Top Stories
Should Carbon Management Be a Strategic
Priority for Companies?—reliability high.
GreenBiz writes about "a new report from the Carbon Disclosure Project
that examines the question: Should carbon management be a strategic
priority for companies?" The report "explores the business case for 10
large companies that have put carbon management near the top of their
agendas. For these companies, whose annual revenues top $1 billion,
carbon management has helped them reduce a range of long-term business
risks that may one day threaten their bottom lines," according to the
article. Gives some examples. See Greener
World Media. Access the report here.
[From the executive
summary: "As leading firms force broad action on carbon management in
their markets and value chains, those companies that ignore the issue
risk being left behind." Looks like this report is worth a read.
Quantitative.]
Labor to form minority government, pursue
climate bill.—reliability high.
Julia Gillard will remain PM of Australia having gained support of the
one Green and of two Independents in the lower house. The Independents
both said her Labor Party's commitment to climate change legislation
was key to their support. Greens also hold the balance of power in the
Senate, where climate change legislation foundered earlier. Labor wants
to get a climate bill through, but their one-vote edge will not make it
easy. See BusinessGreen.
[A climate change
committee of legislators and scientists will stretch things out.]
Related item: Australian election: Greens
key to success of new government.—reliability high.
According to this Guardian story, "Julia Gillard's new minority
government in Australia means that the country's green party will take
a pivotal position in the nation's politics for the first time. Like
the UK and Germany, a surge in popularity has given the environmental
movement an unprecedented parliamentary presence in Australia this
year, prompting suggestions that electorates are punishing mainstream
parties for failing to act decisively on climate change." More about
Greens in Australian politics. See The
Guardian. [Given
Labor's 1-vote majority in Australia, "decisive" action may still be
beyond reach.]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
Low-carbon market to treble by 2020: HSBC.—reliability
high.
A report prepared by HSBC, "Sizing the climate economy", is the basis
for a Reuters story that says the market for "low-carbon energy and
efficiency technologies will at least double to $1.5 trillion from $740
billion now, but HSBC analysts expected that it would more likely
treble to $2.2 trillion". Electric vehicle sales will grow most,
reaching $473 billion by 2020. More highlights of report. See Reuters
for more.
Insurers demand key role in climate
adaptation.—reliability high.
"Over 100 of the world's leading insurance companies joined forces
yesterday to urge world leaders to draw on the industry's expertise to
shape climate adaptation policies for developing countries being worked
on as part of the UN's climate change negotiations," reports
BusinessGreen. They issued a statement that "calls on governments to
formally acknowledge the role of the insurance industry in the on-going
UN climate change negotiations and deliver funding and regulatory
frameworks that enable the wider rollout of climate-related insurance
products" for developing countries. See BusinessGreen
for story. PDF of Global
insurance industry statement on Adapting to climate change in
developing countries.
Shanghai powers up EV hub with £2.8bn
investment programme.—reliability high.
"Shanghai announced plans to invest 30bn yuan (£2.86bn) in the sector
by 2012. According to reports in the China Daily newspaper, the city
will build 25,000 charging stations for battery or hybrid power
vehicles over the next two years," says story in BusinessGreen. It
quotes Wang Zhe, of Shanghai's new energy automobile promotion office:
"With government support in purchasing, R&D and infrastructure,
Shanghai will be able to produce 100,000 new energy vehicles every
year, including 60,000 passenger vehicles by 2012. About 20,000 of them
will be for private use." Article at BusinessGreen.
Government and
Regulation
China aims to increase hydropower 50 per
cent by 2015.—reliability high.
"According to local reports, officials said they were aiming to
increase hydropower capacity from 200 million kilowatts currently to
300 million kW by 2015," says BusinessGreen story. China produces more
hydropower than any other country already. see BusinessGreen.
Science and
Economics
Melting rate of ice caps in Greenland and
Western Antarctica lower than expected.—reliability high.
A recent paper in Nature Geoscience used gravity measurements to
improve precision of estimates of the amount of ice being lost from the
Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets. They "combined data from the
GRACE mission, GPS measurements on land and sea floor pressure
measurements." The authors say "The corrections for deformations of the
Earth's crust have a considerable effect on the amount of ice that is
estimated to be melting each year. We have concluded that the Greenland
and West Antarctica ice caps are melting at approximately half the
speed originally predicted." See EurekAlert.
Both the report
and the accompanying editorial
are behind $32 pay walls.
