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Obama rejects Lula's call for end to ethanol import tariff
18 March 2009US ethanol supporters have praised President Barack Obama for resisting pressure from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to eliminate the tariff on Brazilian ethanol imports.
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S&P, Trucost launch 'carbon efficient' stock index
12 March 2009Standard & Poor's has launched a 'carbon efficient' version of its benchmark US equity index, the S&P 500. The S&P US Carbon Efficient Index excludes the 100 most carbon-intensive components of the S&P 500, as calculated by environmental researchers Trucost, to come up with an index that has an average annual carbon footprint 48% lower than the S&P 500.
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Low-carbon economy worth £3 trillion – UK government
12 March 2009The global low-carbon and environmental sector was worth £3 trillion ($4.1 trillion) last year, according to research commissioned by the UK government.
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Element closes $486 million clean-tech growth equity fund
12 March 2009Element Partners this week closed a $486 million clean technology (clean-tech) growth equity fund, bucking a tough fund-raising market.
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US agriculture secretary backs increase in ethanol blending limit
11 March 2009US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack this week advocated increasing the ethanol content of the country's petroleum fuel from the current 10% maximum, adding to the momentum for an increase to avoid ethanol production outstripping demand.
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Investors urge better disclosure of water risk
05 March 2009Companies are largely unaware of water-related risks, or how climate change will likely exacerbate them, says a report from investor and environmentalist coalition Ceres, which urges businesses to report their 'water footprint'.
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SAM, Dow Jones, launch Asian sustainability indexes
05 March 2009Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) and Dow Jones have extended their sustainable investment index family to the Asia-Pacific region, with the launch of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) Asia Pacific and Asia Pacific 40 equity indexes.
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Thriving pellet sector faces competition as it seeks feedstock
04 March 2009The growing wood pellet industry will compete increasingly with pulp and paper firms for woodchips and pulp logs as its raw material, as supplies of its traditional sawdust and sawmill shavings prove inadequate, forecast a new report.
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Private equity industry steps up on responsible investing
01 March 2009Institutional investors have welcomed an initiative by leading private equity firms that will see them adopt investment guidelines modelled on the UN's Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The move coincides with the results of a pilot project to improve the environmental performance of leading private equity firm Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts (KKR) portfolio of companies.
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$250m PE fund targets undervalued assets
01 March 2009Unigestion is to launch an environmental private equity fund-of-funds that aims to take advantage of "the significant fall in the price of sustainability assets to levels not seen since 2004".