Top Stories
Major Australia investors urge quick action
on climate.—reliability high.
New Prime Minister Julia "Gillard should outline her road map on
climate change as soon as possible and set priorities for consensus
building over the issue, said the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC) that represents institutional
investors with more than $500 billion under management. 'We consider
that climate change presents real risks to the Australian economy,
which must be addressed,' the group said in a statement." Story at Reuters.
[The new PM seems
to want to re-reverse former PM Rudd's U turn on climate legislation,
perhaps completing an O turn, or more likely a Q turn, Z turn or W
turn. Australia is probably the most coal-dependent economy in the
world. And even with its abandoned climate plan it is the only major
country that promised to increase emissions (see league
table).]
Fake organic foods proliferate from China.—reliability
high.
"When that organic food comes from China, that label may not mean
much. ... A Chinese grocery chain owner who spoke with Global Post
estimated that 'maybe 30 percent of farms that put the organic label on
their food produce the real thing.' 'I think in the future the
government will improve testing,' the grocery store owner told Global
Post. 'But now, hygiene officers have so much work to do with essential
food safety that they don't worry about organic.'" With audio story.
From Public
Radio International. [You can't manage
your supply chain with worthless certifications. Same goes for palm oil
and many other products. Who certifies the certifiers?]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
GE to invest $10 bn in Ecomagination
initiative.—reliability high.
"General Electric announced Thursday plans to invest $10 bn over the
next five years in Ecomagination, the green-focused research and
development program it began in 2005. Since Ecomagination began, GE has
invested a total of $5 bn in its research and development as of the end
of 2009. The technology and products to come out of that program have
generated $70 billion in revenue over the past five years, according to
GE statistics released Thursday." See CNET News
story. A story at Greentech
Media gives examples of some of the areas GE says it will be
investing in.
Analyzing Environmental Trends in Asia.—reliability
high.
"Gaining a better understanding of how and when environmental risks
may impact company performance will help the region’s financial
community accurately assess corporate value. To that end, WRI and HSBC
partnered to identify and quantify environmental risks facing key
sectors in South and Southeast Asia, culminating in the recent release
of three reports on the power, food and beverage, and real estate
sectors." See WRI
site. Access the reports here.
[Are you invested
in the next BP?]
The campaign against palm oil--The other oil
spill.—reliability high.
"Palm oil is a popular, cheap commodity, which green activists are
doing their best to turn into a commercial liability. Companies are
finding them impossible to ignore" "Several companies have learned that
they are vulnerable, politically and therefore commercially, when they
do not control the distant ends of their supply chains." Article in The Economist. [Good review of
the palm oil situation, and by extension supply chain issues in
general. 1.
Demonstrates potential power of activist groups to call attention to
supply chain problems. Businesses should be proactive. 2. You probably
have palm oil in your supply chain. If not, what about paper?]
Plans Shrivel for Chinese Eco-City.—reliability
high.
"Once billed as "the world’s first eco-city," Dongtan, a development
on the eastern tip of Chongming Island, a one-hour ferry ride from
Shanghai, was to become a Manhattan-sized, energy self-sufficient,
carbon-neutral, mostly car-free model of sustainability. ... But
Dongtan has been put on hold indefinitely and, save for the
bridge-tunnel and a wind farm, close to nothing has been built."
Reasons. Other eco-city plans. Story in The
New York Times. [Planned "cities
of the future" have a long and discouraging past. Cities, like
economies, may be too complex to plan from scratch.]
Government and
Regulation
California drafts green chemistry rules.—reliability
medium.
"California's Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) finally
put out online its draft for the new safer Consumer Products
regulation. ... the draft regulation would prioritize toxic chemicals
and products, require manufacturers to seek safer alternatives to toxic
chemicals in their products, and create tough governmental responses
for lack of compliance." From ICIS
Green Chemicals. Access draft here.
[Since California
is such a big market it strongly influences corporate policies of all
manufacturers. These rules are still subject to revision but they could
become de facto U.S. standards.]
Science and
Economics
Plug-in Vehicles Will Be Dirtier Than HEVs?—reliability
medium.
"On June 22nd Scientific American rolled-out a Web-only article titled
"The Dirty Truth about Plug-in Hybrids, Made Interactive" that
summarizes a January 2008 report from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and
shows why plug-in vehicles in the U.S. will, on average, be just a
little bit dirtier than gasoline HEVs." Post goes into details. Large
regional differences in how dirty electricity is. See AltEnergyStocks.com.
[Electric car
critic John Petersen has argued in many posts that EVs don't deliver
environmental benefits or do so at unreasonable costs. He does us the
service of finding and analyzing these studies that raise valid issues.
Will the EV wave prove to be a dead end, as the gasohol wave may do
(see below)? They are certainly not a panacea. But even based on this
analysis both EVs and HEVs are better than the vehicles most of us are
driving today.]
As Ethanol Booms, Critics Warn of
Environmental Effect.—reliability high.
"Special Report" "There has been hot debate about whether carbon
emissions from ethanol production and use are lower than those from oil
and whether the 33 percent of the U.S. corn crop diverted to ethanol
drives up the price of food. Local effects of ethanol production,
however, including water pollution and consumption, have received less
scrutiny. ... Investment in corn ethanol 'seems like a very expensive
detour from an energy policy point of view,' said Mr. Cox, of the
Environmental Working Group. 'This is really agricultural policy
masquerading as energy policy.' " Feature in The
New York Times.
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]
