With new rules taking hold in the U.S. and U.K. requiring companies to report their carbon footprints, the market for carbon monitoring software should be expected to boom.
Exxonmobil's decision to buy software from Locus Technologies shows the huge opportunites ahead of environmental management software
While this is good news for vendors, it also is likely to highlight the fragmented, topsy-turvy nature of this still evolving market place. It also means wrestling with the industry’s biggest fear: greenwash, the notion that the software is whitewashing carbon use and emissions to make a company look good.
There are signs this transformation to honesty is slowly taking place. In a downplayed announcement on Monday, the oil giant and past global warming naysayer ExxonMobil said it had begun implementing carbon-monitoring software from Locus Technologies. The move suggests that even some of the most reluctant corporations see the value in a genuine effort to keep track of CO2 and other greenhouse gas contributors.
Remember that ExxonMobil, under its former CEO Lee Raymond, was an ardent denier of global warming, going so far as to fund groups providing disinformation to undermine the science. Obviously the company’s thinking has come in full circle.
In fairness, this reassessment has been a process playing out over several years. Since 2007 the oil driller has begun acknowledging the existence of global warming, and in January 2009 under new chief Rex Tillerson, it advocated a carbon tax in the United States (a policy albeit with almost no chance of making it by Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress).
Nevertheless, Monday’s news is sort of another symbolic shift. In a press release, Locus said it had started installing its environmental information management software worldwide for the company. No other details were available.
The announcement underscores the huge opportunities for companies, such as Locus. But that doesn’t mean challenges aren’t considerable. To start with, far too many software developers hope to play in the market – 120 by some counts. A shakeout is likely, with start-ups wincing in the face of competition from financially powerful companies, such as SAP.
Another concern is the notion of scale. Hundreds of thousands of software systems are in use around the world – if not more – ranging from custom-built proprietary programs to standard off-the-shelf applications written by the likes of Oracle.
Connecting to them all is a gargantuan task. U.K. based start-up AMEE has so far connected to about 10,000 of them, says CEO and founder Gavin Starks. It is now time to expand that to 100,000, he says.
Cautiously optimistic, Locus CEO Neno Duplan warns of a near-term dip in the market if a backlash to greenwashing takes place. However, overtime the sales chart should point up. Even ExxonMobil can see that.
Posted by Mark Boslet 
Apple has invited media and analysts to preview the next generation of its iPhone software on Tuesday.
