News

• Credit crunch hits clean energy financing

  01 May 2008

  New investment in clean energy fell sharply in the first quarter of 2008, according to figures from New Energy Finance, while mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity jumped dramatically – indicating that contracting financial liquidity is making its effect felt. However, the London-based analysis company is holding to its 2012 investment forecasts, maintaining that the "fundamentals remain strong".

• EU emissions data helps drive allowance prices

  01 May 2008

  Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from installations in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) rose 1% in 2007, catching most participants in the European emissions market by surprise, it emerged at the start of April. A decline in emissions had been widely expected, owing to a milder-than-usual winter last year, plentiful hydro reserves, cheaper gas prices in the summer (which would have encouraged more gas-burn in place of coal for power generation) and a slowing economy in the second half of the year.

• Investor to market Guyanese forest's ecosystem services

  01 May 2008

  Canopy Capital has signed a deal to market the ecosystem services provided by 371,000 hectares of rainforest in Guyana. The London-based private equity firm, established last year by UK charity the Global Canopy Programme (GCP), hopes the deal will lead to a proper value being placed on the 'utility' services provided by rainforests, such as sequestering and storing carbon, generating rainfall, storing water and providing biodiversity.

• IMO proposes ship emissions offset scheme, eyes CDM

  01 May 2008

  The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is to consider using an emissions trading scheme (ETS) to control the greenhouse gases produced from shipping, as well as an offset scheme which would tap into the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

• RAN slams Citi, BoA on coal financing

  01 May 2008

  Despite big-number climate change commitments, Citi and Bank of America are continuing to bankroll the coal sector, acc­ording to a report by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN).

• Babcock & Brown pitches 2.2GW of wind assets.

  01 May 2008

  Babcock & Brown Wind (BBW) Partners has put up for sale 2.2GW of European wind energy assets, and has appointed Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan to advise on the disposal of some or all of the portfolio.

• Electricity users, generators at odds over ETS

  01 May 2008

  The International Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers (IFIEC) is calling for an overhaul of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), moving away from auctions of allowances towards free allocations based on a system of 'benchmarking' – a proposal slammed by generators.

• solar index launched

  01 May 2008

  MAC Indexing has launched an index to track global solar energy stocks.

• People moves this month

  01 May 2008

  ANDREI MARCU, former president and chief executive of the Inter­national Emiss­ions Trading Assoc­iation (IETA), has been appointed CEO of Paris-based carbon trading exchange Bluenext. Marcu spent seven years heading IETA and announced last July he was to join the World Business Council for Sus­tainable Development as senior managing director of energy and climate. Prior to IETA, he worked at the UN Development Programme and Ontario Hydro. Bluenext is Europe's leading spot market for EU allowances and is jointly owned by NYSE Euronext and Caisse des Dépôts.

• ANZ to follow SAM

  01 May 2008

  Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has launched a wholesale, capital-protected investment trust focusing on climate change.