Inform Finance WAVE OF OPPORTUNITY


The UK’s marine energy market could be worth £76B by 2050. New analysis by the Carbon Trust shows the UK could capture just under a quarter of the global marine energy market if the technol- ogy is successfully devel- oped and deployed interna- tionally and the UK builds on its existing lead.


The analysis found that total marine energy capac- ity could be 27.5GW in the UK by 2050, which would be capable of supplying to the grid the equivalent of over a fifth of UK electricity demand.


“Marine energy could be a major ‘made in Britain’ success,” said Benj Sykes, director of innovations at the Carbon Trust. “By cementing our early mover advantage, the UK could develop a sig- nificant export market, gen- erate thousands of jobs.”


Consultancy market booming


Data reveals growth in environmental sector


The global environmental and sustainability consultancy mar- ket is now worth $25B (£15B), according


to new data from Environment Analyst.


A dozen firms are spearhead- ing the globalisation of the sector, together accounting for almost a quarter share of the total market. Their combined revenues for environmental consultancy work has increased by 51% during the past four years to reach $6.2B in 2009/10. The global market is set to reach US$30B in the next five years, with a 50% increase in demand for climate change and energy consulting services. Research by Environment


Analyst provides an assessment of the regional consultancy opera- tions, market positioning and business strategies of the largest firms active in the market.


Although the global sector remains fragmented, 12 compa- nies have collectively grown their sales by more than $2B in the past four years to capture a 24.3% slice of the $25.4B market. The 12 are: URS Corporation,


CH2M Hill, Arcadis, Golder Associates, Environmental Resources Management (ERM), MWH Global,


RPS Group,


AECOM, Parsons Brinckerhoff (owned by Balfour Beatty), Environ, WSP Environment & Energy and WorleyParsons. URS leads the pack, and is the only player with a global envi- ronmental consultancy market share of more than 5% thanks to its strong position in North America. The company expanded its international capabilities, par- ticularly in Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, when it bought Scott Wilson in September 2010.


Based on aggregated financial


data for the 12 companies, con- taminated land-related services account for 41% of their com- bined annual revenues in the last financial year. This is followed by water and wastewater manage- ment (22%), and environmental impact assessment and sustainable development (14%).


“Growth will be much more sector-specific than in the envi- ronmental consulting boom years prior to the global economic downturn, with climate change and energy services driving mar- ket recovery thanks to the strong underlying legislative and political drivers,” said Liz Trew, editor of the Environment Analyst Market Intelligence Service. “Growth in this sub-sector is expected to be around 50% over the next five years.


“Regionally, economies that


are led by natural resource indus- tries rather than manufacturing or services will be more buoyant.”


Cotton and leather hit PUMA impacts


Environmental impact of raw material production revealed


Sports company PUMA has car- ried out an economic valuation of its environmental impact through its operations. It puts the value of the impact of water consump- tion and greenhouse gas emissions alone at €94.4M.


The results revealed that the largest impacts come from the production of raw materials such as cotton and leather. The com- pany valued the impact of green- house gas emissions and water consumption involved in this part of the supply chain at €41.4M. The valuation comes as part of the company’s new method of analysing and auditing its environ- mental impact throughout its core business and supply chain.


The method of measuring the


impact, Envrionment Profit and Loss Account (EP&L), has been designed with the help of part- ners PriceaterhouseCoopers and Trucost. By giving the impacts a monetary value, the company believes that it can illustrate the cost to the environment in terms business can understand.


PUMA will use the results to minimise the environmental and business risks involved in opera- tions. It hopes to set a new bench- mark for corporate environmental reporting and encourage industry- wide engagement with the issues. PUMA’s chairman and CEO, Jochen Zeitz, said it was important for industry to be transparent on environmental reporting and the information can help companies to identify, understand and manage


PUMA say it is important to be transparent on environmental reporting


the risks resulting from resource scarcity and climate change. “The cost of damage is much higher than the cost of avoidance and offsetting, so you need to reduce emissions to reduce dam- age,” he said, adding that it was the company’s mission to be not only the most desirable sportlifestyle


brand in the world but also the most sustainable.


The results are the first in a three-stage plan for the E P&L. In the next stage the econom- ic values for the environmental impacts of acid rain, smog precur- sors, waste and impact on land-use will be assessed and reported.


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