News

• Evolution Markets raises $15 million

  01 November 2006

  Leading environmental markets broker Evolution Markets has raised $15 million that will, among other things, fund a push into investment banking and biofuels. The money – the first external financing the company has raised – came from Hartford, Connecticut private equity group CCP Equity Partners.

• $10 billion public–private partnership to reap Texas wind

  01 November 2006

  After overtaking California this year as the leading US state in terms of wind power capacity, Texas looks set to cement that lead by initiating a $10 billion ­public–private partnership to further wind development in the state.

• EPA particulate matter standards please no one

  01 November 2006

  The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new standards for particulate matter in late September, cutting the daily standards for the smallest particles by nearly half – from 65 micrograms per cubic metre of air to just 35 micrograms in the same volume.

• DuPont eyes $6bn in revenues from new green push

  01 November 2006

  Chemicals giant DuPont expects to generate $6 billion in additional revenues by 2015 as a consequence of its renewed sustainability commitments, it announced in mid-­October.

• Wells Fargo tops EPA green power chart

  01 November 2006

  Wells Fargo has become the largest corporate buyer of 'green' electricity in the US, according to rankings released by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week.

• First offshore wind farm project financing imminent

  01 November 2006

  The first project financing of an offshore wind farm was due to be completed by the end of October, according to bankers involved in the deal. As Environmental Finance went to press in mid-October, Dexia Credit Local, Rabobank and BNP Paribas were close to arranging some €230 million ($290 million) of financing for the 120MW Q7 wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands.

• Eco-securitisation' mulled to protect forests

  01 November 2006

  Forum for the Future is carrying out an R&D programme to examine the prospects for "eco-securitisation" to finance sustainable forestry. The project is designed to test the technical feasibility of using securitisation techniques – widely used to repackage and sell on portfolios of mortgages, car loans and even rock musicians' royalties – to extract value from, and hence protect, the world's forests.

• Doubts raised on CDM credit delivery

  01 November 2006

  The Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is likely to deliver substantially fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction credits than expected, according to carbon market experts. Continuing regulatory uncertainty, overly bureaucratic project approval processes, and under-delivery of reductions from projects, mean that up to half of projected carbon credits will not be forthcoming, they say.

• Shell, IUCN mulling biodiversity businesses

  01 November 2006

  Energy major Shell and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) are considering establishing one or more "biodiversity businesses", to help demonstrate the viability of using the private sector, and market mechanisms, to protect biodiversity.

• EU plans stringent measures to slash energy use

  01 November 2006

  Buildings, cars, fridges and water heaters are to be scrutinised by the European Commission as it aims to cut energy use by more than 20% by 2020 and reduce the EU's annual fuel bill by €100 billion ($125 billion).