Monday, April 25th was the kick off of Kellogg’s Green Week. The Environmentally Sustainable Business Club (ESBC) has prepared a week of speakers and events focused on opportunities in the emerging landscape of sustainable business. Monday night’s topic was “Entrepreneurship, Sustainability and Environmental Commodities Trading.” The speaker, Steve McDougal (Kellogg ’95), co-founded 3Degrees, a company that helps its clients buy, sell and market environmental commodities. These commodities include Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and verified carbon offsets.
A REC represents 1 MWh of renewable electricity generated and delivered to the grid. 3Degrees commits to buying a certain number of RECs from a renewable energy facility, such as a wind or solar farm, then sells those RECs to its customers. The customers, which include Starbucks and Whole Foods, are directly supporting the financing of renewable energy projects while adhering to their own sustainability commitments. Many of the companies that buy RECs from 3Degrees cannot have their own renewable facilities (you won’t see solar panels on the roof of a Starbucks in the Loop), so purchasing RECs is a way to support the development of clean energy resources. McDougal said the U.S. REC market has helped the solar and wind markets grow by 600% since 2002.
3Degrees also sells verified carbon offsets. A carbon offset represents 1 MWh of greenhouse gas emissions that are prevented or destroyed. A carbon offset doesn’t necessarily have to be energy-related; for example, a sustainable forestry project that has been third-party verified could generate carbon offsets. A company would buy carbon offsets from 3Degrees if they wanted to specifically offset greenhouse gas emissions, as from a large fleet, for example.
Environmental commodities trading has received considerable criticism, primarily because it is often perceived as a way for large, polluting companies to “atone” for their environmental sins without doing anything to change their practices. It is also a mostly unregulated market (although it’s becoming increasingly more so), and critics point out the opportunity for scammers. However, the environmental commodities market has also created a tangible financial reward for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and has been instrumental in channeling funds to renewable energy projects. McDougal pointed to a number of renewable energy projects they work with that wouldn’t have been financed but for the sale of RECs.
And it’s good business. 3Degrees has gone from a $10M company in 2007 to $22M in 2010, McDougal said. It has a growing list of partners that include major companies, nonprofit organizations and government agencies. In fact, Northwestern University has purchased RECs from 3Degrees for 30% of its electricity usage.
We’re looking forward to more interesting events for Green Week. You can find the schedule and more information here: http://kellogg.campusgroups.com/esbc/green-week-2011/
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