News

• US set to outpace Canadian sustainable business spend

  02 March 2011

  Canadian businesses are increasing spending on sustainability, but growth rates are still trailing their counterparts south of the border.

• Commission disappoints with response to EUA scandal

  01 March 2011

  The European Commission has proposed a raft of measures to improve security in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in the wake of the theft of around 4 million EU allowances (EUAs) that has slowed the spot market to a crawl. But market participants and lawyers have slammed the measures as inadequate and overdue.

• Obama's plan to start a US-wide trade in clean energy credits?

  24 February 2011

  US President Barack Obama's proposed federal clean energy standard (CES) would allow utilities to trade credits on a national level to lower compliance costs, according to a White House report.

• US Democrats to fight cuts to clean energy support

  24 February 2011

  US Senate Democrats are pushing back against an attempt to gut funding for clean energy by Republicans in the House of Representatives, in a battle over the budget which is bringing the government close to a shut-down.

• Tougher EU climate target would boost EU's GDP by $842bn

  24 February 2011

  An increase in the EU's target to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 30% by 2020 would boost its economy and cut unemployment, according to a report commissioned by the German government

• EIB ups lending to renewables, energy efficiency

  24 February 2011

  Climate loans made up 30% of the European Investment Bank's (EIB's) lending in the EU last year, with the development bank financing €20.5 billion ($28.2 billion) of projects involving renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable transport, forestry, innovation and climate adaptation.

• Renewables 'green rush' costs California utilities $6 billion

  24 February 2011

  California's investor-owned utilities have committed to renewable energy contracts worth $6 billion in excess of the price of natural gas-generated electricity because of a "green rush" to meet the state's renewable targets, according to a utilities watchdog report published last week.

• Fraud charges laid against fake green technology firm

  23 February 2011

  Six people involved in a company that claims to provide technologies to tackle global warming have been charged by the US Department of Justice with defrauding investors in a stock manipulation scheme from 2003 to 2008. The individuals and a seventh person are also facing civil charges brought by the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in relation to fraud occurring from late 2006 to April 2007.

• BP biofuel breakthroughs imminent

  23 February 2011

  BP is poised for a major advance in its biofuel operations, as it is completing commissioning of the world's first biobutanol pilot plant and plans to begin full–scale production later this year at its Vivergo Fuels facility, one of the world's largest ethanol production plants.

• Drax calls for biomass co-firing support as capacity left idle

  22 February 2011

  The operators of England's 4GW coal-fired power station Drax today admitted to leaving its biomass capacity partially idle because of "insufficient regulatory support".