California legislators will likely be on solid legal ground if they spend the auction revenues from the state’s cap-and-trade programme on energy efficiency projects, renewable energy or the establishment of a Green Bank, rather than on consumer rebates or general fund expenditures, according to a new legal analysis.

A Democratic US senator wants to allow clean energy projects to be financed using tax-advantaged master limited partnerships (MLPs), but has so far had no luck getting a Republican counterpart to sign on.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced a greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for the investments made in the 2012-14 phase of its sustainable energy initiative (SEI).

The US Department of Commerce imposed substantial anti-dumping penalties on Chinese solar manufacturers after finding that they have been dumping their products in the US at less than fair value.

Ensuring that 9 billion people can be fed by 2050 should be the number one priority for governments at next month’s Rio+20 sustainable development summit, according to an audience of business executives, policy-makers and NGOs polled in London yesterday.

Investments in renewable energy could be put on hold while European governments develop clear policies on shale gas, according to a biomass energy expert.

Günther Oettinger, the EU’s energy commissioner, yesterday said he would like to see a minimum carbon price of €12 ($15.21).

Solar experts say securitisation is set to become an important financing mechanism in their sector, but several hurdles must be overcome, including the perceptions of the rating agencies.

The renewable energy infrastructure fund launched by BlackRock last year is approaching a first close at $400 million, Environmental Finance understands.

A colossal fight is brewing between renewable energy technologies for limited tax equity financing, according to Jigar Shah, president of the Washington, DC-based Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy (CASE) and founder of SunEdison.

Environmental investment specialist Impax Asset Management plans to launch agriculture and food strategies or funds, as it seeks to exploit growing interest among investors in the ‘resource scarcity’ theme.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has raised the equivalent of $339 million from its second sale of clean energy bonds, the proceeds of which will be directed to renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Environmental Finance and Carbon Finance are seeking nominations for this year’s awards, including new categories for M&A deal of the year, and wind, solar and biomass financings.

Sustainable development talks at next month’s Rio+20 summit are set to be “very helpful” for the UN climate change negotiations, said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The US investment tax credit (ITC) for solar energy could be in danger of being repealed under a Mitt Romney administration, experts said.

Solar experts see no end in sight for the oversupply of solar power that has caused a pricing collapse in the New Jersey solar renewable energy credit (SREC) market, barring a much-discussed legislative fix that has yet to come to pass.

A protocol to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the community level has been released in an effort to establish a single standard for measuring emissions from cities

New tax incentives to boost the UK’s low level of personal savings and direct more of these savings into activities that yield social and environmental benefits are called for in a new report from the Green Alliance.

Germany’s solar industry is likely to benefit from a Bundesrat vote today to delay subsidy cuts, as long as negotiations are not drawn out, say industry experts.

Biomass used for energy generation in Europe will have to more than double from the 2009 level by 2020 if the EU is to meet its renewable energy target.