Unofficial negotiations to avert a full-blown EU-China solar trade war have reportedly failed to make progress.

Plans for a 504MW wind farm off the UK coast have been given the go-ahead, in a move with the potential to attract £1 billion ($1.5 billion) of private investment.

The state of Massachusetts plans to issue $100 million of ‘green bonds’.

The head of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) has dismissed criticism that the body is making slow progress, adding that he expects it to make significant strides towards establishing a business model in coming months.

Policies to help build a secondary market for energy efficiency in the US would unlock billions of dollars in financing for energy efficiency upgrades, a group of institutional investors has said.

Buyers of offsets in California’s carbon market will soon be able to protect their credits from the risk of invalidation after the first insurance product was announced yesterday.

The Desertec Industry Initiative has admitted its goal to supply Europe with renewable energy from Africa might not be realised, but insisted local development of projects means the initiative is not dead.

The first energy efficiency warranty insurance product aimed at German businesses has been launched.

Businesses and investors have welcomed the updated Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework as a major step forward in the evolution of sustainability reporting.

More than half of companies that report on sustainability issues say it gives them a competitive advantage, a survey has revealed.

Electric car maker Tesla Motors has raised more than $1 billion, of which $600 million came from convertible bonds.

Goldman Sachs plans to inject ¥300 billion ($2.9 billion) into renewable energy projects in Japan in the next five years.

Asset manager Alliance Trust has, for the first time, disclosed the entire holdings of its sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) equity funds as part of a transparency drive.

China has called for the Green Climate Fund to be up and running by the end of 2014.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has signed an agreement which could see it invest $1.5 billion in clean energy projects developed by Abu Dhabi’s Masdar.

Buoyant equity markets and a growing awareness of environmental themes among institutional investors drove a 22% rise in assets under management (AUM) at Impax.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has the potential to be cost-competitive with renewables in the UK, a report has claimed, but the government needs to continue to improve its subsidies regime to help bring down the cost of finance.

Project developer EcoSecurities has reduced its headcount again, Environmental Finance has learned.

The failure of EU politicians to fix Europe’s emissions market has forced the Australian government to more than halve its carbon price forecast for 2015.

The EU and China are likely to reach a compromise rather than declare a full-blown solar trade war because of the damage it would do to demand in Europe, investors believe.