Half of Multinationals to Choose Suppliers Based on CO2 Emissions

Attention companies: Ignore carbon emissions at your peril. That big client of yours isn't ignoring theirs, and they just might fire you for dragging them down...

According to a study by Carbon Trust Advisory, fully one-half of multinational companies plan to select suppliers based on carbon performance.

The research says that 29% of suppliers are likely to lose their places on green supply chains if they do not have adequate performance records on carbon. The research also finds that 58% of multinationals will in the future pay a premium for low carbon suppliers to reduce their overall corporate carbon footprints.

Read more at Environmental Leader.com:

Crazy Army Greenies! U.S. Army Embarks On $7 billion Renewable Energy Program

The U.S. Army has embarked on an ambitious $7 billion series of utility-scale renewable energy projects.

The new program will build twenty utility-scale renewable energy installations that rely on a mix of solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass power. The installations will be constructed on land owned by the Department of Defense, at Army bases throughout the U.S.

The program calls for the Army to use its land as equity to leverage about $7 billion in private investment for the twenty projects.

The Army’s goal is to provide its bases with reliable energy sources that are insulated from price spikes, shortages and grid disruptions.   Rather than paying up front for the installations, the Army will utilize Power PurchaseAgreements wherein private companies would build the renewable energy installations in exchange for a commitment from the Army to purchase the energy. 

Read more at TPM Idea Lab

Tax Plan to Turn Old Buildings ‘Green’ Finds Favor

A business consortium that includes Lockheed Martin and Barclays bank plans to invest as much as $650 million over the next few years to slash the energy consumption of buildings in the Miami and Sacramento areas. It is the most ambitious effort yet to jump-start a national market for energy upgrades that many people believe could eventually be worth billions.

This looks like a win, win, win. Contractors get work, retrofitting old buildings with efficiency-enhancing changes. The property owner has no up-front costs but is guaranteed the cost savings (typically one-third of their utilities cost.) Barclays finances these projects, bundling the loans into bonds that investors can buy. Payback comes via a property tax surcharge that is less than the amount saved on utilities.

While the program has met some legal challenges for residential users, commercial properties appear to be moving forward with this innovative new program.

Read more at NYTimes.com

Global Energy Consumption to Grow 53 Percent by 2035

Wondering why China is so hot for alternative energy? Why they wish to completely dominate the manufacture of solar panels? Why China cares more about climate issues that the US does? Here's the answer:

A new report by the U.S. Energy Information Agency predicts that worldwide energy consumption will surge 53 percent in the next 25 years, with China and India accounting for about half of the growth.

As their economies continue to expand, China and India are expected to double their energy demand by 2035, and combined they will consume about 31 percent of the world’s energy, according to the report, International Energy Outlook 2011.

There just isn't enough oil, coal, natural gas or even uranium to meet that demand for long. And with the air quality problems that these nations already have, something had to give!

Read more at CleanTechies.com

The Power of Sustainability on Campus

In its new report Greening the Bottom Line, the Sustainable Endowments Institute provides a close look at the impressive financial benefits that colleges are receiving for their sustainablility efforts. 

In short, the report highlights 52 institutions that have created green revolving funds (GRFs) to invest endowment money in efficiency projects, tracking the return on those investments.  Some have reported ROIs in excess of 30 percent, which greatly exceeds the typical investment return of even the most aggressively-managed endowment portfolio.

Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes -- 2011. Where is the US Leadership?

Dow Jones in conjunction with SAM has updated their sustainability indexes for 2011, and just one American company has been identified as being at the top of its industry.  Pepsico gained the top ranking in the Food and Beverage sector.  (Pepsico is also a constituent of the Boardwalk ESG Titans portfolio.) 

DJ and SAM review 19 sectors to identify companies that meet specific criteria for across environmental, social and economic dimensions.  SuperSector Leaders, such as Pepsico, have the highest scores in that sector.

While the world's largest stock markets (US, UK, Germany, France and Japan) account for well over half of the world's stock market value, together they placed a paltry FIVE sector leaders combined.  In contrast, smaller countries fared much better:  South Korea with four members, Netherlands (3), Australia (2), Switzerland (2) and Spain (2). Even Brazil had one.  Clearly, bigger isn't necessarily better.

In many ways, sustainability is an indication of preparedness for change  -- change that is fast and unpredictable.  It is apparent then that we need to look to the smaller markets for many of tomorrow's leaders.

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Green Power Partnership: Companies Using 100% Renewable Power

Many companies have made a commitment to utilize renewable power sources whenever possible. We applaud their commitment to reducing greenhouse gas and other emissions, and evaluate this factor as part of our environmental assessment of each potential portfolio investment.

While "wherever possible" sounds fine, we have found scores of companies and organizations that get ALL of their power from renewable sources.  Leading the pack is Kohl's Department Stores.  Kohl's has been adding showy alternative energy projects to its stores for some time, but to attain the 101% level, the company has also purchased Renewable Energy Certificates (REC's) that certify power from green sources.  Kohl's is now country's second largest green power user -- 1.4 billion kilowatt hours per year. 

Perhaps it is not surprising that Whole Foods Market has also reached the 100% level, through a combination of on-side generation and REC's.  Nokia achieved this distinction, as did Georgia-based Interface Inc.  Law firms Sutherland Asbill & Brennan and Kilpatrick Stockton LLP were able to satisfy 100% of their power demands from wind energy, sourced through REC's.

While energy hungry tech giant Intel couldn't reach the 100% level, the company did rank as the nation's largest green power user-- gulping more than 2.5 billion kw/h per year, and some 88% of their needs. We think congratulations are still in order.

Read the EPA rankings here

Venture Capitalists Adopting 'Impact Investing'

Having endured a decade of small returns, some venture capitalists and institutional investors are adopting a strategy called "impact investing," and that's good news for educational technology.

Impact investing in general refers to investors seeking a so-called "double bottom line." That is, they want investments that not only make money but also have a positive impact on society.

Read more at Investors.com

Global investment in clean energy hits $243 bn: UN

Global investment in clean energy rose to a record $243 billion dollars last year with the vast majority concentrated in the world's top 20 economies, the United Nations said.

Over the past two years more than 50 national public climate funds have been created. There are 45 carbon markets and more than 6,000 private equity funds providing billions of dollars for climate change action.
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US report spreads blame for BP oil spill

A key US government report spreads the blame for the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday, citing a bad cement job and poor management decisions by BP and its subcontractors.

The finding by the agency that regulates offshore drilling will likely strengthen the British energy giant's legal case for spreading the massive costs of the spill with Halliburton, which performed the cement job, and rig owner Transocean.

Read more at Global Energy Watch