News

• Carbon Trust rethinking low-carbon VC fund

  01 December 2006

  The UK's Carbon Trust has gone back to the drawing board with its plans for a venture capital (VC) fund to invest in the low-carbon and clean energy technology sectors. The trust had hoped to raise up to £75 million ($147 million) into its Carbon Trust Investments Clean Energy Fund, which it planned to list on the London Stock Exch­ange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), but the listing was pulled in late October.

• International Power breezes into renewables

  01 December 2006

  Electricity generator International Power is to acquire wind farms with total generating capacity of 436MW from UK-based money manager Christofferson Robb & Company (CRC).

• The economics of risk

  01 December 2006

  The Stern review has energised the climate change debate – and attracted extensive criticism. Nicholas Stern defends its findings

• Commission to the rescue of EU ETS

  01 December 2006

  Doubts over the future of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) have eased, after the European Commission slashed proposed carbon dioxide (CO2) caps for its second phase.

• Expansion on the cards for EU ETS

  01 December 2006

  Areview of the future of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is to consider expanding the scheme to include additional sectors and greenhouse gases. It is also considering replacing the current system of country-by-country caps on emissions with a single, Europe-wide cap.

• France proposes carbon import tax

  01 December 2006

  The EU should impose an additional tax on goods imported from countries that fail to join a post-2012 climate agreement, according to French prime minister Dominique de Villepin.

• Schwarzenegger under fire on emissions trading plans

  01 November 2006

  California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order on 17 October proposing that any future greenhouse gas (GHG) 'cap-and-trade' scheme in the state be linked to other US regional schemes and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

• Evolution Markets raises $15 million

  01 November 2006

  Leading environmental markets broker Evolution Markets has raised $15 million that will, among other things, fund a push into investment banking and biofuels. The money – the first external financing the company has raised – came from Hartford, Connecticut private equity group CCP Equity Partners.

• $10 billion public–private partnership to reap Texas wind

  01 November 2006

  After overtaking California this year as the leading US state in terms of wind power capacity, Texas looks set to cement that lead by initiating a $10 billion ­public–private partnership to further wind development in the state.

• EPA particulate matter standards please no one

  01 November 2006

  The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new standards for particulate matter in late September, cutting the daily standards for the smallest particles by nearly half – from 65 micrograms per cubic metre of air to just 35 micrograms in the same volume.