News

• Regulation 'no solution' to sustainability reporting drawbacks

  25 March 2010

  Mandatory reporting is not the right solution for shortcomings in voluntary corporate sustainability reports, experts said this week.

• Investor warns on solar industry sustainability

  25 March 2010

  Solar panel manufacturers need to take their environmental responsibilities more seriously, or risk losing public and government support, an investor warned this week.

• Theolia shareholders back restructuring

  25 March 2010

  Embattled renewable energy developer Theolia has won shareholder approval for a financial restructuring involving a rights issue of up to €100 million ($133 million), and renegotiation of a €240 million convertible bond.

• Healthcare victory seen imperiling climate bill (from Carbon Finance)

  25 March 2010

  The hostility surrounding the healthcare debate in the US is expected to complicate efforts by a tri-partisan group of senators to develop a compromise energy and climate bill, observers have warned, but some remain optimistic a deal will be reached this year nonetheless.

• IMF staffers table $100bn/year climate finance plan

  25 March 2010

  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published proposals for raising the $100 billion/year called for in the Copenhagen Accord to tackle climate change in developing countries – proposals it says could help forge an international climate change deal.

• Emissions market questions Carper's CAIR fix

  25 March 2010

  A proposed legislative fix for the troubled US Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) programme has good prospects, but may not be the best solution for the emissions trading markets, observers said.

• Climate Investment Funds to channel $40 billion to developing countries – World Bank

  25 March 2010

  Around $40 billion could be mobilised for low-carbon growth in developing countries via the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), according to Katherine Sierra, vice-president for sustainable development at the World Bank.

• Climate opportunities, capital hurdles for water sector – HSBC

  25 March 2010

  Growing water stress and increasing flood risk is driving investment into water utilities globally, according to a research note from HSBC – but capital constraints and regulatory barriers will slow growth, the bank says.

• UK budget sets out green bank plans, emissions trading changes

  25 March 2010

  The UK government is to create a £2 billion ($3 billion) green investment bank, finance minister Alistair Darling said on Wednesday, one of a handful of measures in the 2010 budget aimed at moving the UK towards a low-carbon future.

• EPA climate rules will identify targets for litigation, lawyers warn

  17 March 2010

  A more activist US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in trying to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is creating regulatory risks for companies that could trigger disclosure obligations, legal experts warned this week.