Top Stories
South Korea Industries to Invest $18.5 Bln
in Clean Energy Projects.—reliability high.
"South Korea's 30 major industrial groups plan to invest 22.4 trillion
won ($18.5 billion) by 2013 in clean energy, including batteries and
solar power, to benefit from the government’s spending on
environment-friendly projects." See Bloomberg.
[This is on top of
the government's $1.25 bln mentioned in Tuesday's Brief.]
European Emissions Cut Should Be 30%, Not
20%, Ministers Say.—reliability high.
"The European Union should raise its target to cut greenhouse-gas
emissions to 30 percent by 2020 or risk falling behind the U.S. and
China in developing low-carbon technology, French, German and U.K.
officials said. The 27-nation bloc’s current 20 percent goal isn't
enough to drive the investment needed to slash emissions further," they
said. More on concerns about competitiveness in clean technology. The
carbon "price at present is 'far too low to stimulate significant
investment in green jobs and technologies,' the ministers wrote". See Bloomberg
Businessweek. [This is three
important ministers writing an article, not official policy. But an
interesting trial balloon. While the U.S. is unable to pass its
already-anemic verbal commitment, Europe is considering a more
aggressive target.]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Environmental groups in China--Budding
greens.—reliability high.
"CHINA’S environment, most obviously the air in its cities, has been
deteriorating roughly at the same dizzy pace that its industry has been
expanding. Now some young activists, notably in university
environmental clubs, are campaigning to raise awareness of pollution.
In the process, they are among the first of their generation to dabble
with political participation." More about these activists' first
tentative moves. Article in The Economist. [Letting a few
flowers bloom?]
BP pays $98 mln for Verenium biofuels
activities.—reliability high.
"BP beefed up its biofuels business on Thursday by paying $98 million
for technology and facilities developed by U.S. partner Verenium Corp.
... 'This acquisition demonstrates BP's intent to be a leader in the
cellulosic biofuels industry in the U.S. and positions us as one of the
few global companies with an integrated end-to-end capability,' said
Philip New, chief executive of BP Biofuels." From Reuters.
Infy to debit leaves of 'non-green
employees'.—reliability high.
Infosys has developed a plan to debit the leaves of employees who
don't respond to an automated SMS asking them to turn off idle
computers. Article has other company comments heard at India's Green
Business Summit 2010. See CIOL.
Firms Should Disclose Emissions to at Least
One Carbon Registry.—reliability medium.
"Sustainability teams should consider participation in at least one,
and possibly two, registries. Participation beyond two programs is
often not worth the additional investment of time and money." Post
discusses the main registries and their features. From GreenBiz
blog.
SAP India bets big on sustainability.—reliability
high.
"SAP has set sights on India as an important part of the German
software vendor's global strategy to generate a sustainability business
worth US$9.3 billion by 2013, according to company executives. Pointing
to India as a 'very important market' for SAP, Peter Gartenberg,
managing director of SAP Indian Continent, said during a press briefing
here Thursday: 'It is a large consumer market with high energy
consumption [and] SAP can positively impact both the returns on
investment and sustainability.'" See ZDNet.
Government and
Regulation
Sobering CBO report shows massive costs of
corn ethanol tax credit.—reliability medium.
"Tax expenditures (essentially foregone tax revenues) in support of
this production were roughly $5.16 billion" for corn ethanol in 2009.
"CBO finds that before they even pay at the pump, taxpayers incur a
cost of $1.78 to replace a gallon of gasoline by substituting corn
ethanol." See NRDC
blogs. Access the report here. [Americans complain
about the cost of motor fuel, but they are willing to pay an additional
$1.78 for each gallon of it that is corn ethanol (about a 60% premium).]
Ethanol industry splits on future of U.S.
tax breaks.—reliability high.
"A group of U.S. ethanol makers proposed a phase-out of federal
subsidies on Thursday -- the first such offer by a biofuels group,
although the offer was tied to the creation of a more open market for
the alternative fuel." Story at Reuters.
[The CBO report
mentioned above says most of the industry could survive without the
existing generous tax breaks. After all this is a highly mature
technology, not a nascent industry needing generous subsidy from the
public purse. Besides, the industry will retain many government
supports such as the barriers against imports of cheaper cane ethanol.]
China says energy efficiency higher than
earlier report.—reliability high.
"China has again revised its gains in energy efficiency over the past
four years, suggesting it is getting closer to achieving a five-year
energy intensity reduction target at the end of this year. ... The
world's top emitter of greenhouse gases consumed 0.1077 tonnes of
standard coal for each 1,000 yuan of GDP in 2009, down 3.61 percent
from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on
Thursday. That marks a substantial revision" More on China's struggle
to meet its target. From Reuters.
Science and
Economics
Last month was the hottest June recorded
worldwide, figures show.—reliability high.
"Last month was the hottest June ever recorded worldwide and the
fourth consecutive month that the combined global land and sea
temperature records have been broken, according to the US government's
climate data centre. The figures released last night by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) suggest that 2010 is now
on course to be the warmest year since records began in 1880. ...
According to NOAA, June was the 304th consecutive month with a combined
global land and surface temperature above the 20th-century average."
Article in The
Guardian. See NOAA data here.
[Yet we still see
people claiming there is no warming because of a recent "cooling"
trend. What data are they looking at? (More about heat waves and
warming in this
related post)]
