News

• Protocol for community-scale GHG emissions launched

  15 May 2012

  A protocol to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the community level has been released in an effort to establish a single standard for measuring emissions from cities

• Tax breaks proposed to spur UK sustainability

  14 May 2012

  New tax incentives to boost the UK's low level of personal savings and direct more of these savings into activities that yield social and environmental benefits are called for in a new report from the Green Alliance.

• Germany's solar subsidy cuts rejected, lower cuts expected

  11 May 2012

  Germany's solar industry is likely to benefit from a Bundesrat vote today to delay subsidy cuts, as long as negotiations are not drawn out, say industry experts.

• Biomass energy set to double in EU by 2020

  11 May 2012

  Biomass used for energy generation in Europe will have to more than double from the 2009 level by 2020 if the EU is to meet its renewable energy target.

• Hansen calls on UniCredit to halt coal financing

  11 May 2012

  Leading climatologist James Hansen has called on Italy's UniCredit to halt the "unnecessary practice" of financing coal-fired power plants, specifically the TEŠ 6 lignite-fired power plant in Slovenia.

• Federal support for CCS needed, despite EPA regs

  10 May 2012

  Without the support of federal subsidies, new coal-fired power plants with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology are unlikely to be built in the US – despite new environmental regulations that seem to benefit such technology, according to a Bloomberg Government report.

• Sustainable biomass a major risk for power stations – Drax

  10 May 2012

  Ensuring the sustainability of biomass fuel is "the biggest unquantified risk" facing Drax, operator of the UK's largest coal power plant, according to its head of environment.

• South-east Asia clean energy fund nears first close

  10 May 2012

  Newly-formed clean energy investor Armstrong Asset Management is nearing a $66 million first close for a fund to invest in small-scale renewable energy and 'resource efficiency' projects in South-east Asia.

• Microsoft carbon neutrality goal would cost below $10m

  10 May 2012

  Microsoft would need to pay less than $10 million a year if it were to meet its new goal of becoming carbon neutral entirely through carbon offsets – a fraction of the IT giant's $5.1 billion in profits for the last quarter.

• Investors call for funding details as UK announces green bank legislation

  09 May 2012

  The UK government is to introduce legislation in the coming year to establish its long-planned Green Investment Bank (GIB), but investors and environmentalists have called for clarity over how it will be funded.