Top Stories

Businesses Could Face Rising Costs from Carbon-Intensive Utilities.—reliability high.
"About 79 power generators could face carbon costs totaling $56 billion, which equals to almost 12 percent of revenues on average, according to a Trucost survey on the environmental performance of more than 107 utilities worldwide. As a result, investors and businesses could be exposed to environmental costs passed on by utilities in their supply chains, posing significant financial risks. The report, “Power Utilities: Who’s Hot,” finds that energy-intensive sectors such as aluminum, industrial gases, cement and iron and steel are at the highest risk of being impacted by these rising costs." From Environmental Leader. PDF of report here ["Companies need to measure and manage risks from environmental costs passed on by electricity providers and other suppliers."]

US top scientists urge coal, oil use penalties.—reliability high.
"Ditching its past cautious tone, the nation's top scientists urged the government Wednesday to take drastic action to raise the cost of using coal and oil to slow global warming. The National Academy of Sciences specifically called for a carbon tax on fossil fuels or a cap-and-trade system for curbing greenhouse gas emissions, calling global warming an urgent threat. The academy, which advises the government on scientific matters, said the nation needs to cut the pollution that causes global warming by about 57 percent to 83 percent by 2050." At CNBC from AP. [More on the Academy's reports, and access to them, in item under Science below.]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

A Buyer’s Guide to GHG Accounting Tools.—reliability medium.
Discussion of different types of carbon accounting products and services. Table of 15 suppliers. "GHG accounting has become an expected practice for multinational enterprises. ... Any company that aims to effectively respond to the mounting pressure and establish a comprehensive climate strategy must start with GHG accounting." See GreenBiz from BSR.

Cree To Provide LED Lighting to All New Habitat Homes.—reliability high.
"Cree, Inc. and Habitat for Humanity International announced a three-year, $1.5 million pledge to provide Cree LED downlights for the kitchens in all new Habitat homes built in the United States. Cree's LED kitchen lighting packages are expected to reduce energy costs for Habitat homeowners, as kitchens generally see some of the highest lighting energy usage in a home." See Sustainable Business.

Low cost polyesters from biomass?—reliability high.
"Dutch-based research and technology company Avantium claims to have developed ‘breakthrough technology’ that could produce biomass-derived polyesters that can compete effectively with traditional polymers both on price and on performance. Avantium has now initiated a collaboration with NatureWorks – a subsidiary of Cargill, which makes the Ingeo bio-polymer which can be used in textiles. The two companies have teamed up to develop ‘YXY’ branded polyesters and say they have already 'demonstrated that YXY polyesters have properties that are very similar to PET, allowing [us] to develop a green version of this bulk polymer.' " From EcoTextile News.

Government and Regulation

EPA Adds Thousands of Chemicals, Facilities to Public Database.—reliability high.
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has added more than 6,300 chemicals and 3,800 chemical facilities regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to a public database called Envirofacts." From Environmental Leader. Search the database here.

Science and Economics

National Research Council Calls for Climate Action.—reliability high.
"In its most comprehensive study  so far, the nation’s leading scientific body declared  on Wednesday that climate change was a reality and was driven mostly by human activity, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. The National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, issued three reports stating that there was an overwhelming case for a harmful human influence on the global climate and arguing for strong and immediate action to limit emissions of climate-altering gases in the United States and around the world." See New York Times Green blog. Access the three reports here: on the science, on mitigation, and on adaptation.


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