News

• Obama restates clean energy commitment, omits targets

  26 January 2012

  Despite failing to enact comprehensive climate legislation, there is no reason the US Congress should not pass a clean energy standard (CES) and grant related tax credits, President Barack Obama said during his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

• Congress, not EPA, needs to act on emissions – Alexander

  26 January 2012

  Congress should move on legislation to deal with nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and mercury emissions so the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not have to devise regulations for these pollutants, a Republican senator said Monday.

• Cellulosic ethanol plant to ditch DOE loan guarantee

  25 January 2012

  A joint venture with Dutch life sciences firm DSM has allowed biofuels producer Poet to eschew a loan guarantee from the US government.

• SEB, Daiwa top environmental bond underwriting league table

  25 January 2012

  Sweden's SEB and Japan's Daiwa have been the two most active underwriters of environmental bonds issued by multilateral finance institutions, according to a new league table.

• Low-carbon workplace fund gets first institutional investment

  24 January 2012

  A fund that invests in low-carbon office refurbishments around the UK has received its first institutional investment, of around £35 million ($55 million).

• EDF buys biomass plant in Germany

  24 January 2012

  EDF Trading, the trading arm of French energy giant EDF, has bought its first biomass pellet production plant.

• Gridlock likely, 'grand bargain' possible, for US environmental policy in 2012 – Van Ness

  23 January 2012

  While gridlock is likely to be a defining feature of US environmental and energy policy this year, 2012 is will prove critical in preparing for Congressional action next year, and will see high levels of regulatory action, according to lawyers at Van Ness Feldman.

• CBR plans €100m sustainable agroforestry fund

  23 January 2012

  Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild (CBR) is hoping to raise €100 million ($130 million) into a fund to invest in sustainable agroforestry projects in Africa and Latin America.

• US court hands PACE bonds a lifeline

  20 January 2012

  A Californian court ruling could revive the use of bonds to finance residential energy efficiency improvements.

• UNEP Finance Initiative chief steps down

  20 January 2012

  Paul Clements-Hunt, head of the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), will leave next month after more than a decade in the role, Environmental Finance has learned.