Carbon Trust ready to expand in the US

March 24, 2011 - PRLog -- The government-backed company is ready to expand in the US following its success in the UK, where it has helped UK businesses to save 29.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions and £2.6 billion in energy costs.

Since 2001, the Carbon Trust has worked with 75% of London-listed FTSE 100 companies, supported 250 low-carbon technology start-ups and certified more than 350 organizations with its Carbon Trust Standard, apart from advising thousands of British businesses on energy efficiency.

Following the news that the organisation will see its budget slashed 40% from April as a result of government spending cuts, the Carbon Trust is keen to identify new revenue streams. Its track record and expertise acquired over the past 10 years have made the Carbon Trust a highly exportable brand.

In 2009, The Carbon Trust signed a joint venture in China to develop and deploy low carbon technologies in China, last year the Australian Carbon Trust opened in Melbourne and executives have now revealed it plans to next year open offices in California to help the state's businesses cope with planned cap-and-trade legislation.

The head of R&D at the Carbon Trust, Robert Trezona, said that is adamant international expansion is a natural next step for the organization. "Expansion is part of a strategic initiative that started in 2007. It has been very clear to us that the UK is only 2% of global carbon emissions. The UK has been a fantastic place to develop a brand, capability and a track record and it has some of the best climate change policy in the world. From the US perspective, the luxury of cross-party consensus on climate change [in the UK made it] a great place for the Carbon Trust to have started."

As part of that expansion, the Carbon Trust opened in Boston over a year ago in an effort to help US companies with carbon footprinting. Since that, it has already worked with around 20 companies in the food and beverage, agriculture, personal care, paper and pulp, retail, medical products, electronics, semiconductors, packaging and apparel sectors.

The Carbon Trust is not only looking to expand in the US, but it also wants to attract partnership and investment from the US for start-up companies in Britain. This week it brought three British start-ups to San Francisco to help them find funding and partnerships that are currently unavailable in Europe's diminishing venture capital market.

Trezona said that the Carbon Trust's operations in the US would be commercially self-sufficient and would not require the UK taxpayers' money to underpin much of the organization's activity in the US. He also denied that the expansion was a response to the 40% government spending cuts announced last month, insisting the expansion plans were driven purely by opportunity in the US.

To find out more about Carbon Trust loans, contact us on 020 7199 0090 to speak to a member of our grants and funding team for free advice on how to apply.

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