News

• Energy storage sector reaps windfall from clean-tech VCs – E&Y

  03 November 2011

  A record $421 million of venture capital investment in the energy storage sector helped push clean-tech venture capital (VC) investment in the US up 73% in the last quarter, according to Ernst & Young.

• Ontario to revise renewables tariff, threatening pending projects

  03 November 2011

  Ontario regulators will consider adopting declining rates for renewable energy projects supported by the province's feed-in tariff (FiT) – and some pending projects will be hit, developers have complained.

• Beacon CEO rebuts Solyndra comparison

  03 November 2011

  The CEO of energy storage company Beacon Power, a recipient of a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy (DOE) which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, has taken exception to media reports comparing his company to bankrupt solar panel manufacturer Solyndra.

• Electric vehicles may be 'bad bet' – Cleantech Group

  03 November 2011

  Investments in the electric vehicle industry may be a bad clean-tech bet, according to an executive at the Cleantech Group, but the water sector is thirsty for investment.

• UN bodies call for global 'blue carbon' market

  03 November 2011

  A global market in carbon captured within the world's oceans – 'blue carbon' – should be established to help protect the marine environment, according to a major UN report.

• AIR launches weather insurance model for Chinese crops

  02 November 2011

  US risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide has launched a multiple-peril crop insurance (MPCI) model for China, which it claims is an industry first.

• Oil and gas move to hit European environmental liability cover – insurers

  02 November 2011

  A proposal by the European Commission to regulate safety standards for offshore oil and gas operations could have unintended consequences for the environmental liability insurance market, according to the CEA, the European insurance and reinsurance federation.

• Biodiversity 4 Banks training programme launched

  01 November 2011

  Banking group Citi has joined forces with WWF and the Business and Biodiversity Offsets Program to help financial institutions manage risks from biodiversity and ecosystem services in their lending decisions.

• Details emerge of Climate Bond Standard

  01 November 2011

  The head of the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) has unveiled how the project's soon-to-be launched Climate Bond Standard will operate, and has announced that the CBI will act as an introduction agency between prospective bond issuers and investors.

• BLOG The sun ain't gonna shine...

  01 November 2011

  The UK's twists and turns around its solar tariffs are a case study in how not to set renewable energy policy, says Mark Nicholls