Will pension funds and institutional investors be able to persuade companies across the world to change their approach to greenhouse gas emissions?
That's the hope of the Environmental Investment Organisation, a London-based firm, which is pairing up with Standard & Poor's indices to create a comprehensive index of the world's largest companies, factoring in their carbon emissions.
Critical to economic growth-and the most pressing need in Pakistan today-is energy. Despite wide-ranging power sector reforms, Pakistan still has one of the lowest levels of per capita power consumption and energy efficiency in the world.
This brief argues that the policy environment on climate change remains very uncertain even with the US Copenhagen Accord. The author describes how the international policy landscape has changed following the 2009 summit on climate change in Copenhagen, and what the Accord means for companies.
Climate change, initially viewed as primarily an environmental concern, has become an extremely important and complex political, economic and
development issue. There is growing political impetus to agree to a new and more rigorous international legal framework for climate change
mitigation to replace, or at least extend, the current arrangements under the Kyoto Protocol.
This State of the Forest Carbon Markets report presents new trends in global forest carbon offset markets that have not, until now, been comprehensively documented. This report was created to increase transparency and answer fundamental questions about the supply of forestry-based carbon credits, such as transaction volumes, credit prices, hectares influenced and tenure rights.
Protecting the earth is not just everybody's business today but is also getting to be big business. Given that the world is still trying to crack how to green the planet at prices that don't burn a hole in the pocket, there is an immense opportunity for young Indian companies in this space.
Since the inception of the cap and trade model under the Kyoto Protocol, many environmentalists have argued it will do little to cut emissions, but will instead give companies permission to pollute while generating lucrative trading fees for the banks that trade the government-issued allowances which form the backbone of the scheme.
Jyoti Mhapsekar has ideas on low-cost ways to reduce the world's carbon burden. As president of the Parisar Vikas women's waste-pickers cooperative in Mumbai, India, and a climate activist, she has first-hand experience in an industry that is not only one of the cheapest ways to reduce emissions.
The clean development mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol is designed not only to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) but also to contribute locally to sustainable development. As a market-based mechanism, CDM has the potential to channel private investments into development activities with economic, social, and environmental benefits.
