Got carbon management? Maybe you should rethink that

There is yet more evidence that software for managing carbon and greenhouse gas emissions information is one of the fastest growing categories around, especially in the United States.

Pike Research is predicting that the North American market for carbon management software and services will be the world's largest by 2013, at approximately $1.1 billion. That is roughly 41 percent of the worldwide market for this category. By 2017, the market is expected to reach $5.7 billion, and North America will represent 43 percent of that amount.

This is despite the fact that the United States is actually way more lax than other countries in setting forth regulatory guidelines for managing this sort of information from a corporate standpoint.

Said Pike Research senior analyst Marianne Hedin:

"Although the United States has been unable to pass a national climate and energy bill, it is becoming increasingly clear that U.S. corporations are taking the lead in shaping an environmental and sustainability agenda for the country. Today an overwhelming majority of Fortune 500 companies are voluntarily measuring, managing and reporting on their carbon emissions."

One thing to be aware of is the fact that the services of these solutions are growing particularly fast. That suggests to me that carbon management applications take a great deal of customization and internal integration to run properly. Pike Research suggests that services will grow from 55 percent of that revenue number in 2010 to 67 percent by 2017. The usual suspects from an enterprise services standpoint will be a factor, but Pike Research said niche players will also claim a substantial portion of that opportunity. So, keep an eye on pureplay companies such as Greenstone Carbon Management, Gobi Caron Management Solutions, Foresite Systems, and Enablon.