CCC starts green operations in Sri Lanka

By Cheranka Mendis

Reducing carbon emission can give the local corporate world a new edge to its businesses with cost reductions, revenue increases and strategic advantages on its plate.

The topic of carbon emission which has been a widely popular subject of late must be taken seriously and by doing so companies would be able to save money while being a part of a global network of companies that have come forward to — in the basic sense — ‘go green.’

Speaking at the launch of ‘Carbon Consulting Company’ (CCC) which aims at offering end to end services on carbon reducing, Managing Director of The CarbonNeutral Company Jonathan Shopley yesterday stated that a credible carbon management strategy with stretching emission reduction targets is vital in today’s business environment and can deliver powerful benefits for the company.

Cutting down emission would lead to competitive differentiation and reputation enhancement. Shopley stated that the values come in three key drives — cost reduction, revenue augmentation and strategic advantages. “The value drives of cost reduction are the acceleration of energy efficiency and lower cost of emission abatement while the value drives of revenue is product differentiation, customer acquisition and retention, new product development and RFC enhancement ,” Shopley said.

Onto strategic advantages there are two key elements that drive forth the notion — future proofing and licence to operate. Energy key audiences and corporate and brand enhancement also act as encouraging forces.

It is said that companies can save up to 20 per cent of their business cost by adopting environmentally friendly technologies that improve efficiency while reducing energy usage. By adopting carbon reduction techniques, companies could also increase their business and enter new markets by attracting like minded customers and business partners.

Shopley pointed that 65 per cent of the Global 500 companies have implemented emission reduction targets. “You can reduce gas emission by 30 per cent by rethinking business processes such as switching off lights and computers.”

Formed by three young entrepreneurs of Sri Lanka — Deputy Chairman of Eswaran Brothers Subramaniam Eassuwaran, Managing Director of Rainco Pvt. Ltd. Fazal Fuasz and SAP Solution Architect and Consultant Sydney Azam Ameer, the CCC has been appointed as an approved reseller of The CarbonNeutral Company’s services which include carbon offsets and CarbonNeutral® certification. It has also developed emissions assessment capabilities that position it to effectively measure the carbon emissions produced by businesses and their products.  

The Company has been accredited by the UK Government’s Carbon trust as a ‘footprint expert’ for product carbon foot printing.

Director of CCC Subramaniam Eassuwaran stated that at a time when Sri Lanka is poised to take its stand among the world’s corporate, “we can no longer depend on trade agreements and duty concessions to compete against countries where cheap labour is freely available and disregard for the environment is blatant. Instead Sri Lanka needs to attract green tourists, green buyers and green investors if we are able to keep abreast if fast changing global trends and regulations.”

With a large number of global companies entering a network of carbon reduction projects it is essential that we need to be able to talk the same language of Sri Lanka’s very own carbon footprint, Eassuwaran said. “This is the business reality. It is not a ‘it will be nice to have’ sort of thing; it is in a ‘need to have’ zone now.” He asserted that local companies must now be encouraged to attain certification and benchmark itself against global standards.

CCC will help organisations reduce their environmental impact and maximise the CSR and marketing opportunities.

Shopley stated that according to scientific consensus world emission growth must be cut by 80 per cent by 2050. Developing economies will be the main countries that will continue global green house gases. “China and India will increase their emission by 90 per cent, while USA emission will neither increase nor decrease and would remain at zero per cent. The rest of the G7 will decrease it by 15 per cent while the rest of the world will increase emission by 30 per cent,” Shopley asserted.

Speaking of offsets, he stated that offsets are a range of low carbon technologies such as hydro generation, forestry, coal mine methane, livestock methane, solar and wind power. “First you must plan the programme, and then measure the footprint and building competencies. Target carbon reductions, reduce your carbon emissions and finally communicate the value of what you have done,” he advised the local companies.