News

• Centrica's $1.2bn offshore bet shows bank caution

  01 November 2009

  UK utility Centrica has announced plans to invest £725 million ($1.2 billion) in an offshore wind farm, and has refinanced part of its existing renewables portfolio with a consortium of 14 banks.

• Investors discounting Copenhagen climate talks

  01 November 2009

  Investors are downplaying the importance of the forthcoming Copenhagen talks in terms of providing a boost for – or harming the performance of – low-carbon stocks.

• Counting on Copenhagen?

  01 November 2009

  Everywhere you look, concerned environmentalists are warning that we have two months, 50 days, 45 days – and soon, less than a month – to save the planet.

• AIG Investments culls sustainability team

  29 October 2009

  AIG Investments is shedding its sustainable investment division, following its acquisition by Pacific Century Group, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm.

• Flurry of deal-making in solar sector

  29 October 2009

  Solar third-party financier SunEdison has been snapped up by silicon wafer firm MEMC Electronic Materials for $200 million, the latest in a cluster of solar deals – including the first IPO in the sector for more than a year.

• EIB seeks managers for £100m sustainable energy fund

  29 October 2009

  The European Investment Bank (EIB) is seeking fund managers to both manage and leverage £100 million ($165 million) in sustainable energy funding for London announced last week.

• Creative' policies needed to drive low-carbon investment – UNEP

  29 October 2009

  Governments should adopt "creative policies" to encourage low-carbon investment in developing countries, if the world is to mobilise the $500 billion a year needed to help poor countries tackle climate change, according to a report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and other finance groups.

• Companies struggling to address natural resource exposures

  29 October 2009

  Investors have raised concerns that few companies are adequately managing their dependence on natural ecosystems, putting their strategies and valuations at risk.

• Carbon markets don't motivate clean investment, says Deutsche Bank

  28 October 2009

  Emissions trading has done little to encourage investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and governments should focus on introducing feed-in tariffs and mandates if they want to prevent the worst effects of climate change by 2020, according to analysis by Deutsche Bank's Asset Management (DeAM) division.

• US stimulus money boosts wind power

  22 October 2009

  The US renewable energy grant programme has led to a surge in wind project development in recent months, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).