News

• Veolia buys German waste firm

  01 June 2007

  Veolia Environnement is to acquire the second biggest waste management company in Germany for €1.45 billion ($1.95 billion). The French environmental services company has signed an agreement to buy Sulo from private equity firms Blackstone Group and Ajax Partners.

• SO2 auction sends 'bearish' signal

  01 May 2007

  This year's annual US auction of sulphur dioxide (SO2) emission allowances, organised by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on 26 March, did little to interrupt the steady decline in the spot market price.

• Duke loses New Source emissions case

  01 May 2007

  The US Supreme Court has ruled against Duke Energy, the country's third largest power company, in a long-running dispute over emissions from the company's older generating plants. However, while it has been hailed by environmental groups, the ruling may not have much impact on industry, lawyers and analysts say.

• CCX lists SO2 options contracts

  01 May 2007

  The Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE), a subsidiary of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), has begun listing options contracts on sulphur dioxide (SO2) allowances. These allowances, each of which represent one ton of SO2, form the underlying instruments of the cap-and-trade market used to combat acid rain in the US.

• EDP buys US wind firm

  01 May 2007

  Portuguese power utility Energias de Portugal (EDP) is to buy Horizon Wind Energy from Goldman Sachs for at least $2.15 ­billion. Horizon is a US-based wind power developer that owns 559MW of generating capacity with a further 997MW due to begin producing power by the end of 2007. This will make it the third largest owner of wind generation facilities in the US.

• EPA announces biofuel credits plan

  01 May 2007

  Trading of biofuel credits in the US could begin soon following the introduction by the country's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of rules to support legal targets for an expanded use of biofuels.

• Canadian SRI climbs above C$500 billion

  01 May 2007

  Socially responsible investment (SRI) in Canada has soared to more than C$500 billion ($440 billion) in 2006, from C$65.5 billion in 2004, according to the Social Investment Organisation (SIO), which carries out a biannual survey.

• The low-carbon leader?

  01 May 2007

  Last month, UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett gave a speech on climate change to an Anglo-American business association in New York. It set out the greenhouse gas (GHG) challenge; explained what measures the EU is taking to build a low-carbon economy; and invoked the Manhattan and Apollo projects which, respectively, built the first atom bomb and put a man on the moon, as a call to arms for investment in clean technology.

• Moving to the new US NOx and SO2 markets

  01 May 2007

  Daniel Chartier and Melanie LaCount contend that as the US moves to the new Clean Air Interstate Rule, 'cap and trade' will once again deliver the desired results by building on the success of current programmes

• Banking on sustainability

  01 May 2007

  The aims of sustainable development are changing the shape of modern banking. And, in emerging markets, it is increasingly being recognised that 'sustainable banking' can confer a competitive advantage, says Ajay Narayanan