News

• Panda Ethanol subsidiary goes bankrupt

  29 January 2009

  A subsidiary of Panda Ethanol in the US has filed for protective Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is in negotiations to sell its troubled ethanol refinery project in Hereford, Texas, following a financial dispute with a major lender.

• $250m environmental fund to chase 'cheap' assets

  29 January 2009

  Geneva-based asset manager 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".

• PwC buys Sustainable Finance

  22 January 2009

  PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has bought boutique consultancy Sustainable Finance for an undisclosed sum.

• US stimulus package proposes $54 billion clean energy spend

  22 January 2009

  The economic stimulus package being considered by the US House of Representatives features sizeable investments in clean energy projects and infrastructure that could boost the sector.

• Masdar denies doubts over London Array

  22 January 2009

  Masdar has denied that it is rethinking the economic viability of the London Array, the UK's massive offshore wind farm project.

• Zurich unveils carbon capture and storage insurance

  22 January 2009

  Zurich Financial Services has launched insurance products to cover capturing and storing carbon underground, in a bid to address a major barrier to the uptake of the technology.

• Electric cars need government billions – BCG

  22 January 2009

  Electric and hybrid cars will fail to make major inroads into the vehicle market by 2020 unless governments intervene with incentives to support these technologies, according to a Boston Consulting Group report.

• UK biofuels below par on sustainability

  21 January 2009

  The UK's petrol and diesel industry is falling short on supplying sustainable biofuels, a government agency reported on 15 January, the same week in which renewable fuels associations were rapped for describing biofuels as "sustainable" in an advertising campaign.

• Asset managers must do more on climate, says Blood

  11 December 2008

  David Blood has questioned why investors are not insisting that asset managers take climate change risks and opportunities into account.

• Investors warned of water-related risks

  01 December 2008

  Investors are failing to recognise financial risks related to water scarcity, according to the author of a report issued by the European Sustainable Investment For­um (Eurosif).