Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

London Business School Global Leadership Summit goes Carbon Clear

London Business School has partnered with Carbon Clear (www.carbon-clear.com) to offset the emissions generated by participants in its 5th annual Global Leadership Summit taking place on Monday 2nd July 2007. The event brings together eminent business leaders, global opinion formers plus School faculty and alumni to discuss the key issues currently facing business.

The event incorporates a series of sessions led by some of the world’s most innovative thinkers and strategists followed by a celebratory gala dinner. Included in the line-up is a special panel discussion on climate change chaired by Doctor Craig Smith, Senior Fellow in Marketing and Ethics, London Business School.

As participants in the event travel from all over the globe, London Business School took the decision to partner with Carbon Clear, a leading carbon management organisation that helps businesses and individuals to reduce their carbon footprint through internal emissions reduction and carbon credits. With the future at the core of the event, it was important that the event itself didn’t contribute to climate change. Carbon Clear has calculated the emissions caused by visitor’s travel and invested in carbon reduction projects, such as CleanCook stoves in Ethiopia and engine retrofits for cleaner mini-taxis in the Philippines, to balance out the carbon impact of attending the summit.

Commenting on the partnership, Jamal Gore, MD of Carbon Clear said: “With climate change being one of the key issues that businesses must currently consider, it is great that London Business School is looking at how it can reduce its own contribution to global warming by offsetting the unavoidable travel element of the summit. Also, as graduates of LBS ourselves we are really pleased to give something back to the School.”

All of Carbon Clear’s projects are closely monitored to meet strict standards, minimise bureaucracy and improve the lives of participating communities. They also meet Kyoto Protocol tests to ensure that they provide measurable reductions in carbon emissions that would not have happened otherwise.


For further info on Carbon Clear please contact:
Zoe Porteous at Boutique Communications on 01273 620194.

Alternatively, e-mail at enquiries@boutiquecommunications.com.
For more info on London Business School please contact: Kate Watkins, Senior PR Officer on 0207 000 7251 or e-mail to kwatkins@london.edu or Monica Fiumara, PR Officer on (0)20 7000 7252 or e-mail mfiumara@london.edu.


Notes to editors:

About Carbon Clear (www.carbon-clear.com)

Carbon Clear is a carbon management company that works with businesses and individuals to reduce their carbon footprint. In addition to advising on emission reductions it also invests in projects to cancel out the pollution that is generated by everyday activities such as driving, home and business energy usage, flying and even nappy use.

Climate change is a real threat and by reducing our carbon emissions and offsetting the rest we can all make a difference. To make it as convenient as possible Carbon Clear calculates the level of carbon dioxide emitted by specific activities and then identifies projects that prevent the same amount of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere.

All of the projects Carbon Clear invests in are selected based on both carbon reduction and a wider social benefit for the communities implementing them. A great deal of care is taken to ensure money is directed to activities that genuinely improve the environment and the lives of real people and all projects must meet the following criteria:

•Projects must be efficient; funds aren't diverted to unnecessary bureaucratic overheads, waste or middlemen

•Projects must have additional, long-term benefits to the communities that undertake them; these range from job creation to protecting endangered plants and animals

•Projects should follow the spirit of the Kyoto agreement; projects must make verifiable pollution reductions over and above their normal level.

By way of example, Carbon Clear is supporting an energy-efficiency project in Nicaragua, one of Latin America’s poorest countries. By working with a local not-for-profit organisation, Carbon Clear is investing in more efficient kilns that burn less wood and can even burn agricultural residues. It is estimated that over 11 million kg of wood is used each year in traditional kilns, contributing to rising CO2 levels, rapidly depleting local forest, and rising fuel costs for the local community. For each new kiln installed approximately 250 tonnes of CO2 will be saved through reducing unsustainable wood harvesting and burning more efficiently.

For further info visit http://www.carbon-clear.com.

About London Business School

London Business School’s Vision is to be the pre-eminent global business school, nurturing talent and advancing knowledge in a multi-national, multicultural environment. Founded in 1965, the School graduated over 800 MBAs, Executive MBAs, Masters in Finance, Sloan Fellows and PhDs from over 70 countries last year. The School’s executive education department serves over 6,000 executives on its programmes every year. London Business School is based in the most accessible and international city in the world and is one of only two UK business schools to have twice been awarded the highest research rating of five-star (5*), by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), confirming the School as a centre of world-class research in business and management.

www.london.edu