News

• EIB, banks up UK onshore wind funding

  12 November 2009

  The European Investment Bank (EIB) and three private sector banks are to lend up to £1.4 billion ($2.3 billion) to onshore wind farms in the UK – 40% more than was planned just three months ago when the programme was first flagged.

• Invicta seeks £300m for Scottish biomass fund

  12 November 2009

  Invicta Capital aims to raise £300 million ($496 million) into a fund to develop nine biomass combined heat-and-power plants in Scotland.

• Mountain plans second German clean-tech fund

  12 November 2009

  Mountain Cleantech, a Switzerland-based investment group, plans to launch its second fund targeting the clean technology (clean-tech) sector in German-speaking countries.

• Walkers chips away at water footprint of crisps

  05 November 2009

  PepsiCo UK & Ireland, the company behind Walkers Crisps, has undertaken a project to identify practical actions to reduce water usage by potato growers, the firm said in its annual environmental sustainability report published last month.

• JV formed to develop Desertec plan

  05 November 2009

  A joint venture has been set up to pursue the €400 billion ($595 billion) Desertec project, to build solar and wind projects in the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to supply local energy needs – and export electricity to Europe.

• RiskMetrics makes second ESG acquisition this year

  05 November 2009

  RiskMetrics has bought socially responsible investment (SRI) pioneer KLD Research & Analytics for $10 million, in the latest sign of consolidation in the SRI research space.

• US Ex-Im adopts carbon policy

  05 November 2009

  The US Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank has adopted what it claims is the first comprehensive carbon policy for an export credit agency (ECA) and has set up a $250 million facility to back renewables exports. However, environmental NGOs said the policy lacks ambition – and merely reflects a legal settlement Ex-Im agreed earlier in the year.

• EIB sells $320m of green bonds to Scandinavian investors

  05 November 2009

  The European Investment Bank (EIB) has sold a total of SEK2.25 billion ($320 million) in bonds to Scandinavian investors, the proceeds of which will be used to finance renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

• RWE makes Denmark-sized mistake in CO2 emissions

  05 November 2009

  German energy giant RWE overstated its own carbon dioxide emissions by 70 million tonnes – equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of Denmark – in a report this year because of a classification mistake.

• People moves

  01 November 2009

  Matthew Kiernan has left New York-based financial research and advisory firm RiskMetrics Group to pursue other opportunities in the field of sustainable investment.