Investment & Markets, Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)

Though proposed means and methods vary, it appears likely that federal greenhouse gas emissions legislation, and a national cap-and-trade scheme, will be introduced in the U.S. sometime during the new president’s first term, one that has the potential to reach US$1 trillion, more than twice the size of the European Union’s.

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Green legislation and technological innovation are rewriting the rules of the game for the energy and power industries. Companies such as NTR have capitalized on the trend, using a public-private partnership model to transform and grow their businesses.

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As much as I love to read, turning pages one by one, breaking a new paperback book into a well-weathered memory to trophy in my book case, I realize it is costing some forest, somewhere, a tree. Although e-books have existed since the 90′s a portable platform designed just for e-books that is truly functional [...]

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The Aptera has received a lot of press during the past couple of months, thanks in part to two critical characteristics: One- Its radical three-wheeled design. Two- the hybrid gas-electric version claims to be capable of 300 miles per gallon! How? The inventive drastic reduction by means of weight and drag. Although many concepts remain [...]

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UPS has secured a lease for 42 electric three-wheeled utility vehicles with green in mind, as in the bengamins. This environmentally friendly investment is part of a pilot program in Petaluma, California that is geared toward increasing profits by reducing transport costs. The ride, a very small three-wheeled one-seater called the Xebra Truck. This tiny [...]

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With political and regulatory change in the air and on the ground, renewable energy has risen quickly to become Wall Street and the City’s latest moveable feast. Well organized, funded and staffed wind power companies were among the first to attract the attention of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. Testimony to just how quickly capital and labor can be mobilized these days, successful start-ups, such as Dublin’s Airtricity, have grown into attractive targets for the world’s largest power and energy companies.

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The car of the future is not only going to come standard with a hybrid powered engine; rather, the whole concept of a car from the ground up will be an entirely redeveloped mobility machine. A fine example is the Hypercar, a vehicle designed in reverse; featuring ultra light construction, hybrid-electric drive, low-drag design and [...]

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Green goes under ground, six feet under and currently being spear-headed in Oregon by and environmentally-friendly funeral products dealer by the name of Cynthia Beal. She is the founder of The Natural Burial Co. in Portland, Oregon, the healthy way to recycle yourself and your casket upon taking the inevitable dirt nap. Cynthia herself wishes [...]

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Say hello to the green exchange, spearheaded by a leading cast of energy and environmental brokers -investors- who are launching a new exchange for trading credits that offset the global warming greenhouse gas emissions. This exchange is expected to rapidly broaden the reach of the booming market for trading greenhouse gas as well as renewable [...]

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Shareholder activism is a primary reason why several large companies are eliminating harmful toxins from their plastic products. In a recent investigative series launched by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reporters found that lax governmental regulation of Bisphenol-A and PVC plastic has led to their proliferation in a wide range on consumer products – including baby [...]

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Scott Leonard founded Indigenous Designs over 14 years ago on the backbone of imported fair trade organic clothing. When he told people that was his business he was rebounded with blank stares and expressionless “okay” replies. In a time when organic food was still an unknown he pioneered this do-good business and conitnues to operate [...]

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Amid the stock market turmoil last week, an interesting event took place in the market’s valuation of sustainability. If I were shopping for corporations, on Friday, I could have purchased one share of either Whole Foods Market or Walmart for $43.40. and today, I could have purchased either for $46.00. And if I had wanted [...]

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On Friday, June 16, 2006 Samuel Brittan wrote in the Financial Times (page 11) that “the most likely trigger for a dollar collapse would be a US housing market setback.” I read this with gratitude that someone was actually addressing this important global threat but I had to respectfully disagree. The greatest threat to the [...]

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The American Solar Energy Society reports that by 2030 one in four workers will be wearing green collars at work. The report estimates the creation of up to 40 million green collar jobs in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries.    Giving that report a gentle push was the announcement last week that GE Power Generation in New [...]

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At last week’s Point Carbon Conference in New York City (October 29-31), policy professionals and industry leaders met to discuss present and future trends in the carbon market and policy realm. Two important likely developments emerged: (1) the U.S. government will implement a cap-and-trade market system, probably by 2009, and (2) the energy sector will [...]

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The World Economic Forum released its annual ranking of global economic competitiveness last week, drawing attention not only to which countries prominent business leaders and economists believe have the best equipped economies, but to the deep and wide-ranging impact statistical economic indicators have, and how we define economic progress, as well as our social and environmental well-being.

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The consequences of global warming are becoming an increasingly important variable for institutional investors when assessing a company’s economic viability. In a recent statement, Calpers (the California Employees’ Retirement System) said that voluntary disclosures from companies citing general “climate risk” in reports is not enough.  The Securities and Exchange Commission was petitioned in September by Calpers and others to mandate disclosure of specific climate–related risks to [...]

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The global market for wind energy grew by a staggering 32% in 2006 and 41% in 2005. Meanwhile the U.S. solar photovoltaic market grew by 33% last year despite supply chain constraints, but if you live in California, this may seem like a modest estimate to you. That landscape of energy production is shifting, creating [...]

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“Illustrations of the threat we pose to other species and the environment and our inability to manage use of our marine and terrestrial natural resources are increasingly common, and one can be seen in the decimation of one of the few remaining wild marine populations of abalone taking place here in South Africa’s Western Cape Province south of Cape Town.”

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On hearing that the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) just named Jack Cogen, CEO of Natsource, as the their new chairman, I decided to do some research on the organization and the concept of emissions trading in general. What follows is a quick synopsis. The IETA fully supports the objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Based on this [...]

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Green markets, in particular renewable and alternative energy, stand poised to grow into a $1 trillion market by 2030 according to analysis by Morgan Stanley. A report on Thursday in Reuters said the world market for “green” energy – including solar, wind, biomass. biofuels, tidal, and geothermal – is likely to face exponential growth in the coming decades in response to rising prices [...]

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As many of us in the field recognize, there is a slow but steady growth of “green” positions opening up for traditional blue collar, tech, and professional employees. We can expect this number to increase as our state and federal governments begin diverting money to green employment generation in the near future. Earth2tech.com recently posted [...]

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A response to Thomas Friedman I wonder sometimes why people seem shocked that automakers don’t want higher fleet standards. Mr. Friedman should do a little more study in economics, because even if the world is flat, there are still demand curves. Americans themselves don’t want higher fleet standards for mileage unless they can still accelerate [...]

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According to the latest issue of ClearProfit, a clean energy Hedge fund has been launched: The ALMA Clean Energy Hedge Fund, managed by Bozkurt Aydinoglu. If anyone doesn’t know what a hedge fund is, don’t worry, plenty of hedge fund managers probably don’t either these days. It’s sort of a generic and often inappropriate term [...]

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Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers are, however, have you heard of them? They’re a Silicon Valley venture capital firm who helped to bring us the likes of Google, Amazon and Netscape. Guess what they are into now? Clean Tech. They have put 200 million or more into the likes of solar, biofuels, biomass gasification, and [...]

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NRDC’s OnEarth Magazing offers some practical insight into the idea of “Green Investing” outlining the basics and giving a good overview of some of the big players. The article is worth passing around. One thing they leave out, however, is the importance of instututional investors such as pension funds and endowments in SRI – individuals [...]

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Everyone knows that “cleantech” is going to be a big market, but this press release I got the other day really hits home. The Cleantech Venture Network says that by 2009 there will be $17 Billion in vc opportunities with $10 Billion in North America alone. To top it off, the states of New York, [...]

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A couple weeks ago, I was invited to attend a briefing by ecoAmerica in San Francisco on the demographics of environmental interest in the United States. It was an eye opening event that started with a psychological study known as VALS. Take a few minutes to take the test here and see how you score. [...]

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No one disputes that deforestation, particularily in tropical locations such as Brazil, is a major problem for the health of the planet and of humanity. However, one also cannot blame tropical countries for engaging in deforestation when they are in desparate need of economic growth for an impoverished populace. A carbon trading solution suggests that [...]

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We’ve been familiar with market based trading schemes for emissions such as sulpher dioxide and CO2, but here’s something I hadn’t head of before – Water Quality Trading. The concept, like airborne emissions trading, is to find an efficient and cheap way to improve water quality in a given watershed. If a company faces high [...]

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