Global Carbon Exchange South Africa

Carbon tax legislation has become a burning issue of late amongst the global community. The arrival of carbon taxes in South Africa and their impact on businesses has been the catalyst to propel what for so long has been mostly a topic of conversation into an executive level priority. For those many businesses and people who are not aware of the variety of carbon management tools and services available, this transition has the potential to be slightly daunting. The truth is that this is an excellent progression, and one of the key areas to begin looking at is employee awareness.

GCX is constantly working on providing our clients with tools to aid in carbon and energy management. We like to encourage implementing simple, yet impactful, adaptation and one of the key areas that the...

In the 18 August issue of FinWeek magazine, the cover story title was “Tree-hugging – Not an investment strategy”  (subscribers only) and the article itself focused on the performance of socially responsible investments versus regular investments. While the article raised some pertinent points, the general sentiment was don’t bother with socially responsible investments as they don’t pay off.
Kevin James, CEO of Global Carbon Exchange was quoted in the article and by association; it seems he agrees with the sentiments in the article.  However, Kevin does not fully agree and has prepared a response to FInWeek that we have shared...

In early 2010 Barrows, retail marketing specialist with its head office in Durban, South Africa commissioned Global Carbon Exchange (GCX) to conduct a carbon footprint assessment of their business. The concept of sustainability is nothing new at Barrows; it’s something the company has been passionate about for nearly a decade and significant strides have been made during this time to ensure the company consistently enhanced their environmental strategy.

The moment so many of our past students have been waiting for - GCX is now introducing Carbon Footprint Analyst Level 2.
If you have already completed the Level 1 certification, and have conducted a business carbon footprint, or are a consultant that has embarked on this journey alone and now needs further guidance, CFA 2 is your next step.
The first course will be held on the 29th November 2010 in Cape Town over 3 days. On completion, learners will have the skills and knowledge to conduct specialised carbon footprints and be able to analyse a large multinational organisations’ carbon footprint.

With big business fast recognising the benefits of addressing and enhancing their triple bottom line performance, many small businesses struggle to understand the business case going down the sustainability road. This is based on the misguided belief by small business owners that their carbon footprint is insignificant and therefore any action taken to mitigate this impact would be seemingly meaningless in the greater scheme of things and would go unnoticed.
Besides the fact that the aggregate impact of the total number of SME’s  in South Africa is actually a massive contributor to the country’s total carbon footprint, a massive opportunity does exist for these companies to unlock their eco-advantage by weaving sustainability into the fabric of their business.

A wise person said that “every ocean begins with a drop of water”, which is another way of saying that even small steps are progress if taken in the right direction, according to Ed Gluckman MD at GCX.
“A shining example of this truth is the journey that many companies embark on to gain their ‘eco-advantage’, which I define as a company’s opportunity for growth and profitability through a focus on environmental sustainability,” he adds.