CarbonNeutral Company buys up GreenLife in global push

UK-based carbon offset provider The CarbonNeutral Company has today bolstered its presence in the fast-expanding US market, shelling out an undisclosed sum to acquire New York-based The GreenLife Organisation LLC.

The company said that the deal will give it a foothold in a US carbon management services industry estimated to be worth $66bn (£43bn) last year, as well as provide it with offices in New York, San Francisco and Washington DC.

"We're seeing more and more business emanate from the US and we want to be close to our customers," said CarbonNeutral Company executive chairman Stephen Killeen. "It was the right time to add presence on the ground and this deal gives us that."

He added that GreenLife would now operate under the CarbonNeutral brand, but insisted that the acquired company's current management team would continue with the now expanded organisation. "We've obtained a really strong management team with great experience in a wide range of other industries, which is exactly what you need when you are in what is still a really new industry," he said.

The acquisition is to be followed by the opening of a new office in Asia, designed to further extend The CarbonNeutral Company's reach into new markets.

Killeen insisted the company was confident that its global expansion plans would not be adversely affected by the economic downturn.

"We're continuing to see new business coming from all over the world, which is why we are expanding," he said. "Even in a downturn, companies will continue to look to cut emissions and there will be a flight to quality providers who can help them do that."

The move is the latest in a series of deal highlighting the consolidating nature of the global offset industry. Most notably, banking giant Goldman Sachs bought its way into the market late last month with the acquisition of US outfit Blue Source, while JPMorgan similarly acquired UK offset provider Climate Care earlier this year.