08 March 2010

Shell sees stunning EV growth; the blame for climate change; and other company, industry, supply chain, and government green news

Top Stories

Electric cars will get more popular, predicts Shell CEO.reliability high.
"Royal Dutch Shell Plc expects electricity-powered vehicles to account for as much as 40 percent of the worldwide car market by 2050, Chief Executive Peter Voser said on Thursday. ... 'We think between now and 2050, we will go from 1 billion cars to 2 billion cars worldwide,' he said. 'We think by 2050, roughly 40 percent of those 2 billion cars will be electric.'" See Reuters story. [This says that Shell calculates that the car market will be roughly 40% electrics by say 2035. This would be the greatest revolution in transportation since autos replaced horses a century ago. Nearly half the auto market captured by EVs within 25 years!]

Smart Grid Appliance Market May Reach $15B by 2015.reliability high.
"The global household smart appliance market is projected to grow from $3.06 billion in 2011 to $15.12 billion in 2015, according to the new “Smart Appliance Report” from Zpryme. Looking at the top product types projected for smart grid interoperability, in 2015 the global market size for smart washers and smart refrigerators, respectively, will reach $3.54 billion and $2.69 billion." Story at Environmental Leader. PDF of report here.

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

Hopes for $2 trillion global carbon market fade.reliability high.
"Investors are becoming less convinced that a global carbon market, estimated to be worth about $2 trillion by the end of the decade, can be established as uncertainty over global climate policy persists. ... The market for carbon credits was worth around $136 billion last year, according to analysts Point Carbon. Highlighting these fading hopes, a Point Carbon survey on Wednesday showed 61 percent of respondents said they expected a U.S. emissions trading scheme by 2015, down from 90 percent last year. They also predict a lower global carbon price of 31 euros ($41.92) a tonne in 2020, compared to 35 euros." More at Reuters.

3M Shares Tips for Managing Energy Use.reliability high.
"3M reveals its strategies for managing energy usage in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 'Energy Matters' newsletter. The centerpiece of 3M’s plan includes establishing a new set of corporate environmental goals every five years and tracking individual plants on a quarterly basis and again annually to evaluate their progress toward meeting energy-reduction goals." More on 3M practices. See Environmental Leader story. PDF of newsletter issue here.

Investors File a Record 95 Climate Change Resolutions: a 40% Increase Over 2009 Proxy Season.reliability high.
"Leading U.S. investors today announced that they have filed a record 95 climate change shareholder resolutions with 82 U.S. and Canadian companies that face far-reaching business challenges from climate change. The 40 percent increase in resolutions filed over last year is a first sign of the growing pressure on companies to disclose climate risks and opportunities in the wake of the recent Securities and Exchange Commission’s climate disclosure guidance and other recent policy developments." From Ceres. List of resolutions here.

Green Jobs, Green Technology in the Spotlight in New Report.reliability high.
"In the run-up to the release of the federal government's national broadband plan, a coalition of groups are detailing the ways that green technologies can grow the economy while cutting the country's carbon footprint. The report, 'Networking the Green Economy: How Broadband and Related Technologies Can Build a Green Economic Future,' was published yesterday by a coalition of groups, including the Blue Green Alliance, the Sierra Club, the Communications Workers of America and the Progressive States Network. It looks at how technologies including smart buildings, smart grids, teleconferencing and digital education opportunities can cut carbon emissions and create and retain green jobs in the United States." Story at GreenBiz. Access report here.

Home Depot Shoots for 20% Reduction in Supply Chain Emissions Over 5 Years.reliability high.
"Home Depot has set a goal to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions related to the domestic supply chain by 20 percent over the next five years. The retailer expects its supply chain to benefit from a move to a centralized distribution network, instead of the mostly supplier-to-store process in place currently, according to a press release. More efficient routing, scheduling and consolidation of store shipments is expected to equate a reduction of 200 million miles driven a year. In a review of its progress so far, the retailer said it has saved 2.6 billion kilowatt hours at its U.S. operations since starting an energy efficiency program in 2004." See Environmental Leader.

Government and Regulation

U.S. and Brazil sign deforestation agreement.reliability medium.
"Brazil and the United States have signed an agreement to worth together to reduce deforestation as part of an effort to slow climate change. The memorandum of understanding signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Brasilia last Wednesday comes as talks on REDD, a proposed climate change mitigation mechanism that would pay tropical countries for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation, move forward despite the lack of a formal climate treaty." See Mongabay.

Science and Economics

UK Met Office analysis reveals 'clear fingerprints' of man-made climate change.reliability high.
"It is an 'increasingly remote possibility' that human activity is not the main cause of climate change, according to a major Met Office review of more than 100 scientific studies that track the observed changes in the Earth's climate system. The research will strengthen the case for human-induced climate change against sceptics who argue that the observed changes in the Earth's climate can largely be explained by natural variability." Story at The Guardian. More at Met Office site.


[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]