S&P, Point Carbon to develop carbon offset risk service

AMSTERDAM, March 2 (Reuters) - Financial market intelligence provider Standard & Poor's (S&P) and carbon analysts Point Carbon are considering jointly developing carbon offset project risk assessment products and services, they said on Tuesday.

The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding and will work together to determining how they can leverage their expertise in a global carbon market which could be worth 121 billion euros ($163.6 billion) in 2010, according to Point Carbon.

Under a U.N.-backed scheme, companies invest in clean energy projects in emerging nations and in return get offsets from the U.N. which can be used toward emissions targets or sold for profit.

"Demand for independent evaluation of the risk of carbon offset projects is growing rapidly around the world," Vickie Tillman, Senior Vice President of sustainability business development at S&P's parent The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP.N), said in a statement.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by William Hardy)