News

• Google ploughs more cash into residential solar

  27 September 2011

  Google will spend $75 million to finance residential solar installations, raising its total investment in the clean energy sector to more than $850 million.

• People moves

  27 September 2011

  The latest appointments

• Ontario election threatens renewables support

  27 September 2011

  The best chance of preserving Ontario's feed-in tariff (FiT) programme in its current form is if the governing Liberal Party maintains control after next week's provincial elections, according to a report by the environmental NGO the Pembina Institute.

• Money flows to Ecuador's 'pay us not to drill' trust

  27 September 2011

  A trust set up to pay Ecuador not to drill for oil in Yasuní National Park is halfway towards its first fundraising target, thanks to contributions from the Italian government and an executive at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).

• LG to invest $6.8bn in green strategy

  27 September 2011

  South Korean conglomerate LG has said it will invest 8 trillion won ($6.8 billion) by 2015 in a 'Green New Business' strategy.

• Fulcrum Bioenergy files for $115m IPO

  26 September 2011

  Fulcrum Bioenergy has joined the flurry of US biofuels companies hoping to raise cash from the public markets.

• RAN finds fault with BNP Paribas coal policy

  26 September 2011

  BNP Paribas' policy on lending to the coal-fired power sector "contains loopholes big enough to drive a bulldozer through", according to the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) – although the activist's group's criticism of the French bank's new policy is comparatively muted.

• Republicans 'exploiting' Solyndra to strip renewables funding

  26 September 2011

  Republicans in the US House of Representatives are exploiting the bankruptcy of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra to strip funding for the Department of Energy's (DOE) loan guarantee programme for renewable energy, according to Democratic legislators.

• Solar rooftop projects look to securitisation

  23 September 2011

  Securitisation could be a viable financing mechanism for solar rooftop projects in the US, but rating agencies are still struggling with how to assess these deals, according to financing experts.

• Novozymes targets multi-billion dollar African charcoal market with green alternative

  22 September 2011

  Novozymes is to help finance a novel integrated food and energy venture in Mozambique which aims to displace charcoal with biofuel – offering a more sustainable alternative, it says, with a view to opening a massive market.