Top Stories
Analysis: Japanese firms hawk green tech to
global polluters.—reliability high.
"Japanese engineering companies, leapfrogging limited demand in
matured domestic markets, are selling their energy-saving expertise
directly to the world's biggest CO2 emitters including China, carving a
niche in a market potentially worth at least $100 bln. ... 'The Chinese
market is steaming hot,' said Masaaki Sawa, director of the plant and
machinery division at Nippon Steel Engineering, referring to the sales
of its CDQ system, thanks to Beijing's recent energy-saving drive in
the steel sector." Story at Reuters.
Will chief sustainability officers be the
next big thing in the boardroom?—reliability high.
"Growing numbers of blue-chip firms have started hiring dedicated
executive officers to oversee their companies' sustainability
strategies, leading to the potential sidelining of traditional
corporate social responsibility (CSR) managers. The emerging
chief sustainability officer (CSO) role requires a set of leadership
skills that mark a clear distinction from the middle management role
performed by many CSR executives, according to experts speaking at a
roundtable event" See BusinessGreen.
[Sustainability is
fundamentally more critical to the enterprise than is CSR, and will be
managed at a higher level and with greater authority. CSR is
peripheral, while sustainability is central.]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Obama commits nearly $2 bln to solar
companies.—reliability high.
"President Barack Obama, under pressure to spur job growth, said on
Saturday two solar energy companies will get nearly $2 bln in U.S. loan
guarantees ... . ... All told, 5,000 jobs are expected to be created
through use of $1.85 bln in money taken from the $787 bln economic
stimulus". Reuters
story.
Survey Finds Consumers Still Buying 'Green'
Products.—reliability high.
"U.S. consumers are buying the same or more environmentally
responsible products, regardless of region, age, gender or state of the
economy, according to a second annual survey commissioned by SCA and
conducted by Harris Interactive." More highlights of survey results.
From Environmental
Leader.
Government and
Regulation
UN panel recommendation may make India lose
half carbon credits.—reliability high.
"A UN panel on methodologies called Meth Panel this week said that
many companies were producing more HFC for a tonne of HCFC produced
than technically feasible. Some companies were only producing HCFC in a
bid to earn credits, the panel said in a report to CDM executive board.
The board is expected to consider the report at end of July. Seeking a
proper investigation into the carbon credits earned, the panel has
recommended revision of the rate at which carbon credits from HFC is
calculated. As against the present waste rate of three percent of the
total chemical burnt, the panel has recommended a rate of 1.4 per
cent." "Certified Emissions Reduction Units (CERs), also called carbon
credits, for the destruction of hydroflourocarbons (HFC) represent over
80 percent of the total credits issued till date under UN’s Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM) to India." Story at Hindustan
Times.
Motoring body wants green light for
'inevitable' road pricing.—reliability high.
"One of the UK's most influential motoring organisations has today
predicted the widespread adoption of road-pricing schemes as
"inevitable", arguing that it represents the only viable way of
tackling congestion and curbing carbon emissions while also raising
funds to maintain the road network. The recommendation is set out in a
new report from the RAC Foundation charity, Governing and Paying for
England's Roads, in which the organisation's director Professor Stephen
Glaister says that a major overhaul of the UK's road policy is required
to address rising levels of congestion." See BusinessGreen
story. PDF of report here.
United Nations warned that corruption is
undermining grants to stop logging.—reliability high.
"Human rights and environment groups yesterday called for a radical
rethink of the United Nations scheme, known as Redd (Reduced emissions
from deforestation and degradation), after it emerged that many
countries were trying to cheat the system. ... analysis of the 16
forestry reform plans so far submitted by Redd countries to the World
Bank shows that many intend to abuse the system in order to collect the
money while carrying on logging as usual." See The
Guardian.
Special Report: Europe finds politics and
biofuels don't mix.—reliability high.
"Read in their entirety, the documents -- emails, letters and research
reports released after Reuters invoked transparency laws -- not only
expose a huge rift in Brussels over biofuels policy, but also undermine
Europe's ambition of using alternative fuels to wean the continent off
oil. Beyond this, they raise serious questions about whether some
European Commission officials have deliberately skewed the findings of
scientific studies to fit their policies." "Most damaging for the
European Commission is a leaked letter from the head of its own
agriculture unit, Jean-Luc Demarty, in which he refers to mounting
evidence that biofuels do serious harm to the climate. Unless handled
carefully, Demarty writes, that scientific perspective could 'kill
biofuels in the EU'." See Reuters
feature.
