Top Stories
Sustainability Perception of General Mills,
Kellogg, Kraft Far Exceeds Actual Records.—reliability high.
"A new consumer study reveals that there is still a gap between
real and perceived sustainability action by top North American brands
including Kraft, General Mills, Kellogg, Groupe Danone, Nike, Gap,
P&G, L'Oreal, Microsoft and Amazon.com. The study, conducted by
Climate Counts and Angus Reid, includes measurements on climate change
action being undertaken by more than 90 companies in North America, and
perception measurements of these companies’ actions by consumers,
reports Climate Counts. General Mills, Kraft and Kellogg all have
perception scores of 79 or above, but actual scores of 58 or below. On
the flip side, SAB Miller has a lowly perception score of 14, but an
actual score of 44. Unilever has a perception score of 32 and an actual
score of 79. Groupe Danone has a perception score of 33 and an actual
score of 64." From
Environmental Leader. Press release here.
Access report here
(registration required). [This is one
reason HaraBara developed its Public Sustainability Persona™
comparison.]
Samsung Signs $6.6 Bln Deal to Build
Wind and Solar Power in Ontario.—reliability high.
"In what’s being described as the largest deal of its kind in the
world, Samsung C&T and the Ontario government signed a $6.6 billion
investment deal Thursday that will see the Korean industrial
conglomerate build 2,500 megawatts of wind and solar power in the
province, as well as establish manufacturing facilities that will build
the equipment. . . . Under the terms of the agreement, officials said,
Samsung must build four manufacturing plants in Ontario, promising
16,000 direct and indirect jobs over the next five years." See
New York Times Green Inc. blog. [Meanwhile in
Detroit . . . ]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
World's Largest Pellet Factory Planned in
U.S..—reliability high.
RWE Innogy of Germany and BMC Management AB of Sweden will build a
€120 million, 750,000 tonne-per-year biomass pellet factory in Georgia,
the largest in the world. Initial production will go to the power
plants of Amer in the Netherlands, owned by RWE unit Essent, "where
currently already up to 30% of the hard coal has been replaced by solid
biomass, mainly wood pellets. There are plans to expand the proportion
of co-firing to up to 50%." "Around 1.5 million metric tonnes of fresh
wood are needed each year to produce 750,000 tonnes of pellets, the
company says, and unlike Europe, the US has a huge growth surplus of
wood that is not used." Norden A/S of Denmark will ship the pellets
from Savannah to Europe. Georgia is a low-cost supplier of sustainably
harvested wood because of the many forests formerly managed by pulp and
paper companies there. From
Renewable Energy World. [Foreign firms
invest to extract energy resources from underdeveloped region and ship
them to wealthy markets. Shell in Nigeria? Peabody Western Coal in the
Navajo Nation? Aramco in the Gulf? Nope.]
Government and
Regulation
France targets businesses with revised
carbon tax plans.—reliability high.
"The French government moved to revive its controversial plans for a
carbon tax yesterday, announcing that it will extend the proposed tax
to cover large-scale polluters until 2013, at which point they will be
forced to purchase emission allowances at auction under phase three of
the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS). French environment minister
Jean-Louis Borloo said the temporary tax would address concerns that
the original tax provided too many exemptions for big businesses, while
still ensuring industrial firms are not double charged for the carbon
they emit when the ETS is extended." "The government is now expected to
present a revised version of the carbon tax bill to parliament in the
next few weeks with a view to bringing the tax into force by July." From
BusinessGreen. [The making of les
saucisses continues.]
Rain barrels and permeable pavement are on
LA agenda.—reliability high.
"L.A.’s Department of Public Works unanimously approved a draft of its
Low Impact Development ordinance last week. The ordinance would require
newly constructed homes, larger developments and some redevelopments to
capture, reuse or infiltrate 100% of the runoff generated on-site in a
3/4-inch rainstorm or to pay a storm water pollution mitigation fee
that would help fund off-site, public LIDs. . . . Daniels says she
hopes the ordinance will be approved in the next six months and go in
to effect by year’s end. 'I don’t want to waste another rainy season,'
she said." See
Los Angeles Times Greenspace blog.
Solar Water Heaters Get a Boost in
California.—reliability medium.
"California regulators on Thursday approved a $350 million program to
subsidize the installation of solar water heaters to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions. The program will allocate $250 million for the
replacement of hot water heaters fueled by natural gas and $100.8
million for those powered by electricity. . . . Customers of
California’s three big investor-owned utilities will receive rebates of
up to $1,500, or about 30 percent of the cost of replacing a
residential natural-gas hot water heater with a solar system. Owners of
multi-family commercial buildings are eligible for up to $500,000 in
incentives." Two-thirds of the money in the program is allocated to
multi-family installations. "The California initiative could help
jump-start the solar hot water market, which boomed 30 years ago when
federal subsidies were offered for such systems in the wake of the oil
embargoes of the 1970s. But when oil prices fell in the 1980s and the
subsidies ended, many installers went out of business." See
New York Times Green Inc. blog.
Science
NASA research finds last decade was warmest
on record, 2009 one of warmest years.—reliability high.
"A new analysis of global surface temperatures by NASA scientists
finds the past year was tied for the second warmest since 1880. In the
Southern Hemisphere, 2009 was the warmest year on record." "'There's a
contradiction between the results shown here and popular perceptions
about climate trends,' Hansen said. 'In the last decade, global warming
has not stopped.'" From
EurekAlert. [But
do facts matter? See next item.]
On the Lighter
Side, But Still Depressing
Winner of climate change denial's premier
award revealed.—reliability medium.
George Monbiot details his soul-destroying search for the absolute
worst in climate change claptrap, for which he has awarded the
Christopher Booker prize for falsehoods about climate change based on
most lies per unit of output. "The rules of the competition are simple:
the award goes to whoever in my opinion — assisted by climate
scientists and specialists — managed in the course of 2009 to cram [the
most] misrepresentations, distortions and falsehoods into a single
online article, statement, lecture, film or interview about climate
change." The award goes to John Tomlinson, a columnist
for the Flint Journal, for a column with 38 howlers at a rate of one
for every 21 words. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is that. There
won't be a 2010 Christopher Booker prize, because I can't face the
thought of wading through all that rubbish again." See
The Guardian, George Monbiot's blog. The winning column is here.
Monbiot's analysis of it is here.
[Would be
laughable if it weren't so tragic.]
Art Department
Burbs from Above.—reliability
high.
"Christoph Gielen has a unique perspective—literally—on the sprawl
that has taken over so much of the American built landscape since the
1960s. As someone who has spent a lot of time in helicopters, looking
down on the eerily perfect geometries of the nation’s suburbs, the
German artist knows just how artificial, and unsustainable, these
communities really are." With a slideshow of some of his eerie images. From
Metropolis magazine. [Of course all
human settlements are "artificial". But these do look like urban
planning nightmares.]
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]
