility for our impact on the environment and are leading by example.”

Jonathan Shopley, Managing Director, The CarbonNeutral Company commented, “David’s action to redress the emissions from his campaign highlights the importance of voluntary action as a valuable complement to policy and regulation.  It also recognises the importance of offsetting to ensure that reductions in the UK are matched with investments in low carbon technologies in emerging nations not yet covered by international or national targets.”

ENDS:

For information please contact:

Sharon Corrigan, The CarbonNeutral Company
Tel: 020 7833 6016
Email: sharon.corrigan@carbonneutral.com

www.davidmiliband.net

Lisa Tremble
Lisa.tremble@davidmiliband.net
+44 (0) 7795 234 801

Ollie Money
Oliver.money@davidmiliband.net
+44 (0) 7792 484 753

Notes to Editors:

About CERs
CERs are targeted for the regulated buyers under the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). They tend to come from large scale projects – partly because larger projects make it financially viable to absorb the very significant upfront costs involved in getting CDM projects through the UN registration process.

Leigh Bridges at KM Group comments: “As our customers are concerned about the environment and many of them have their own corporate social responsibility guidelines and targets to meet we wanted to ensure that the KM Group was the greenest it could be. KM Group is also concerned about how our working practices and product choices affect the environment so becoming CarbonNeutral® certified enabled us to measure and reduce our environmental impact.”

Rebecca Fay, Marketing Director, The CarbonNeutral Company, said “By measuring and reducing its carbon emissions the KM Group is making a strong statement to its clients and prospects that it is taking action for the environmental impact of its carbon footprint. From our experience, businesses that adopt a CarbonNeutral® position can significantly improve their competitive advantage and enhance their corporate reputation, enabling them to both reduce operational costs and increase revenues.”

The KM Group has implemented, among others, the following changes in order to reduce its wastage and carbon emissions:-

• Reducing carbon emissions from transportation of supplies:
  
  • KM Cleaning Solutions has closed its warehouse that used to store cleaning supplies and now directly delivers the supplies to the customer from the manufacturer. This cuts down the number of vehicle journeys used to transport the goods, saves energy produced to run the warehouse and saves fuel used to power the forklift trucks in the warehouse.
    
• Centralising operations:
  
  • KM Security Solutions has contracted out its 24-hour mobile patrol service. Instead of running an in-house 24-hour a day, 365 day-a-year operation, mobile patrols are now centralised and are called upon on an as-and-when basis. This saves the power that was used to run the patrol office when it wasn’t needed, staff travel emissions and fuel used by the patrol vehicles on unnecessary journeys.
    
• Improving operational efficiency:
  • KM Cleaning Services deploys a ‘reach and wash’ window cleaning system that can reach up to six floors high. This means there is no need to use fuel-powered plant machinery to reach this high and the system also recycles the de-ionised water.
    
• Recycling:
  
  • KM Cleaning Services offers Powerday (www.powerday.co.uk) waste removal services to all its clients. Powerday uses the latest recycling technology to recover 100% from waste at the largest materials recycling facility in Southern England.
    KM Group recycles as much waste as possible at its Rochester office.
    
• Client solutions:
  
  • KM Cleaning Services offers all its clients the option of environmentally friendly cleaning products.
    
• Reducing emissions in its operations:
  
  • KM Group has deployed the use of energy efficient lighting in its Rochester office, which produces less carbon emissions than previous solutions.
    
  • KM Group has replaced its drinks vending machine in the office with an economical ‘one-cup’ Breville water boiling machine.
    

-Ends-

Notes to editor:

About the KM Group (www.kmsgroup.co.uk)
KM Cleaning Services is one of the fastest growing specialist cleaning companies in the industry. Servicing sectors such as hospitals, schools, construction sites and offices, KM Cleaning Services covers every type of cleaning job, working in many specialist areas such a one-off deep cleans, jet/pressure washing and window cleaning with specialised equipment. Despite expertly handling large contracts and complex assignments, the company also offers more day-to-day cleaning solutions, like recycling, telephone sanitising and janitorial supplies.

KM Security Solutions specialises in providing completely bespoke security solutions, working on each project on an individual basis.  The company’s aim is to devise cost-effective solutions without compromising security standards.

UPS became the first small package carrier in the United States to unveil such a product when the carbon neutral program was introduced in the U.S. last fall, building on UPS's legacy of sustainable business practices and satisfying the demand for eco-friendly products. The new offerings, including a contract version for customers who want to offset the carbon impact of all their shipments, will be available starting July 12.

To read the full press release click here.

Collins has developed its CarbonNeutral® range by partnering with The CarbonNeutral Company, the world leading provider of carbon reductions solutions, whose aim is to work with companies committed to reducing their carbon footprint with solutions that strengthen their business.

Collins continue to lead the way within the diary and stationery market and this is a great example of its product innovation, keeping up to date with the environmental demands of the modern consumer.

Global scientific consensus states that carbon emissions must be reduced by 80% by 2050 to avoid irreversible climate change. Businesses and individuals have an essential role in meeting these targets and carbon offsetting enables them to play their part in tackling climate change.

Collins has chosen to offset its carbon emissions through a number of carbon offset projects from The CarbonNeutral Company’s Unity Portfolio, concentrating on energy efficiency, methane recovery and/or low carbon fuel switches.

One of Collins’ first projects has been to support the Tieling coal mine methane project. This project prevents the potent greenhouse gas, methane, from being released into the atmosphere. At each of the project sites, technology has been installed to capture the coal mine methane (CMM) and blend it to a concentration suitable for use as a fuel source. This is a unique initiative as it is currently the only project in China to use CMM as fuel for gas supply. The Tieling project improves on earlier technologies funded by the United Nations Development programme along with the Japanese and Chinese governments to demonstrate methane extraction in China. Alongside the environmental benefits, the project also enhances the local economy with the creation of 260 permanent engineering, construction and maintenance jobs and 291 temporary positions.

Notes to the editor:

For more information on the Collins CarbonNeutral® range please contact: www.collinsdebden.co.uk

The implementation of Greenstone’s carbon online accounting software, Acco2unt, will allow PayPoint to accurately measure, manage and report carbon emissions online, across its offices in the United Kingdom, Romania, Ireland and Canada. PayPoint will be able to include this information in its corporate reporting structure, which forms part of its ongoing sustainability action plan.

Matthew de Villiers, Chief Executive, Greenstone, said, “There is increasing pressure for suppliers to provide accurate information on their carbon emissions, particularly when the procurement process involves tenders. This trend will continue and it will become a standard practice for the disclosure of a supplier’s carbon footprint during a pitch process.  The challenge for many businesses is how to implement an internal carbon emissions monitoring system without disrupting their current workflow and without affecting their cost of sale.”

Stewart Hendry, Facilities Manager, PayPoint, commented, “We provide an essential service for many consumers to pay their bills such as water, energy, cable, mobile and fixed line telephony, as well as rents and council taxes to local authorities.  Many of these organisations now want their suppliers also to monitor and manage their carbon emissions as part of the supply chain.  In the past, we did not have formalised processes to monitor our carbon emissions so I am delighted to say that we are now able confidently and accurately to measure our carbon emissions in a cost-effective way.”

Jonathan Shopley, Managing Director, The CarbonNeutral Company, said, “It is essential for businesses to accurately measure their carbon emissions in order to develop a comprehensive carbon management and emission reduction strategy. Our partnership with Greenstone Carbon Management enables companies to use efficient, accurate tools to measure and report their baseline carbon emissions from which they can then set effective carbon reduction targets and plans which integrate with overall sustainability strategies.”

- Ends -

Notes to Editor

* Greenstone’s unique Acco2unt software product suite provides organisations with robust carbon management and accounting solutions.  It enables organisations to measure, manage, plan, store and report emission data, track performance on their carbon footprint at multiple organisational levels and to accurately model carbon footprint reduction strategies. Acco2unt can significantly reduce the burden of auditing and reporting for compliance purposes, for stakeholders and customers. An extensive list of emission sources is included in the software’s calculation covering energy, travel and transport, IT, together with waste and water consumption. 

About Greenstone Carbon Management Limited
Greenstone Carbon Management Limited is a specialist carbon solutions company – based in London, United Kingdom. Formed in 2006, it works in partnership with major commercial and public sector organisations to help measure, manage and mitigate their carbon emissions to realise business and financial benefits.  Greenstone’s proposition comprises both consulting advice and access to a suite of Carbon Management software tools through a SaaS model. 

Typically, engagements with clients follow a three step process: (i) Carbon Readiness Assessment; (ii) Carbon Measurement and (iii) Carbon Reduction Strategies. During the engagement, Greenstone will provide tools to help measure and manage the organisation’s carbon emissions, help set up processes to gather data and to train personnel to manage their carbon footprint on an ongoing basis. Greenstone has worked with a range of global businesses and respected brands such as the Virgin Group, Fujitsu and Ocado Limited. For further information please visit http://www.greenstonecarbon.com

PayPoint is a leading specialist payments company with operations in the UK, Ireland, Romania, France, USA and Canada. It handles over £9.5 billion from over 550 million transactions annually for more than 6,000 clients and merchants, processing consumer payments across a wide variety of markets (including energy pre and post-payment, telecoms, housing, water, transport, e-commerce, parking and gaming) through its retail networks, internet and mobile phone channels.
www.paypoint.co.uk

Now in its third year, The Sunday Times Best Green Companies Awards sets out to identify and celebrate the achievements of companies at the cutting edge of improving corporate environmental performance. Importantly, it also surveys employees to find out whether the company standards and procedures are executed all the way down to the shop floor - this year, almost 27,000 employees contributed to the survey.

According to Richard Casey, The Sunday Times’ Managing Editor , “Now in its third year, this venture reflects the changing mood in the business world - making a profit for shareholders is no longer enough. Today companies have a wider responsibility to minimise the impact of what they do on the environment. Despite ongoing economic uncertainty, consumers clients and peers expect it.

The 60 companies listed are all at the forefront of making real environmental change. They are innovative, progressive and buzzing with new ideas.”

Greenstone Carbon Management has provided its software platform Acco2untenterprise to help Investindustrial accurately measure, manage and report on its carbon emissions. Once Investindustrial had a full understanding of the source of its carbon emissions, The CarbonNeutral Company  developed an offset inclusive carbon reduction programme setting stretching reduction targets and reducing unavoidable emissions to net zero through carbon offsetting Investindustrial was then awarded the CarbonNeutral® company certification.

Acco2untenterprise will continue to monitor and report on the impact and progress of the reduction initiatives against set targets throughout Investindustrial’s offices in Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom.

Fabio Rosati, Investindustrial said, “The implementation of a carbon management and reduction initiative should be a key activity for any organisation. Our commitment to environmental issues is strong and we believe this investment will not only be good for our internal processes but also contribute positively to shareholder value in the long term. We have a vision of creating enduring value for our portfolio companies, their stakeholders and investors; and we will be working closely with Greenstone and The CarbonNeutral Company to build a more sustainable future.”

Jonathan Shopley, Managing Director The CarbonNeutral Company said, “Investindustrial is a good example of a large, successful, global business implementing an offset inclusive carbon reduction programme in a smart and cost effective way to meet environmental obligations and regulatory requirements. Our experience shows us that companies that implement such programmes will benefit from reducing operational costs, increasing operational efficiency and enhancing corporate reputation.”

Matthew de Villiers, Chief Executive Officer at Greenstone Carbon Management comments, “We are delighted to be supporting Investindustrial in enabling its carbon management capability.  Providing the capability to measure and understand carbon emissions with minimal effort and on an ongoing basis will allow the Investindustrial team to focus their time on meeting reduction objectives. As one of Europe’s leading investment groups it also has the opportunity to set an example and provide leadership in this area. ”

- End -

Notes to Editor

* Greenstone’s unique Acco2unt software product suite provides organisations with robust carbon management and accounting solutions.  It enables organisations to measure, manage, plan, store and report emission data, track performance on their carbon footprint at multiple organisational levels and to accurately model carbon footprint reduction strategies. Acco2unt can significantly reduce the burden of auditing and reporting for compliance purposes, for stakeholders and customers. An extensive list of emission sources is included in the software’s calculation covering energy, travel and transport, IT, together with waste and water consumption. 

About Greenstone Carbon Management Limited
Greenstone Carbon Management Limited is a specialist carbon solutions company – based in London, United Kingdom. Formed in 2006, it works in partnership with major commercial and public sector organisations to help measure, manage and mitigate their carbon emissions to realise business and financial benefits.  Greenstone’s proposition comprises both consulting advice and access to a suite of Carbon Management software tools through a SaaS model. 

Typically, engagements with clients follow a three step process: (i) Carbon Readiness Assessment; (ii) Carbon Measurement and (iii) Carbon Reduction Strategies. During the engagement, Greenstone will provide tools to help measure and manage the organisation’s carbon emissions, help set up processes to gather data and to train personnel to manage their carbon footprint on an ongoing basis.

Greenstone has worked with a range of global businesses and respected brands such as the Virgin Group, Fujitsu and Ocado Limited. For further information please visit http://www.greenstonecarbon.com