Share and share alike?

When it comes to combating climate change, we're all in it together, right? Well sort of. While the atmosphere itself is indiscriminate in terms of the result of an increase in CO2 emissions, we will not all feel the impact in the same way. We know that if sea levels carry on rising and temperatures keep going up, there will be those who suffer more than most and that they will be some of the most vulnerable societies on the planet.

So, in terms of everybody working together to alleviate this situation and reverse the impacts, we should all be on the same page. Well, at least the same book.

While some of the most progressive leaders in the sustainable space claim to have the most honourable of intentions, their approach to sustainability sometimes becomes a case of managing and protecting their own intellectual property (IP). It is in this approach to IP that you can begin to determine those businesses whose primary mission, when trying to take action against climate change, is to bolster their own position in the market and peer down at their rivals while teetering on the top of their own moral high ground.

Most businesses taking action against climate change rightly see sustainable business models through this commercial prism. At EcoSecurities we have used the argument that "becoming carbon neutral can give you a competitive advantage" ourselves when trying to build a business case for offsetting.

Perhaps consumers are not yet seeking out carbon-neutral products, but they recognise green brands and there is a growing consumer market, as evidenced by a recent Green Brands survey, which indicates "the majority of consumers plan to spend the same or more money on green products in the coming year, with more than 70 per cent of consumers in China, India and Brazil saying they will spend more." In addition, the report stated that "the majority of consumers – over 60 per cent – in all countries want to buy from environmentally responsible companies."

This is all well and good, but building competitive advantage does not necessarily encourage companies to share ideas and work together to come up with innovative solutions to common problems such as climate change.

Breaking down these barriers would be a step forward. There are many social and professional media platforms available which aim to share best practice but this is still generally a sounding board for individual companies to toot their own horn about what a good job they are doing. Perhaps this is because the focus is on internal emission reductions and making carbon and cost reductions for the individual company rather than the collective whole.

When it comes to external emission reductions and carbon offset projects, the idea of the "Disney Forest" springs to mind – where individual brand labels are attached to individual projects.

But what is really needed is a much broader approach, which takes action above and beyond just one company's view of the world. The idea of a buyer's pool or fund is not new and has been applied to the voluntary market before, but efforts have been low-key and largely opaque. The potential of doing this on a broader scale in a collaborative manner is an interesting approach.

By taking the issue of climate change and creating a universal platform for investment and action, it is possible to have a greater impact while still publicly demonstrating the investments made into the fund and the companies that have joined together in investing. Such an approach would make the purpose of the fund clear and transparent and would highlight the actual emission reductions that can be achieved when companies club together. Perhaps when this type of co-ordination and partnerships exist it will, in turn, create a much more positive view of the potential of the Voluntary Carbon Market.

When the emission reductions achieved are on a scale that can be compared to something tangible being offset, then we're really talking. Let's take it a stage further and put an advert in the Financial Times to show the common interest of these companies.

Consumers tend to be so sceptical about environmental initiatives because they believe companies are only concerned with self-interest. Perhaps action could be seen as far more credible when competitors are standing side by side rather than toe to toe. Collaboration is the new innovation.

Lisa Ashford is global head of voluntary & new markets at carbon offsetting specialist EcoSecurities