September 21, 2009
Dot Earth highlights a new study out in MIT’s Sloan Management Review, from its First Annual Business of Sustainability Survey.
The MIT report finds that 92% of respondents say their company is taking action to address sustainability, but most companies are not doing more than required to meet regulatory requirements. Read more at the links below.
September 18, 2009
A group of investors, organized by the New York State Comptroller’s Office and the Ceres Investor Network on Climate Risk, has announced strong support for cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions. The groups — representing over $13 trillion in assets across 181 institutions — called for reduction of emissions worldwide by 50-85% by 2050. Developing nations are called upon to reduce emissions 25–40% below 1990 levels by 2020.
Revisions to the Clean Development Mechanism to ensure real, permanent and verifiable emission
reductions
The statement seeks increased governmental investment in energy efficiency initiatives, and low-carbon technologies. The group also focuses on issues common to international sequestration projects, calling for, “revisions to the Clean Development Mechanism to ensure real, permanent and verifiable emission reductions.” Adaptation to unavailable adverse impacts is also encouraged. A global carbon market, with caps on emissions and linkages between different trading schemes, would help effectuate the cuts called for in the issue paper.
The report marks the latest in a string of efforts on behalf of investors to encourage climate change action–a recent report found that shareholder resolutions urging climate action were more both common and more successful than in years past.
August 25, 2009
A new report finds that shareholder resolutions on the issue of climate change are increasing in both frequency and success. The report, released by the non-profit groups Ceres and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, finds that a record number of 68 climate-related shareholder resolutions were filed during the 2009 proxy season. The report indicates that 31 resolutions were withdrawn in response to the company in question taking affirmative steps on climate. Higher levels of support are being seen in votes on climate-related shareholder resolutions, with 6 resolutions receiving more than 30% of the vote.
One resolution, by shareholders of IDACORP—an Idaho energy company—achieved a majority vote of 51.2%. Following the vote the company is working with a shareholder advisory group on identifying renewable energy pilot projects, and the company promised to adopt greenhouse gas reduction goals, according to the report. The majority vote on the IDACORP resolution marked the first time such a resolution has achieved majority approval.
If the trends identified in the report continue, corporations will increasingly face pressure from shareholder resolutions to take action on the issue of global climate change.
August 24, 2009
Todd Woody at Green Inc. takes a look at the financing and Power Purchase Agreement arrangements between Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and BrightSource Energy, a solar plant developer from Oakland, CA. The transaction also included a technology royalty agreement, the first of its kind that PG&E has entered into. Read the full account at the link below.
August 18, 2009
On Thursday August 13, 2009, Judge Deborah A. Batts of the United States District Court in Manhattan ruled that certain provisions of the Bigger Better Bottle Bill (“Bill”) could be implemented immediately. This ruling followed the issuance of a preliminary injunction in May that halted enactment of the entire Bill until April 1, 2010. Judge Batts’ ruling determined that:
- NY State may begin collecting 80% of the unclaimed deposits on all non-water bottled beverages from the bottling industry;
- The beverage industry is required to increase the handling fees paid to redemption centers for taking empty bottles;
- All provisions involving “bottled water” cannot go into effect until at least October 22, 2009 when a follow up hearing will be held; and
- No decision was rendered on the New York-specific UPC bar code.
The Bill, which was passed in April, was challenged in May when Nestle, the Polar Corp., and the International Bottled Water Association (collectively, the “water companies”) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The water companies claimed that the Bill was unconstitutional because it violated the Dormant Commerce Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and Substantive Due Process of the U.S. Constitution. Judge Thomas P. Griesa of the United States District Court in Manhattan ruled in favor of the water companies when he determined that certain provisions of the Bill were unconstitutional. In particular, the requirement that a NY State-specific UPC be placed on all bottles sold in the state was found unconstitutional due to infringement on interstate commerce. For more information on Judge Griesa’s reasons for issuing the preliminary injunction see our prior post on that ruling.
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August 12, 2009
Pursuant to Executive Order No. 2 of 2008, the 2009 New York State Energy Plan is now available in draft form. The purpose of the plan is to:
set forth a vision for a robust and innovative Clean Energy Economy that will stimulate investment, create jobs, and meet the energy needs of residents and businesses over its 10-year planning horizon. To that end, the Plan provides the framework within which the State will reliably meet its future energy needs in a cost-effective and sustainable manner, establishes policy objectives to guide State agencies and authorities as they address energy-related issues, and sets forth strategies and recommendations to achieve these objectives.
The draft plan includes assessments on energy demand, price, and efficiency; renewable energy; electricity resources, markets and modeling; natural gas; petroleum; and coal. Issue briefs are also available on topics including energy infrastructure, siting of new energy infrastructure, environmental justice, climate change, and environmental impacts of energy systems.
Public hearings will be held between August 18 and September 26 on the plan. Comments may be submitted until October 9, 2009, and may be submitted electronically.
The plan is available here, and more information on the State’s Climate Action Plan, ordered by Governor Paterson, is available here. Read more below for additional detail on the Plan’s draft strategies and recommendations.
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August 7, 2009
A report recently released by the Trust for Public Land makes the case that land conservation–in the form of conservation easements, cluster zoning, or public parks–creates substantial economic benefits both to private landowners and the public at large. The report provides useful summaries of numerous studies which seek to evaluate and quantify the economic benefits of parks and conserved land. For example, the report describes Bryant Park in Manhattan, whose revitalization, a study claims, may be responsible for a near doubling of commercial rents in nearby office space as compared to surrounding neighborhoods. Similarly, Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park overlooking Puget Sound in downtown Seattle is credited with sparking new business development in adjacent areas, and notably increasing nearby residential values.
The report links land conservation with numerous environmental benefits, which may be described in economic terms by calculating the value of “ecosystem services” they provide. These include reduction in the need for stormwater treatment, promotion of water quality, reducing cooling costs by mitigating the urban “heat island” effect, and preventing costs associated with global warming, due to carbon sequestration in preserved lands. All of these spillover effects benefit the public at large, the report argues, while increased real estate values inure to the public benefit through increased local tax revenues. To see examples of SPR work on public open space, see our Project Updates pages.
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