Top Stories
BP shares plunge after failure to contain
oil spill.—reliability high.
"BP fell close to 17 percent in London trading, wiping $23 billion off
its market value, on weekend news that its latest attempt to plug its
blown-out seabed well had not worked sparked fears oil could leak into
the Gulf until August. The shares have lost more than a third of their
value, or about 46 billion pounds ($67 billion), since the leak started
six weeks ago. ... the cost of protecting the debt of what was
once Britain's biggest company against default rose sharply as the
five-year BP credit default swap widened by 71 basis points to 173
basis points, CDS monitor Markit said." Story at Reuters.
[An industrial
accident put paid to Union Carbide
Corporation. Could the same happen to BP? Failing to manage your
impact on the environment can cost you the company. (Want to buy an
oil
company, cheap?)]
India adds record renewables capacity in
past year.—reliability high.
"India added 2.33GW of grid-connected renewable power capacity during
the year to the end of March, according to a statement from the
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, more than doubling the rate at
which it installed renewables capacity during the previous year. The
record performance takes the country's total installed capacity of
renewable energy to 16.8GW, far outstripping the performance of many
industrialised nations including the UK, France, Japan and Canada."
From BusinessGreen.
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
UK companies to spend $5.3bn on climate
change efforts in 2010, says report.—reliability high.
"Large companies in the UK will spend more than $5.3bn on climate
change and sustainability initiatives in 2010, according to a new
report. The findings by independent research firm Verdantix covers 457
UK companies and found that the UK climate change and sustainability
market will grow by 14 per cent a year to reach $8.4bn in 2013." More
highlights of analysis. See NewNet.
Press release here.
Government and
Regulation
Indonesia to scrap permits to save
forests-official.—reliability high.
"Indonesia will revoke existing forestry licences held by palm oil and
timber firms to save natural forests under a $1 billion climate change
deal signed with Norway last week, a government official said on
Monday. ... Part of the $1 billion promised by Norway will be spent on
compensating businesses that have existing concessions cancelled in
order to keep forests standing, said Agus Purnomo, head of the
secretariat of Indonesia's National Climate Change Council." Story at Reuters.
Key power projects exempt from Indonesia
forest ban -govt.—reliability high.
"Indonesia's moratorium on clearing natural forests will not apply to
developers of strategic infrastructure, such as geothermal power and
other renewable energy projects, a government minister said on Tuesday.
Under a $1 billion climate change deal signed with Norway last week,
Indonesia said new concessions for the conversion of natural forest and
peatlands would be suspended for two years." Reuters.
A Carbon Price as a Nuclear Incentive.—reliability
medium.
The cost of carbon emissions imposed by the European Trading Scheme is
too low to make nuclear power competitive without subsidies. The new UK
government proposes to change this. "Last week, Chris Huhne, Britain’s
secretary of state for energy and climate change, argued in favor of
upping the target to cut emissions in the European Union to 30 percent
by 2020 from a current level of 20 percent. That move is strongly
opposed by many segments of European industry, but it would
significantly boost the carbon price. Then on Monday, Charles Hendry,
Britain’s minister of state for energy and climate change, outlined to
reporters in Brussels another policy the government could use to raise
the price of polluting: Imposing a supplemental levy on coal and gas
plants until the costs of emitting reached a minimum level, or floor
price. Mr. Hendry said Britain could impose the levy even if other
countries in the European Union did not go along with the idea." See New
York Times Green blog. [Trial balloons,
but interesting.]
Science and
Economics
Night-time temperatures could rise above 25C
because of climate change.—reliability high.
"The number of sweltering nights when the temperature in cities stays
above 20C (68F) and the elderly become vulnerable to heat exhaustion
will increase fivefold because of climate change, a Met Office study
has found. ... During the 2003 heatwave, which killed 2,000 people in
Britain, the hottest nights were around 20C." More highlights of
report. From The
Times. [20C
may not seem "sweltering", but if daytime temperatures soar it is high
enough to prevent cooling off at night. In cities the "heat island
effect" would keep outside temperatures above 25C.]
[Crossposted from HaraBara.com courtesy of HaraBara, Inc. Copyright © 2010 HaraBara, Inc.]