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Republicans to block Obama's green spending plan?
17 February 2011Renewable energy and energy efficiency were major winners in President Barack Obama's proposed budget, but a fiscal battle with Congressional Republicans casts serious doubt on the likelihood of any funding increases.
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Figueres voices support for carbon tax
17 February 2011Christiana Figueres, the shepherd of UN climate change talks, this week voiced support for a carbon tax to address global warming.
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Emerging market executives take lead on sustainability – survey
17 February 2011'Sustainable' business practices are seen as more important in the developing world than in developed countries, according to a survey of executives – and the gap is set to widen.
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Leading investor plays down Climate Change Committee independence threat
17 February 2011Environmental groups fear the independence of the UK's Climate Change Committee (CCC) could be threatened – or worse, the committee could be scrapped – under a public bodies bill which could shift control over the CCC's structure to government ministers. However, a leading carbon market commentator has downplayed the threat.
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Carbon Trust looks to private sector to plug funding gap
17 February 2011UK climate advisory group The Carbon Trust anticipates a 40% cut in government funding next month, prompting the group to scale-back operations, axe jobs and intensify its push for private sector funding.
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Climate action delay could cost $8 trillion, warns Mercer
17 February 2011The economic cost of carbon emissions over the next 20 years could amount to $8 trillion, according to a study by investment consultants Mercer.
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LED group targets $150m IPO
17 February 2011Florida-based Lighting Science Group aims to raise $150 million in an initial public offering (IPO).
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Private capital 'urgently needed to reach biodiversity goals'
16 February 2011A rapid increase in private finance for biodiversity protection is needed if the EU is to achieve its recently watered-down goal of halting biodiversity loss by 2020, according to a report by Climate Change Capital and Economics for the Environment Consultancy (eftec). The previous, missed, goal, set in 2006, was to halt biodiversity loss by 2010.
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S&P to integrate climate risk into credit ratings
16 February 2011Standard & Poor's (S&P) is to routinely including an assessment of climate risk into its corporate credit ratings across all industrial sectors, in anticipation of when climate policy begins to "bite hard" in the next few years.
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Acting on its principles
14 February 2011Emerging markets private equity fund Actis is placing ESG analysis and risk management at the heart of its investment processes – and is hoping to put a financial number on its effects. Mark Nicholls reports