Top Stories
"Federal Trade Commission Proposes Revised
'Green Guides'"—reliability high.
"The Federal Trade Commission today proposed revisions to the guidance
that it gives marketers to help them avoid making misleading
environmental claims. The proposed changes are designed to update the
Guides and make them easier for companies to understand and use. The
changes to the 'Green Guides' include new guidance on marketers’ use of
product certifications and seals of approval, 'renewable energy'
claims, 'renewable materials' claims, and 'carbon offset' claims." The
guides were last revised in 1998. Among the revisions: "The proposed
Guides also caution marketers not to use unqualified certifications or
seals of approval – those that do not specify the basis for the
certification. The Guides more prominently state that unqualified
product certifications and seals of approval likely constitute general
environmental benefit claims, and they advise marketers that the
qualifications they apply to certifications or seals should be clear,
prominent, and specific." Comment period is now open. More details. See
FTC site. Reuters
article about the proposed regs says "FTC proposes no more
'eco-friendly' claims in ads". [Broad "green"
claims are out, if these proposed regs survive the public comment
period. The rules restricting broad certifications, badges and seals
are particularly interesting.]
"China digs in on rich-poor climate pact
divide"—reliability high.
"China said on Thursday it will not bow to pressure to rethink a key
climate change treaty and was preparing to cope with a "gap" in the
pact after 2012 if rich nations fail to add new greenhouse gas goals in
time." Su Wei, a senior Chinese climate change negotiator, "told
Reuters his government would not bend to Western demands and was
reluctantly thinking about how to handle the likelihood that the first
phase of Kyoto could expire with no full legal extension to replace
it." See Reuters
article. [If
Kyoto just expires then emission changes would depend only on voluntary
actions in each country. The U.S. is saying the Kyoto concept of
different treatment for rich and developing nations is "outmoded", a
view that is anathema to developing countries. China is saying rich
nations need to commit to much deeper reductions while the U.S. can't
even legislate the very modest reductions it promised at Copenhagen.
The U.S. is impotent, at the federal level, and China impatient. China
may have decided, as the U.S. evidently has, that it will be better off
with no agreement at all after Kyoto expires.]
"China's Global Dominance in Green Jobs
Growing, Report Says"—reliability medium.
More from the Clean Edge "Clean Tech Job Trends 2009" report. Stacy
Feldman posts: "China is prevailing in the global race for green jobs
in sectors from solar panels to advanced lighting, and appears to be on
an unstoppable upward path ... . The Chinese government spent $34.6
billion last year to propel its low-carbon economy, more than any other
nation and almost double what the U.S. invested. ... Total jobs
surpassed three million in 2009, recent data from global research group
REN 21 finds. China accounted for 700,000 of that amount, due in large
part to measures that promote solar heating." More on reasons for
China's lead and other highlights from report. From Solveclimate
blogs. Summary of report and access (registration required) here.
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
"Businesses Seek Clarity on Climate Goals"—reliability
medium.
Elisabeth Malkin posts about Business for the Environment summit in
Mexico City, where "some 300 companies, including multinationals,"
"called on the governments in Cancún to 'set ambitious, clear,
measurable 2020 greenhouse gas targets.' ... The companies argued that
to 'avoid a major global crisis,' emissions needed to be reduced by at
least 50 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels." More about the meeting.
From New
York Times Green blog. [Such a reduction
target is far, far beyond what rich countries are willing to try for
(see League
Table, which shows "goals" of about 12.5% reduction by 2020), and
of course developing countries' emissions will still be rising in 2020
and much higher than today.]
"Indian giant Tata invests in MIT spin-off
Sun Catalytix"—reliability high.
Tata has participated in a series B funding round for Sun Catalytix,
which is developing low-cost fuel cell technology. Sun Catalytix
believes this technology could be used in the developing world as a way
to store energy captured by solar cells for use when the sun isn't
shining. See CNET News.
"Waste heat market heats up as GE acquires
Calnetix Power Solutions"—reliability high.
General Electric has acquired Calnetix Power Solutions (CPS). "Europe
has so far led the way in terms of waste-heat technology, but GE hopes
that last week's acquisition of the Florida-based company will allow it
tap into a '$1bn global space with high growth opportunities'." The
Calnetix devices can generate electricity using waste heat from engines
boilers and turbines. "Acquiring CPS's technology gives us a tremendous
opportunity to enter this very promising, small-scale waste heat to
power segment with a competitive, fully commercialized offering," GE
said. See BusinessGreen.
Science and
Economics
"Sun's role in warming the planet may be
overestimated, study finds"—reliability high.
"Researchers have found that the waxing and waning of the sun affects
our planet's temperature in exactly the opposite way scientists had
thought. The work suggests, counterintuitively, that when the sun is at
the dimmest point of its 11-year solar cycle, as it was in December
2009, it warms the Earth most, and vice versa." Quotes lead author: "If
further studies find the same pattern over a longer period of time,
[then] we may have overestimated the sun's role in warming the planet."
See story in The
Guardian. Abstract in Nature here,
but it doesn't say much and article is behind $32 pay wall. [Lead author Joanna
Haigh says that the warming influence of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere, including those from human activities, was at least 10
times greater than changes in the strength of the sun. Reuters
story quotes her: "It doesn't give comfort to the climate skeptics
at all. It may suggest that we don't know that much about the sun. The
climate models would still be producing much the same results with or
without these solar effects." So these findings are of interest to
scientists but don't change expectations of future global warming.
Changes in radiative forcing may have regional effects, however.]
"Cleantech Remains an Economic Engine in
California"—reliability high.
Next 10 has issued its latest "California Green Innovation Index"
report. It says "68 percent more GDP per unit of energy than the rest
of the country" and "shows that cleantech and green business represent
some of the few growing areas in an otherwise down economy". "In a
promising sign, the state received 40 percent of worldwide cleantech VC
in the first half of 2010, a 246 percent jump over the same period a
year before. Although manufacturing jobs shrank 9 percent in the state
between 1995 and 2008, green manufacturing employment grew 19 percent
during the same time frame." More about the report. See GreenBiz.
PDF of report here.
