Analysis

• Putting principles into practice

  01 July 2009

  Signs of an increasing culture of active ownership among global pension funds and asset managers are good news for both investors and the environment, says James Gifford

• Turning to the taxpayer

  01 July 2009

  As the world's capital markets recover from crisis, financing is beginning to get a bit easier for US renewable energy developers. But there is going to be a much bigger role for the government than in the past. Gloria Gonzalez reports

• Recognising new realities

  01 July 2009

  Any hopes that the environmental markets would escape the worst of the last 12 months' financial crisis proved in vain – but financiers still managed to put together some innovative and game-changing transactions. Environmental Finance recognises last year's leading deals

• PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR Lars Josefsson CEO, Vattenfall

  01 July 2009

  As we approach the crucial climate talks in Copenhagen this December, it is the world's politicians that we are relying upon to forge an ambitious successor to the Kyoto Protocol – but it is the world's business leaders who will be expected to deliver its goals. And few business leaders have been as outspoken on climate change, or as ambitious, as Lars Josefsson, chief executive of Vattenfall, a Swedish energy company with pan-European ambitions.

• IPO OF THE YEAR SMA Solar Technology

  01 July 2009

  SMA Solar Technology listed in June 2008, at a time when the market was almost shut for initial public offerings (IPOs). The Environmental Finance IPO of the year was one of only three IPOs in Europe in the first half of 2008, raising €362 million ($512 million) through its listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

• RENEWABLE ENERGY DEAL OF THE YEAR First Solar acquisition of Optisolar's development portfolio

  01 July 2009

  It is perhaps indicative of the past 12 months that this year's renewable energy deal of the year saw no cash change hands – but it did mark, in the words of one analyst, a "watershed for the sector". On 2 March, industry-leading US solar photovoltaic (PV) module maker First Solar announced that it was to acquire for $400 million in stock the development pipeline of Optisolar, a California-based manufacturer and developer of solar PV systems, which had been struggling to find the finance to develop its projects.

• CARBON FINANCE TRANSACTION OF THE YEAR Camco, Standard Bank structured CER auction

  01 July 2009

  The events of the past year have shown that innovation in financial markets is not always a good thing. But where it can pay dividends is in applying proven financing techniques from other markets into esoteric new ones. It is for this reason that last summer's certified emission reduction (CER) sale by Camco and Standard Bank stands out, where a tried and tested structure was imported into the carbon market and adapted to suit the demands of this new commodity class – while securing €15 million ($21 million) up front, with no conditions attached, for the project developer.

• CATASTROPHE RISK ­MANAGEMENT DEAL OF THE YEAR Atlas V catastrophe bond

  01 July 2009

  New catastrophe (cat) bond issuance came to a grinding halt following the demise of Lehman Brothers in September last year, as investors realised the collateral guaranteed by Lehman in four bonds was at risk - and some was beginning to go sour.

• WEATHER RISK DEAL OF THE YEAR Origin Energy/Marsh wind and power hedge

  01 July 2009

  Wind farms are supplying an ever-growing proportion of the world's energy demand, but the feedstock – wind – is an unpredictable resource compared with fossil fuels and presents particular risk management issues for power suppliers, for whom not meeting delivery obligations could prove financially disastrous.

• Counting the carbon

  01 July 2009

  The prospect of a federal cap-and-trade programme in the US and the imminent introduction of the Carbon Reduction Commitment in the UK means thousands more companies will soon need to measure and manage their GHG emissions. Elizabeth Jeffries looks at the response of software suppliers