July 1, 2010
In 2007, global manufacturing industries accounted for about 40% of total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, making manufacturing the single largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As a result, carbon management and reduction have become serious issues for manufacturers in practically every country around the world.
A new report from Pike Research forecasts that this critical priority will drive manufacturers to invest more than $3.4 billion in carbon management software and services during the period from 2010 to 2017. While the carbon management industry is relatively nascent today, with an estimated $75 million being spent by manufacturers in 2009, Pike Research expects the market to increase nearly tenfold in the next several years, reaching $742 million annually by 2017.
“Carbon management is a strong and growing need for manufacturers around the world,” says industry analyst Marianne Hedin. “To address the GHG emissions challenge, manufacturers are compelled to examine their supply chains for all possible opportunities to manage carbon emissions effectively, all the way from sourcing and production to distribution and product afterlife.”
Hedin adds that manufacturers’ adoption of carbon management is being driven by regulatory factors as well as market forces. Initiatives such as the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit in the United States and the Carbon Trust’s Energy Efficiency Accelerator initiative in the United Kingdom are two examples of influential programs designed to provide incentives for manufacturers to reduce carbon emissions. And on a worldwide basis, manufacturers are facing mounting pressure from their end customers, such as retailers like Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, and Costco, to report on the CO2 emissions of their products.
Pike Research’s study, “Carbon Management in the Global Manufacturing Sector”, examines carbon management from a manufacturing perspective, including trend analysis and market sizing and forecasts from 2008 through 2017. In addition, the report assesses the competitive landscape, with profiles of major software and service vendors providing carbon management solutions to manufacturing companies.
