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China issues environmental insurance, securities diktats
01 April 2008China's State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) has issued 'green insurance', 'green securities' and 'green trade' regulations, three of five expected 'green economic' schemes. The regulations are part of an ongoing policy shift from "top-down, administrative means" towards bottom-up, market-based solutions for China's environmental problems – but observers question the degree to which the agency will be able to enforce the new rules.
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New standards to boost NOx market
01 April 2008The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has lowered the eight-hour ground-level ozone standard to 0.075 parts per million (ppm) from 0.08 ppm, a move expected to have significant implications for new power sources and other emitters of ozone-creating nitrogen oxides (NOx).
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Auction roils SOx market
01 April 2008Prices for US sulphur dioxide (SO2) allowances under the acid rain control scheme slumped at the end of March, following the annual Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) auction – in which compliance buyers were conspicuously absent.
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Clean Edge sees $250bn clean energy market
01 April 2008Clean Edge predicts that the market for clean energy will grow to $254 billion/year within the next ten years, after hitting $77 billion in revenues in 2007.
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Catastrophe risk markets explode
01 April 2008Record volumes of catastrophe (cat) bonds were issued in 2007, as demand from investors continued to outstrip issuance, according to an annual review* of the market by Guy Carpenter. Secondary trading of cat bonds has also soared, as has a new market for cat derivatives, say participants.
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Innovest claims (partial) ESG win on Bear Stearns
01 April 2008Innovest Strategic Value Advisors raised concerns last July over exposures at Bear Stearns to "unanticipated environmental and social shocks (especially in the sub-prime sector)". The New York-based investment research house awarded the stricken bank a "sub investment-grade" rating – in marked contrast to 'buy' recommendations from some Wall Street analysts at the time, Innovest has said.
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Bellwether carbon stocks see mixed fortunes
01 April 2008Shares in Climate Exchange have soared in recent weeks, following its first reported profit since the company floated in 2003. Meanwhile, leading listed greenhouse gas emissions reduction project developer EcoSecurities has seen a recent rally in its share price peter out, after disappointing analysts with its 2007 numbers.
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SRI outpacing broader market – reports
01 April 2008Investors are pouring more money than ever into socially responsible, ethical and sustainable funds, according to three new reports.
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EU producers threaten action against US biodiesel subsidies
01 April 2008The European Biodiesel Board (EBB) was due to file a formal complaint against US biodiesel subsidies as Environmental Finance went to press in late March. The move is an attempt to stem the flow into Europe of cheap biodiesel imports from the US.
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Key US regulator predicts explosive growth in carbon trading
01 April 2008Carbon trading could become one of the largest commodity markets in the world in the coming years, a leading US market regulator has predicted.