Analysis

• Banks warm to the climate issue

  01 November 2007

  Climate change may present the banking sector with new risks of its own to manage, but it also offers a whole new suite of products to help others manage theirs. Natalia Gorina looks at how banks are tapping into a new market

• Looking beyond Bali

  01 November 2007

  Negotiators depart for the UN climate talks in Bali in a few weeks with, arguably, more pressure upon them than at any time in the 10 years since the Kyoto Protocol was signed in Japan. They are charged with putting a road-map in place for negotiations on a successor agreement to Kyoto – with a deal to be agreed by the end of 2009, leaving sufficient time for it to be ratified before the current emission targets expire in 2012.

• EDF EN looks beyond wind

  01 November 2007

  Strong growth in its wind energy portfolio is driving ­profitability at EDF Energies Nouvelles. But the French group is looking to solar and, more cautiously, to biofuels, reports Philippa Jones

• Plugging in to emission reductions

  01 November 2007

  Hybrid cars are taking off, promising substantial emission reductions over their conventional equivalents. Plug-in hybrids represent the next step, says David Sandalow

• Learning the lessons of the EU ETS

  01 November 2007

  In a little over 12 months, US power utilities will face caps on their carbon emissions for the first time, under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The scheme's designers can learn some crucial lessons from Europe's emissions trading experience, says Benoit de Vitry

• An eye on the bottom line

  01 November 2007

  Rob Lake's appointment at ABP marks a growing focus on environmental and social analysis at the pension giant. But, as he tells Jess McCabe, its objectives remain resolutely financial

• Carbon looms over allowance market

  01 November 2007

  Ray Pospisil reports on how the US SO2 and NOx emissions markets are trying to digest carbon, mercury and CAIR

• Japan's brownfields brought to bear

  01 October 2007

  Japan is coming to terms with its recent industrial heritage, bringing a boom to its soil remediation market. But new accounting rules and investor scrutiny could accelerate the disclosure of some hidden liabilities, say Greg Rogers and Miki Mitsunari

• Going for the green and the gold

  01 October 2007

  The first in-depth report on clean technology financing in Australia finds the country lagging behind North America and Europe, but developing areas of specialisation. Anastasia O'Rourke reviews its findings

• Warm words, but a warming world

  01 October 2007

  The US administration is finally catching up with the rest of the world when it comes to tackling global warming. The major emitters group meeting – convened by George Bush in Washington at the end of last month – saw US Secretary of State Condaleezza Rice make a clear and long-overdue pledge to show leadership on the issue. "It is our responsibility as global leaders to forge a new international consensus on how to solve climate change," she said, addressing representatives of the 16 countries, plus the EU and the UN, in the "major economies meeting on energy security and climate change", which brings together fast-growing large developing countries such as China, India and Brazil with the industrialised world.