As Chief Executive Officer of COzero, Nick Armstrong was named in September’s BRW’s 2012 Young Rich list. Unlike many on the list who made their wealth on the back of the resources boom, this 28-year-old eco-entrepreneur made his way up as a leading player in global carbon trading markets.

With a Bachelor of Science degree from Sydney University, Nick Armstrong has a background in green industry and utilities. Prior to co-founding COzero, Nick Armstrong established Greentricity, a start-up electricity retailer that was acquired by Australian Power & Gas in 2006. Other ventures followed including a chain of gourmet burger stores, an online food ordering company and a start up PV solar importing business.

COzero was originally intended by Nick Armstrong to be a social network entity helping individuals voluntarily reduce their carbon emissions. Due to government legislation and the realisation that social networking is better left to the likes of Facebook, the game plan soon changed. The new strategy then shifted to servicing the emerging carbon emission compliance markets.

COzero is in essence an aggregator of Renewable Energy Certificates from a range of energy sources such as rooftop solar, wind farms and hydro power stations. COzero trades these in the secondary market, which is driven by demand from liable parties. Similar to the stock market, the price is determined by the balance between supply and demand. The company also aggregates carbon credits known as Certified Emission Reductions (CER’s) from a range of projects in developing countries that reduce, or avoid, carbon emissions. These CERs are used to meet targets under emissions trading schemes across the world.

The Australian Federal Government has hung our hat on a Carbon Tax Scheme, and this particular scheme does not allow carbon trading. COzero however offers local investors access to the $136 billion international carbon market. The point of difference is COzero uses highly stable financial and trading technology that has been developed in Australia, which has proved to be very attractive to an international market.

The Australian Federal Government’s Carbon Tax Scheme means that COzero relies on offshore markets for demand for their product. It also means that the emerging carbon market in Australia is forced offshore. But the flexibility of the company and Nick Armstrong’s ability to change game plans mid stream seems to have helped rather than hindered the young company.

Now in its sixth year, COzero has grown into an emissions trading and green energy company that turns over $150 million annually with a lean staff of 12 and offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Beijing. When Nick Armstrong isn’t steering his company, you can find him snowboarding in far-flung places like Kyrgyzstan.