US firms hint regulatory uncertainty will not derail green plans

The failure to pass new climate change legislation will not halt climate change initiatives currently underway at many leading US firms, according to a new report from the Climate Registry emission reporting group.

The not-for-profit body, which aims to promote public and standardised reporting of carbon emissions, polled over 100 of its corporate members and found that the desire to cut costs and improve environmental credentials were the main drivers for emission reduction projects.

The report, which was published yesterday, found that fewer than a fifth of respondents felt their future greenhouse management or reduction plans were driven in the main by legal requirements.

Almost half said that they expected regulatory requirements to have a major impact on their environmental strategies over the next few years. But with 51 per cent predicting rising energy costs will have a similarly significant impact, the survey will offer encouragement that green initiatives will continue even if the Obama administration's controversial climate change bill is defeated.

Surprisingly while 16 per cent said they saw the reduction of greenhouse gases as a commercial opportunity, and hoped to make money by participating in the carbon offsets market, only the same proportion predicted that consumer pressure to be green would have a significant on business operations over the next few years.

The poll also offered further evidence that emission reduction projects have become part of the mainstream corporate landscape with almost 70 per cent of respondents confirming their short term business plan included a greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy.

Moreover, nearly half of the companies participating in the study have established greenhouse gas reduction goals, reduced emissions and completed a sustainability report.

Although the organisations cited a wide range of measures they planned to implement to reach those goals, most included a combination of energy efficiency, renewable energy, fuel switching, and energy conservation, as well as reductions in so-called Scope 3 supply chain emissions through improved green purchasing practices.

Hundreds of public and private organisations and companies report their emissions to The Climate Registry, which bills itself as the only voluntary emissions registry in North America.