Top Stories
Nearly Three-Quarters of Firms Plan to Boost
Their Climate Investments.—reliability high.
"Rather than waiting for regulatory conditions to solidify, leading
companies are taking their cues from the market by investing in climate
change initiatives, reporting on their performance and leaning on their
supply chains to reduce emissions. Those are some of the dominant
themes of a new survey from Ernst & Young on C-suite attitudes
toward climate change. The report, "Action Amid Uncertainty: The
business response to climate change," probed 300 global executives from
corporations with annual revenue of $1 billion or more on how they are
responding climate challenges." More highlights of report's findings.
See Greener
World Media. Ernst & Young press release here.
Access report here.
Record Number of U.S. Businesses Say They
Want Climate Bill This Year.—reliability medium.
"More than 6,000 U.S. companies — a record amount — are calling on
Congress to pass a climate bill this year that puts a price on
emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, according to
a recent tally by two major business coalitions. ... The list of
companies represents a wide cross-section of U.S. industry and covers
21 Fortune 100 companies and 49 Fortune 500 firms. It includes
corporate giants Target, Bank of America, IBM, Boeing, General Electric
and Starbucks." From Solveclimate
blogs. PDF of report here.
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Google PowerMeter Links With Gadget Maker,
Utility.—reliability medium.
"Google’s web-based energy management tool PowerMeter could gain
access to up to a million new users through a new gadget partnership
announced on Monday. Current Cost, which has sold 1 million energy
monitoring devices, has agreed to begin offering devices that are
compatible with Google PowerMeter, and also give existing customers an
option to upgrade their tools to start using Google’s software." See earth2tech.
Marks & Spencer to sell Fairtrade
vegetables.—reliability high.
"Marks & Spencer became the first UK retailer to launch Fairtrade
Foundation-certified vegetables, after two years of negotiations with
the certifying body. As well as helping consumers ease their
consciences, the retailer says the move will create new opportunities
to invest in community projects for hundreds of small farmers in
Kenya." See story in The
Guardian.
Ford Will Survey Suppliers About Their
Energy Use and Emissions.—reliability medium.
Ford "will survey 35 global suppliers on their energy use and GHG
emissions. The 35 suppliers include companies that make commodities
such as seats, steering systems, tires and metal components, and they
represent nearly 30 percent of Ford’s $65 billion in annual procurement
spending. The company says it wants to use the data collected to create
a broad-based carbon management approach for its supply chain." From 2Sustain.
Government and
Regulation
India proposes renewable energy certificate
scheme.—reliability high.
"The Indian government is reportedly working on plans for a new
renewable energy certificate (REC) scheme designed to drive investment
in low-carbon energy projects. According to local reports, the
country's power regulator last week announced new rules that would
allow generators of renewable energy to obtain RECs that could be
bought by companies and government bodies to count towards renewable
energy targets." See BusinessGreen.
["A central agency
will be set up to issue and administer RECs"--So will the government
set REC prices or will it allow the market to do so? What are RECs? See
earlier
HaraBara post.]
Electric car grant could be axed in spending
cuts.—reliability high.
"The £5,000 discount on all new electric cars, which had been due to
be introduced next year, could be scrapped as part of the government's
cost-cutting drive, the Guardian has learned. ... The £5,000 discount –
along with financial support promised to Vauxhall, Ford and Nissan by
the previous government this year – is being reviewed and a decision is
expected in 'weeks not months'." From The
Guardian.
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]
