Keen to be green -- but at what cost?

By Jennifer Hill

LONDON (Reuters) - Gone are the days when the environment and business met only within the confines of organic carrot, hemp body-wash and recycled toilet rolls.

Eco-friendliness has hit the corporate mainstream and is increasingly being seen as a means of luring in customers.

Big brand retailers, technology giants and -- perhaps more surprisingly -- financial services firms are vying to capitalise on the burgeoning "keen-to-be-green" market.

Under the government-backed "We're in this together" campaign, launched last week, eight leading companies have come together to fight global warming.

They aim to reduce carbon emissions in every household by at least one tonne over three years -- a total 25 million tonnes.

Supermarket giant Tesco is halving the price of energy-saving light bulbs and home improvement chain B&Q is doing the same with its two best-selling insulation products.

BSkyB is introducing technology that saves emissions by automatically switching inactive Sky boxes onto standby, while mobile operator O2 is paying a credit to customers who do not want a new handset when they renew their contract.

Financial firms are in the race for the green pound, too.