It may be in the midst of cutting 10 per cent of its workforce and halting bonuses for senior executives, but that has not stopped investment bank Goldman Sachs continuing its push into the carbon credit market with the announcement of its second acquisition in as many weeks. Following hot on the heels of its purchase of an equity stake in US-based offset specialist Blue Source, the company announced last week that it has agreed to buy the majority of the carbon offset portfolio belonging to emission reduction project manager E+Co.

Under the terms of the deal, the bank will buy up both UN-backed and voluntary market offset credits issued by E+Co's small-scale clean energy projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

E+Co carbon finance manager Erik Wurster said the deal was 'a testament to the importance and potential of the global carbon markets'.