01 June 2010

India tops Japan in renewables? BP value plunges, preserving Indonesian forests and other green news for business

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.]