News

• Financing questions cloud Nagoya biodiversity deal

  04 November 2010

  Governments and environmental groups have hailed new global biodiversity protection targets as "historic" and a "breakthrough", but difficult questions on financing have been postponed, and efforts to develop innovative financial tools have been blocked by a clique of developing countries.

• UNEP mulling 'Equator Principles' for natural capital

  03 November 2010

  The UN Environmental Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) has begun consultations on a 'Natural Capital Statement' for financial institutions, potentially modelled on the successful Equator Principles.

• Van Eck launches rare earths ETF

  02 November 2010

  Money manager Van Eck Global has launched an exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering investors exposure to a possible bull-run in the value of 'rare earth' metals.

• Asset owners' climate disclosure is 'challenging'

  28 October 2010

  The director of a new initiative to encourage asset owners to report how they are managing climate risks acknowledges that it faces "challenges" in driving disclosure.

• Wind industry loses puff?

  28 October 2010

  Fewer wind turbines will be installed this year, in a delayed reaction to the collapse in investment caused by the financial crisis.

• German insurers set to profit from renewables growth

  28 October 2010

  As Germany switches increasingly from fossil fuels to renewable power, the country's insurance sector will see a 240% rise in policy premiums for solar, wind and other renewables over the next decade, according to reinsurance giant Munich Re.

• Hot year ahead for US geothermal

  28 October 2010

  The US geothermal power sector is poised for significant growth in 2011, thanks to the economic stimulus package.

• Impax Asian fund doubles war chest

  28 October 2010

  Impax's Asia-focused environmental equity fund has boosted its coffers by £131 million ($208 million) in a secondary fundraising on the London Stock Exchange.

• NRG invests $300m in 'world's largest' solar thermal facility

  28 October 2010

  NRG Energy is to invest $300 million in building a 392MW solar power plant in California's Mojave Desert, claiming it is the largest of its type ever proposed.

• Sasan 'would have gone ahead anyway' – Ex-Im

  28 October 2010

  India's controversial Sasan coal project would have been developed regardless of backing from the US Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank, said a spokesman for the export credit agency.