(December 18, 2007) For financial firms such as Barclays PLC; Allianz SE’s Dresdner Kleinwort and its carbon expert, Ingo Ramming; and Morgan Stanley, the decision to get their hands dirty with carbon-reduction projects is adding a new dimension to the emerging carbon-trading business. By getting directly involved, the firms are no longer simply acting as middlemen executing trades but are sometimes flexing their own financing muscle as well.
The moment of reckoning
For the first time since its completion, the Three Gorges Dam is showing the world one of its many functions — flood control.
Carbon Boondoggles
(April 26, 2007) To reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, Canada’s federal government plans to push Canadian corporations into buying carbon credits under the so-called “Clean Development Mechanism” (CDM), a system established under the Kyoto Protocol by which companies in rich countries buy “rights to pollute” from companies in poor countries. The poor-country companies, in exchange, promise to give up their own greenhouse-gas producing activities.
Theory and practice of cap and trade
(March 1, 2007) But if the investors don’t opt for the projects with the greatest abatement per dollar invested, which is the case if other objectives intrude, then the cap-and-trade system won’t bring about the beautifully efficient, minimum-cost reduction of emissions that economists and environmental lobbyists dream about. And Kyoto will cost more than current estimates allow.
Chinese Power Giant to Sell Carbon Dioxide to Spain under CDM Contract
(January 23, 2006) The Chinese electric utility Huaneng and the Spanish National Power Corporation Endesa have unveiled a pioneering initiative for purchasing emissions credits generated under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), according to the 21st Century Business Herald. The deal, announced January 19 in Beijing, is the first in China’s power sector to be put into implementation. This initiative will generate roughly 3 billion RMB (US $375 million) for Huaneng and benefit the utility’s fledgling wind power projects.
G-8 leaders reach compromise on African aid
(June 8, 2005) A series of communiques scheduled to be issued as the Group of Eight summit drew to a close will pledge to double assistance to reduce poverty and fight disease in Africa, the world’s poorest continent.
Chirac, other European leaders try to make nice with Bush
(November 4, 2004) For months, most European leaders had barely concealed their preference for Sen. John Kerry. Moments after Kerry’s call to Bush to concede the election, however, they rushed congratulatory letters and calls to Washington.
Clean Development Mechanism in China: Taking a proactive and sustainable approach
(September 1, 2004) A report from the World Bank detailing China’s efforts to utilize the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism.
Anti-Bush lobby missing chance on debt write-off
(June 11, 2004) If this is the long-awaited Europe-US reconciliation on Iraq, it does not add up to much.
Cambodia’s plan for decentralised power
(November 1, 2003) Cambodia’s Renewable Electric Action Paln provides a framework for supporting small-scale generation of electricity for local communities.
World Bank to call for more dams
(March 14, 2003) More dams must be built in developing countries to meet future demands for water and electricity, the World Bank will tell an international water conference starting on Sunday in Kyoto, Japan.
China sends smoke signals on Kyoto Protocol
(March 12, 2002) In addition to ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, China has also joined an alternative forum, the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, which groups the world’s six leading greenhouse-gas emitting nations.
Landslides could worsen with global warming: U.N.
(February 28, 2002) In poor nations, many people are forced to live on unstable hillsides. ‘Late arrivals are always settling in the most dangerous land,’ says Janos Bogardi, director of the U.N. University Institute for Environment and Human Security.
Letter: Citizens groups world-wide show support for Thailand’s decision to open Pak Mun dam gates
(May 6, 2001) Letter to Thailand’s newly-elected Prime Minister, supporting his decision to open the Pak Mun dam gates to try to restore seasonal fish migrations between the Mekong and the Mun rivers, signed by 96 organizations, including PI.
International NGO letter to Thailand’s Prime Minister, May 19, 2000
(May 19, 2000) We write to express our support for the members of the Assembly of the Poor who are currently occupying the crest of Pak Mun dam and the fish ladder. They are demanding that the Thai Government and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand open the dam gates to allow the fish to migrate up the Mun from the Mekong to breed as they did in former times. We wholeheartedly support the villager s efforts to recover their lost livelihood and restore the ecology of the Mun River.