JP Morgan buys Climate Care

27th March 2008

Climate Care - one of the largest voluntary carbon offset providers - has been bought by JP Morgan.

As Dan points out, voluntary offsets are for those who aren’t covered by regulation, so it assumes big growth in businesses who are buying offsets because they want to, rather than have to.

Unlike others in the offsetting business, Climate Care originate their own projects, which makes them more than a broker and a more attractive acquisition target for JP Morgan.

Like most people, we think offsetting should be seen as a “last resort” option. It definitely has its place in an environmental strategy, but it’s far better to look first at your own operations, customers and suppliers to see the changes you can make closer to home. You can offset what’s left, but there is a bigger prize for those who take a good hard look at their own business.

But such a big deal shows that there’s room for innovation in offsetting and I’m excited (but can’t say too much) about other projects I know about in that area.

For more on how business can think about their low carbon strategy, take a look at this presentation.