Consultancy moves to Masdar City

The Neutral Group, a carbon consultancy with offices in New York and London, has evidently decided that the opportunities presented by the combination of IRENA and Masdar in Abu Dhabi are too great to resist.

The firm announced today that it will re-locate its headquarters to Masdar City, the zero-carbon development at the edge of the capital, after eying $250 million in financially attractive projects in the region that "are currently stalled due to lack carbon-abatement expertise and suitable financing".

The firm helps other companies to measure their carbon footprint and figure out ways to reduce it. It lists BP, DHL and Marks & Spencer as customers.

"We now really feel like one of Masdar's partners, working to realise the Masdar City vision," Karl Feilder, the Neutral Group chairman, said in a press release.

The announcement is a small but important win for Masdar, which has not announced the large number of corporate tenants for the city experts had expected earlier this year. Key tenants now include General Electric and IRENA, while Switzerland's government has expressed interest in creating a "Swiss village" of the country's companies in the city.