In today’s edition: “London Meeting Aims To Move Natural Capital Declaration From Words To Deeds,” says
Ecosystem Marketplace. Business Green reports “US takes the plunge with first tidal energy array.” And The Wall Street Journal takes on “Ethanol Makers’ Long Hot Summer.”
Quote of the Day:
“I think we’ll continue to contract. We have to get into a point where stocks are tighter and production is lower.”
–Todd Becker, chief executive of Omaha, Neb.-based Green Plains, in The Wall Street Journal’s “Ethanol Makers’ Long Hot Summer”
Lead Stories
Canada halfway to meeting emissions-reductions goal: sources
The Globe and Mail
The federal government is set to announce that it is almost half way to meeting its emissions-reductions target — a significant leap in progress over the past year.
http://jlne.ws/NxCCWJ
A Climate and Energy Stalemate
The New York Times
On the day he clinched the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, Barack Obama declared that future generations would look back and say, “This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” He made addressing climate change, domestically and as part of a concerted international effort, a central tenet of his campaign platform and a top priority of his first year in office.
http://jlne.ws/OPk8f8
Rise of the Smart Grid
Time
Washington, America’s power center, recently experienced life without power—the kind that gets generated, not the kind that gets wielded. After a nasty storm knocked out the Beltway’s electricity for days during a heat wave, power brokers of the political type complained: Didn’t President Obama promise a smarter, more reliable grid?
http://jlne.ws/MJsfiU
Senate to take up securing U.S. telecom, power, water
Washington Times
The Senate on Thursday agreed to debate a long-delayed bill to secure the nation’s power grid, water supply and telecommunications system from cyberattack by hackers or foreign enemies.
http://jlne.ws/Qm07DT
London Meeting Aims To Move Natural Capital Declaration From Words To Deeds
Ecosystem Marketplace
The Natural Capital Declaration aims to push environmental risks and rewards onto corporate balance sheets in an effort to promote responsible stewardship of natural resources. It has the backing of 39 financial institutions, and many of them are meeting in London on Thursday to explore ways of turning the declaration into deeds.
http://jlne.ws/NLMxWd
US takes the plunge with first tidal energy array
Business Green
The US will dip its toe into the tidal energy sector over the coming months when the nation’s first commercial-scale, grid connected project comes online off the coast of Maine.
http://jlne.ws/OoenZr
Ethanol Makers’ Long Hot Summer
Wall Street Journal
Record corn prices and sluggish gasoline demand are squeezing profits for U.S. ethanol companies, prompting some producers to idle plants or slow production.
http://jlne.ws/MNRPBA
Democrats say Romney beholden to ‘Big Oil’
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Congressional Democrats and a liberal advocacy group with White House ties attacked Republicans and presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Thursday for supporting tax breaks for oil companies.
http://jlne.ws/QlZ1bj
Energy Department Grants Made Despite Conflicts, Report Says
Bloomberg
A U.S. Energy Department program designed to promote use of alternative fuels for vehicles gave out about $5 million in grants to individuals with conflicts of interest, the agency’s inspector general said.
http://jlne.ws/NxDzhT
Inhofe asks EPA to delay pollution rule
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) wants the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to delay a final decision on an air pollution rule that Republicans say will hurt industries ranging from agriculture to mining.
http://jlne.ws/QhAApM
The Age of Scarcity
Bloomberg Businessweek
This has been a brutal summer. Record drought across the Midwest has forced the U.S. Department of Agriculture to slash its forecast for 2012 corn production by 12 percent. Corn prices are already 90 percent higher than in July 2010. They’ve gone above 2007-08 levels, when soaring food prices sparked riots in more than 30 countries.
http://jlne.ws/PB6lwz
Events
GreenGov Symposium
ACCO & White House Council on Environmental Quality
September 24-25, 2012
http://jlne.ws/OfOB9D
Carbon Forum North America
October 1-2, 2012
Washington, DC
http://jlne.ws/zDe43B
Sustainability Summit – Innovation Challenge
October 9, 2012
New York
http://jlne.ws/wKbX7U
EMA 2012 Fall Meeting
**Keynote speaker is Richard Sandor
October 24 – October 26, 2012
Santa Monica, CA
http://jlne.ws/NIFCwM
Carbon
Price of polluting falls as carbon credits get cheaper
Radio New Zealand
The price of carbon has slipped to new lows on world markets, hampering efforts in New Zealand and overseas to improve the environment. Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have to be paid for by industries in many countries, but the cost of doing so has fallen to record lows and that makes it relatively cheap for companies to carry on polluting.
http://jlne.ws/OPgBO6
Foresters want protection against cheap carbon credits
Radio New Zealand
New Zealand foresters are calling for protection from cheap carbon credits flooding in from overseas.
http://jlne.ws/PAZ6F1
Report: UK carbon targets promise $10bn boost to IT market
Business Green
The UK’s target to cut carbon emissions by a 34 per cent against 1990 levels by 2020 will deliver a dividend worth between $5bn and $15bn to the country’s IT market, according to new research.
http://jlne.ws/N6WIBt
Climate carbon technologies considered
UPI
Pulling carbon dioxide from the air and storing it to stabilize climate may become increasingly important with ongoing global warming, U.S. scientists say.
http://jlne.ws/PB8xUX
Forest Carbon
Environmental News Network
Forests are many things to many people as well as nature. One is the benefit of carbon fixation. Using new, highly efficient techniques, Carnegie and Colombian scientists have developed accurate high-resolution maps of the carbon stocks locked in tropical vegetation for 40% of the Colombian Amazon, an area about four times the size of Switzerland.
http://jlne.ws/O0hLKA
Natural Gas/Coal
Gaz Metro to Buy Quebec Biogas, Canada Government Backs Project
Bloomberg
Gaz Metro Inc., Quebec’s largest natural-gas distributor, agreed to purchase and inject bio- methane into its pipeline system from a citywide waste treatment project in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec.
http://jlne.ws/POYdJu
COLUMN-UK natural gas future clouded by CO2: Gerard Wynn
Reuters
Natural gas has strong political support in Britain, shown by a tax break choreographed this week to balance support for wind power, but it is also on a collision course with the country’s carbon emissions targets.
http://jlne.ws/N0OMm9
Loss of Free Carbon Permits Make Centrica Stations Unprofitable
Bloomberg
The loss of free-of-charge European Union carbon permits next year will make an unspecified number of Centrica Plc (CNA)’s U.K. natural gas power stations unprofitable, according to the utility.
http://jlne.ws/PP4Awp
Analysis: Australia’s fuel trade jumps as plug pulled on refineries
Reuters
Australia is set to become Asia’s biggest importer of fuels, opening up trading opportunities in one of the world’s most profitable energy markets, as ageing Caltex and Shell oil refineries near Sydney shut and other plants look vulnerable.
http://jlne.ws/OqGOnI
Court Backs Towns In Gas-Law Fight
Wall Street Journal
Pennsylvania can’t restrict local governments from using zoning laws to regulate oil and gas drilling, a state court ruled Thursday in the latest battle over how much of a say local officials have on energy development within their boundaries.
http://jlne.ws/LR0bJ4
For Exxon, Natural Gas Becomes a Costly Burden
Wall Street Journal
The oil and natural-gas production boom sweeping the U.S. may be good for the country’s economic health, but it hasn’t recently been much help to energy giant Exxon Mobil Corp.
http://jlne.ws/PP1fh1
Energy Firms Face Price Divide
Wall Street Journal
A growing global divide in natural-gas markets showed itself in energy companies’ second-quarter earnings Thursday, as U.K.-listed BG Group PLC and Royal Dutch Shell RDSB.LN -2.52% PLC said weak U.S. prices resulting from the shale-gas glut helped drag down their profits.
http://jlne.ws/NLN8Hr
Power
Solarworld-Led Group Files China Anti-Dumping Case in Europe
Bloomberg
Solarworld AG (SWV), Germany’s largest solar-panel maker, led a group of manufacturers in requesting the European Commission investigate whether Chinese competitors dumped products at below-market rates on regional markets.
http://jlne.ws/SWEsjc
Gamesa Plans Restructuring After Cutting 2012 Turbine Forecast
Bloomberg
Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica SA (GAM) cut its 2012 sales forecast and plans to announce a restructuring in October after posting its first half-year loss since the wind- turbine maker initially sold shares in 2000.
http://jlne.ws/LQYjAb
Light Sees Demand Doubling for Brazil Energy-Efficiency Projects
Bloomberg
Light SA (LIGT3), a Brazilian power utility, expects demand for its energy-efficiency services to double next year as electricity prices rise and more supermalls and factories seek to conserve power.
http://jlne.ws/MNOFO8
Siemens Spreads Efficiency Program to Solar Unit
Bloomberg
Siemens AG (SIE) said it’s making changes at its solar-energy business after it lost money because of cancellations from customers and support from European governments flagged.
http://jlne.ws/NxBWAX
GE to Provide 22 Megawatts of Turbines for Mexican Wind Project
Bloomberg
General Electric Co., the biggest U.S. maker of wind turbines, will furnish eight 2.75-megawatt power units to Mexican hydroelectric developer Comexhidro for a project that will provide electricity for public lighting in the northeastern municipality of Santa Catarina.
http://jlne.ws/MayCM5
Power costs up under Coalition: Combet
The Age
Climate Change Minister Greg Combet says power prices would be pushed up under the Coalition plan to keep the renewable energy target (RET) but scrap carbon pricing.
http://jlne.ws/OPkJxj
Wind industry fears tax credit’s death
Star Tribune
Investment in wind energy will drop by nearly two-thirds if Congress fails to extend a key tax credit that’s set to expire at year’s end, an industry group says.
http://jlne.ws/NLNY6P
Miscellaneous
Quest Water Seeks AfDB Funds for Water From Air in Angola
Bloomberg
Quest Water Global Inc. (QWTR), whose systems create water from humidity, is negotiating with the African Development Bank for loans to build plants in Angola, where half the population lacks clean drinking water.
http://jlne.ws/O3jImB
Reports
Per capita CO2 emissions in China reached European level (July 18, 2012)
http://jlne.ws/NAjBQQ
The Interim Regulation of Voluntary Greenhouse Gases Emission Trading in China (Posted July 10, 2012)
The Climate Group
http://jlne.ws/Mhv62s
Measure for Management: C40 Cities (July 9, 2012)
Carbon Disclosure Project
http://jlne.ws/L9LC37
Characterizing Pivotal Sources of Methane Emissions from Unconventional Natural Gas Production (Posted June 4, 2012)
API, ANGA
http://jlne.ws/M6RzMQ
Vulnerability of US and European electricity supply to climate change (Posted June 4, 2012)
Nature Climate Change
http://jlne.ws/L3Slcb
Developing Dimension: State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2012 (Posted May 31, 2012)
Ecosystem Marketplace
http://jlne.ws/JQ18Bv
Tackling exposure: placing disaster risk management at the heart of national economic and fiscal policy (Posted May 22, 2012)
http://jlne.ws/JArFwf
Fossil fuel price shocks and a low carbon economy (Posted May 21, 2012)
Oxford/DECC
http://jlne.ws/JgVKG9
Using the Allowance Value from California’s Carbon Trading System: Legal Risk Factors, Impacts to Ratepayers and the Economy (Posted May 17, 2012)
Next10
http://jlne.ws/KEYcW5.
Inclusive Green Growth: The Pathways to Sustainable Development (Posted May 9, 2012)
World Bank
http://jlne.ws/IJXP8B
Meeting Canada’s 2020 Climate Change Commitments (Posted May 8, 2012)
Office of Auditor General
http://jlne.ws/K9Lxvd
