Interning at Carbon Capital Management (CCM)

I intern at Carbon Capital Management, a Japanese investment company which procures and manages low carbon technology projects throughout China (such as wind farms, solar farms, alternative energy developments etc…). They trade carbon capital (carbon credits) with companies and countries around the globe that signed and agreed upon meeting green house gas and carbon emission reduction benchmarks under the Kyoto Protocol (a United Nations convention on Climate Change in Japan in 1997). As the Market Research Analyst Intern, I survey market data to keep the investment team informed on vital reports and industry trends, and help with clarifying and improving their English whether it’s in reports, or presentations. I also have worked on new marketing strategies to reach potential clients while slowly learning more about this relatively young and constantly changing industry. The language barrier is definitely inhibiting and if I were fluent in Chinese I feel I would be of more use, although they do speak English well which is helpful when my limited Chinese cannot suffice. Being a Japanese company, there is also a good amount of Japanese exchanged in the office which can be confusing to say the least (although most of the employees are Chinese).

Pictured below is Xizhimen, the site of a main train station where three subway lines intersect (lines 2, 4, 13) and a bustling metropolitan area known as a transportation hub and home to many corporate developments. It used to be the location of the main West Gate in Beijing’s City wall, torn down in 1969.

The three building complex shown above is known as the Xihuan Towers, in which is an expansive shopping mall with high-end stores and restaurants as well as many corporate offices. I work in an extended building at the base of the left most tower, one of the two offices of Carbon Capital Management. The company is only two years old but has undergone significant expansion since it’s creation, it’s original office and headquarters is in another corporate tower about a 15 minute walk away holding about 40 employees. In this smaller office (comprised of two rooms), there are 15 at most, and most often about 8 people in any given day.

This is the room I spend the majority of my time in, working with Lisa, Tina, and some other employees who work on the technical side of managing Clean Development Projects (such as wind farms, solar farms I mentioned earlier…from which carbon credits are earned by reducing pollution). People are busy and spend most of the time on calls with project managers or working on their computers, breaking only for our 30 minute lunch. I usually do market research and by reading, analyzing, and summarizing a wide variety of market reports and indices on the status of the industry. The industry has an uncertain future as a the stipulations set forth by the Kyoto protocol expire in 2012, and a new convention is planned in Copenhagen (capital of Denmark) for December ’09 that will more or less define the future of climate change along with the businesses which drive it.