Surprise! News Corp is the World's First Carbon Neutral Company

And the award for first carbon neutral media company in the world goes to? Drum roll please! News Corp. Yes, you read right. The parent company of Fox News is a leader when it comes to climate change.

News Corp made the announcement just days ago. They achieved carbon neutrality through a combination of increases in efficiency and use of renewable energy as well as carbon offsets. Perhaps this shouldn't come as such a surprise. News Corp has ranked highly in the Carbon Disclosure Project reports for years.

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Institutional Investors Urge Oil Majors to Isolate Qaddifi Regime

US institutional investors have called on oil giants including BP, Shell, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhilips with business in Libya to halt revenue payments to the government and pay them into an escrow account after the shooting of hundreds of protesters in the country. The call comes after United Nations Security Council sanctions against Libya were approved last weekend followed by a European Union arms embargo, asset freeze and visa ban. The investors belong to the Conflict Risk Network (CRN), a hundred-strong group, which includes the $140.6bn New York State Common Retirement Fund. Read more here

Secretive Libya wealth fund vital for reconstruction | Reuters

Libya's secretive sovereign wealth fund could hold the key to any post-conflict reconstruction and future economic development with its $70 billion in assets including lucrative stakes in Western firms.

Libyan Investment Authority, set up in 2006 to manage the country's oil revenues, has assets of around $70 billion, equivalent to nearly 75 percent of the country's economy. It owns stakes in a clutch of European bluechips ranging from Italian bank UniCredit to British publisher Pearson.

LIA, which is roughly the same size as Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, publishes little information, but a rare annual report in 2009 shows how liquid the fund is. It had more than 78 percent in 'short-term financial instruments abroad' and had only $8 billion in long-term equity investments in North Africa, Asia and Europe.
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Obama's budget to call for slashing oil tax breaks, boosting clean energy

President Obama is expected to call on Congress Monday to eliminate billions of dollars in oil industry tax breaks, while setting aside money for his top clean-energy policy priorities. The budget will include $8bn for clean energy programs and R&D while cutting some $3.6bn per year in oil industry tax breaks.

Obama will send his fiscal year 2012 budget request to Congress on Monday. The budget comes as Republicans are calling for massive cuts in spending, unveiling a proposal this week to fund the government through the end of this fiscal year that would cut $100 billion in spending when compared to Obama’s 2011 budget request. Click here to read more

Shareholders press oil firms on tar sands issues

Shareholders plan to question French oil giant Total SA on their "tar sands" activites at the company's forthcoming annual shareholder meeting. Fellow oil firms BP and Shell have faced shareholder resolutions on the tar sands issue in the past. For its part, Total says environmental stewardship is a priority and cites its position as the top-ranked oil and gas company in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. It acknowledges that oil sands development is challenging in terms of CO2 emissions, water consumption, land footprint and tailings management. Read more at Responsible Investor.com

More than Green: Sustainable and Responsible Investing will Become the New Standard

Is your investment portfolio positioned for a future that may look vastly different from the past?

Some of the world’s largest investors are asking this very question.  They are rightly concerned that large trends such as climate change, surging population growth, and resource scarcity will negatively impact their returns over time...  Click here to read more 

Why Sustainable Investing is Critical to Your Retirement Plans

There once was a time when most American workers had a defined benefit pension plan. Today, it is more likely that you are responsible for your own retirement plan. Whether or not you are covered by a traditional “pension plan”, someone is charged with managing risk. Risk is more than market volatility. It is company specific, as well.  “Could carbon legislation be one of those risks?” investors ask. “How could a company’s reputation and brand be damaged from environmental or social missteps?” Many large pension managers are trying to mitigate risks by building sustainable and responsible portfolios.

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