News

• Investors urge better disclosure of water risk

  05 March 2009

  Companies are largely unaware of water-related risks, or how climate change will likely exacerbate them, says a report from investor and environmentalist coalition Ceres, which urges businesses to report their 'water footprint'.

• SAM, Dow Jones, launch Asian sustainability indexes

  05 March 2009

  Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) and Dow Jones have extended their sustainable investment index family to the Asia-Pacific region, with the launch of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) Asia Pacific and Asia Pacific 40 equity indexes.

• Renewables trading could save EU €17 billion a year – Eurelectric

  05 March 2009

  Allowing EU member states full flexibility to meet their renewable energy targets by trading certificates could save €17 billion ($21 billion) a year by 2020, according to a study commissioned by electricity industry association Eurelectric. But, without any trading, at least six member states will struggle to meet their targets.

• First Solar expands solar project pipeline

  05 March 2009

  First Solar is to acquire the 1,850MW solar project pipeline of developer OptiSolar for approximately $400 million.

• Clean energy investment too low – analysts

  05 March 2009

  Investment in clean energy is currently far short of levels necessary to avert dangerous climate change, and the economic downturn is likely to exacerbate the problem, according to analysis company New Energy Finance (NEF).

• Thriving pellet sector faces competition as it seeks feedstock

  04 March 2009

  The growing wood pellet industry will compete increasingly with pulp and paper firms for woodchips and pulp logs as its raw material, as supplies of its traditional sawdust and sawmill shavings prove inadequate, forecast a new report.

• Co-op Bank rejects £1BN on ethical grounds

  01 March 2009

  The Co-operative Bank has turned down more than £1 billion ($1.5 billion) of "unethical" business since 1992, it announced last month.

• Private equity industry steps up on responsible investing

  01 March 2009

  Institutional investors have welcomed an initiative by leading private equity firms that will see them adopt investment guidelines modelled on the UN's Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The move coincides with the results of a pilot project to improve the environmental performance of leading private equity firm Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts (KKR) portfolio of companies.

• $250m PE fund targets undervalued assets

  01 March 2009

  Unigestion is to launch an environmental private equity fund-of-funds that aims to take advantage of "the significant fall in the price of sustainability assets to levels not seen since 2004".

• CDP to poll 3,700 firms on climate risks

  01 March 2009

  The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has called on 3,700 companies to submit data on their climate change risks, as a survey claims that three-quarters of the investment managers behind the project now factor such information into their investment decisions.