Westpac first to offer carbon trading

Source: ONE NewsWestpac bank
Westpac says it is cutting through the green tape surrounding emissions trading and offering solutions to help the transition to a low carbon economy.
The bank has written to representatives of the local forestry industry to discuss the options around their carbon credits, which would then be packaged up to help large carbon-liable companies trade off their carbon debits.
Westpac is the first New Zealand bank to offer the service and the first major financial institution to get actively involved in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme.
Lloyd Cartwright, managing director of Financial Markets NZ, says the bank is the first intermediary to enter the market beyond simply offering a broking service.
"This will provide the 'missing link' between smaller forestry companies with carbon credits on their books who are looking to monetise them now and corporate entities who need to acquire larger volumes of carbon credits to manage their liability," he says.
He says the process will foster the creation of an actual market price for New Zealand units (NZUs).
Westpac has a specialised Carbon Trading Team, based in Wellington, and says this is the next step to developing practical products and solutions.

Westpac New Zealand is working towards its own carbon reduction target of 20% by 2012.
In December 2008, Westpac New Zealand became the first bank in the world to attain the internationally recognised carbon emission reduction standard - CEMARS.