News

• Investors, companies speaking different languages on ESG issues

  29 April 2010

  Industry sectors need to agree standardised environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics as a vital first step in addressing "communication gaps" between investors and companies on ESG issues, according to a UN report.

• ICJ rules on Botnia mill fracas

  22 April 2010

  The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled Uruguay did breach its treaty obligations when it approved the Botnia pulp mill on the bank of the country's shared river with Argentina, but it stopped short of calling for financial restitution or the mill's removal.

• Amazon dam contract awarded as court injunction dismissed

  22 April 2010

  A consortium of nine firms has won the right to build an 11GW hydroelectric dam on a tributary of the Amazon in Brazil – despite protests from environmental, indigenous and social groups, and a last minute injunction.

• Gas prices, overcapacity set to slow US wind growth – analyst

  22 April 2010

  Low natural gas prices and overachievement of state renewable energy targets has led Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML) to cut its forecasts for US wind energy growth.

• Barclays blows carbon, energy targets

  22 April 2010

  Barclays is set to miss by a wide margin its three-year internal carbon and energy reduction targets, after acquisitions and divestments meant it was adrift from its 2009 per head emissions goal by 33 percentage points.

• CDM Board moves to speed up project registration (from Carbon Finance)

  22 April 2010

  The Clean Development Mechanism Executive Board (CDM EB) is preparing proposals for an improved project registration process, said chairman Clifford Mahlung.

• Water investment a 'no-brainer' – fund manager

  22 April 2010

  Investors are just scratching the surface of potential opportunities in the water sector, according to an asset manager that has launched a fund in the sector.

• Wheb tops £100m for clean-tech fund

  22 April 2010

  Private equity firm Wheb Ventures has raised £100.3 million ($153 million) into its second clean technology fund at the fourth close, after receiving investment from a UK government-backed fund.

• Vodafone tops sustainability reporting poll

  22 April 2010

  Vodafone Group has won the 'best report' category in this year's CR Reporting Awards for the third year in a row. The telecoms company, a staple of sustainable equity indexes, polled around 100 votes more than the runner-up, BP.

• IFC launches $200m green bond

  16 April 2010

  The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has become the latest development bank to issue a 'green bond'.