News

• Hurricane trading to hit US exchanges

  01 March 2007

  Reinsurance companies have a new way of transferring catastrophe (cat) risk to the capital markets, with the listing this month of futures and options contracts linked to hurricane intensity and property damage.

• New climate risk reporting initiative launched

  01 March 2007

  Some of the leading organisations promoting climate change-related corporate disclosure have come together in a new initiative that aims, ultimately, to see carbon firmly embedded within company report and accounts.

• People moves this month

  01 March 2007

  Fund – a fund-of-funds vehicle that will make sustainable investments in the global timber sector. The fund is aimed at institutional investors in the UK and northern Europe.

• 1.25 billion of "sustainability" VC raised – Eurosif

  01 March 2007

  Around €1.25 billion of "venture capital for sustainability" has been raised by European venture capitalists (VCs) as of September 2006, according to a report from the European Social Investment Forum.

• Global roundtable calls for mid-century carbon targets

  01 March 2007

  The Global Roundtable on Climate Change (GROCC), involving 80 companies and institutions, has called on governments to put a price on carbon and set mid-century reduction targets.

• Philips 'green' sales reach €4 billion

  01 March 2007

  Royal Philips Electronics has reported €4 billion of sales last year of its 'green' products, such as energy efficient lighting and televisions.

• FTSE4Good sets out climate criteria

  01 March 2007

  Companies will have to meet a new set of climate change criteria or face expulsion from the FTSE4Good socially responsible investment (SRI) index family. Criteria include developing a climate change policy, emissions disclosure, and emissions reduction targets.

• China struggles to boost energy efficiency

  01 February 2007

  China is losing the battle to improve the poor energy efficiency of its factories and power stations – despite increasing official recognition that the country has paid an appalling environmental price for its dramatic economic growth.

• Climate changes in Congress, despite Bush

  01 February 2007

  President George Bush made a brief mention of global warming in his State of the Union address, but legislators are not awaiting his cue as they introduce a flurry of bills on greenhouse gases and biofuels.

• Calvert ramps up activism

  01 February 2007

  Real estate developers are among the companies to be targeted by US asset manager Calvert, as it steps up its shareholder activism in 2007.