Top Stories
Australian water crisis offers clues for
California.—reliability high.
Some California planners are looking at the strict water-conservation
measures Australia has imposed during its ongoing decade-long drought
as the state faces a similarly dry future. Discusses actions taken in
Australia that might have to be imposed in California before too long. From
Los Angeles Times Greenspace blog. [If any of your
suppliers, facilities or customers in California use water this is
important to your planning process.]
Deutsche Bank’s Kevin Parker on Investing in
Sustainability.—reliability medium.
Video interview with "Kevin Parker, Global Head of Deutsche Asset
Management, who tells how investors are front and center in the call to
finance a low-carbon economy." See
Environmental Leader. [This is a good
quick overview from someone who is putting a lot of money where his
mouth is. Worth 4 minutes.]
Shell faces shareholder revolt over Canadian
tar sands project.—reliability high.
"A coalition of institutional investors has forced a resolution onto
the agenda calling for the Anglo-Dutch group's audit committee to
undertake a special review of the risks attached to the carbon-heavy
oil production at Athabasca in Alberta. Co-operative Asset Management
and 141 other institutional and individual shareholders raise 'concerns
for the long-term success of the company arising from the risks
associated with oil sands.'" From
The Guardian. [Investors
are getting more insistent, and more successful, in demanding firms
take carbon-regulation risks into account.]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Sainsbury's to switch tomato packaging from
tins to Tetra.—reliability high.
"Sainsbury's supermarket is to switch its "Basics" range of tomatoes
from tins to cardboard cartons, in a move that it claims will cut half
a million kilos of packaging every year." "Sainsbury's started selling
food in such "Tetra Recart" packaging in 2007, but says this is the
first time cartons have been used for tinned items in such large
volumes. The switch will go some way towards helping the supermarket
achieve its target of reducing packaging by a third by 2015. This move
alone will reduce carbon emissions by 156 tonnes per year." See
The Guardian. [Article
says two-thirds of councils in UK recycle cartons, but even if they
didn't lower weight and higher cube can save Sainsbury's a lot of
money.]
Touch-Points of Responsible Sourcing.—reliability
high.
"Recent examples show practical ways of responsible sourcing
throughout the global supply chain." Examples with links to what
various companies have done in green sourcing. See
ThomasNet News.
Rush is on to lock up rights to flat Greater
Toronto Area rooftops.—reliability high.
Ontario's generous feed-in tariff has stimulated a gold rush to
contract for roof space for solar panels. "Give them 20-year access to
your building's unused rooftop and they'll kindly compensate you for
the space – similar to how farmers over the years have earned income by
allowing wind turbines on their property. With that secured access,
companies will design, build and own the rooftop solar system at no
expense or risk to the building owner. They'll then apply to connect
the system to the grid as part of the Ontario Power Authority's
feed-in-tariff program, which for large commercial rooftops pays
between 53.9 cents to 71.3 cents per kilowatt-hour and guarantees quick
connection to the grid." Discusses some of the payment schemes, and
issues for building owners to take into consideration before finalizing
a deal. From
The Toronto Star.
Government and
Regulation
Renewables Interactive Map.—reliability
high.
Interactive map with data about renewable energy capacity, policies,
subsidies and other information for specific countries. From Ren21 site.
U.S. government ditches transportation
funding limits.—reliability high.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is changing its criteria for
funding of transportation projects to include more emphasis on
environmental benefits and "livability". "In a speech to the
Transportation Research Board, [Secretary of Transportation Ray] LaHood
promoted the idea of "livability," or combining transportation options
with urban development plans to make it easier for people to move
through their towns while lessening the impact on the environment.
LaHood said the budgeting change will give the green light to popular
streetcar projects and will strengthen relationships among the
Transportation and Housing departments and the Environmental Protection
Agency." See
Reuters article. [This change in
policy could release more funding for mass transit projects. It adds
consideration of carbon footprint to former focus on reducing road
bottlenecks.]
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]
