On the eve of a meeting Wednesday (January 13, 2009) on the Cape Wind clean energy project with U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Clean Power Now Executive Director Barbara Hill issued the following statement:

“The long-delayed start to the Cape Wind project is now within sight.

After nine years of painstaking and transparent review and extensive public participation under the auspices of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Minerals Management Service, the verdict is clear: Federal environmental impact reviews have all concluded that the Cape Wind project will provide significant public interest benefits in terms of clean energy with what are only minor to negligible impacts.

We commend Secretary Salazar for avoiding further delays by convening this meeting in order to move Cape Wind to a final decision point. With the Salazar-imposed deadline of March 1st to conclude the ongoing Section 106 consultation under the National Historic Preservation Act, a favorable Record of Decision for Cape Wind should follow shortly after this week’s meeting.

I want to emphasize that the nature of the Section 106 consultation process is such that it is necessarily ’stacked’ and not representative of the significant public support that Cape Wind has to build the project on Horseshoe Shoals in Nantucket Sound.

As such, Secretary Salazar will not be hearing at the meeting from the many tens of thousands of Cape Wind supporters including: the 86 percent of Massachusetts residents who favor Cape Wind (see link to survey results below); MA Climate Action Network; Cape & Islands Self Reliance; Clean Water Action; Environmental League of Massachusetts; Civil Society Institute; TheCLEAN.org; American Lung Association – Massachusetts Chapter; Cape Clean Air; Boston Urban Asthma Coalition; Greenpeace; Conservation Law Foundation; Natural Resources Defense Council; Union of Concerned Scientists; Healthlink and many others. (See a link to a fuller list of supporters below.)

Moving ahead on Cape Wind will send a powerful and unmistakable message that the United States is no longer content to lag behind the rest of the world in using wind power to create new jobs, foster energy independence and reduce this nation’s carbon footprint.

Cape Wind will concretely advance the Obama Administration’s stated objectives in addressing the challenges of climate change while promoting energy security and economic development. Following this lengthy and rigorous review, approval of the Cape Wind project also will send a critical message to the clean energy sector and will help lay the strongest possible foundation for offshore wind energy development in the United States.”

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Cape Wind is poised to be the United States’ first offshore wind park. The project involves 130 wind turbine towers in Horseshoe Shoals, a shallow area in the federal waters of Nantucket Sound, and would produce enough clean power for 75 percent of the Cape & Islands energy needs.

Sietch coverage of this issue. (warning there is a lot here)

Polls: 86% of State Residents/74% of Cape & Islands Residents Support Cape Wind

List of Cape Wind Supporters

Understanding Cape Wind: Answers to the 7 Most-Asked Questions

Energy Independence: Slashing the Cape & Islands Dependence on Foreign Oil (pdf)

Fact v. Fiction: Debunking the Top 10 Myths About Cape Wind (pdf)

Editorials on Cape Wind Opponents

(Columnist Yvonne Abraham, Boston Globe, June 21, 2009).

(New England political analyst John Keller, WBZ TV/Boston, January 17, 2009)

(Wall Street Journal “Review & Outlook,” January 24, 2009)

Harpooning the Fat Cat Opponents: August 7, 2007 “Daily Show” Segment on Cape Wind (hilarious)

A new poll out also shows that a majority of Cape And Islands residents (57%) now support the wind farm.

In other news, wind turbines don’t lower your property values, one more thing NIMBY’s were wrong about. (more here pdf)

It would seem that this thing might actually get built after all these years!

In an investigation and legal case that dragged on for almost four years, one of the largest organic cattle producers in the United States, Promiseland Livestock, LLC, was suspended from organic commerce, along with its owner and key employees, for four years. The penalty was part of an order issued by administrative law judge Peter Davenport in Washington, DC on November 25.

Promiseland, a multimillion dollar operation with facilities in Missouri and Nebraska, including over 13,000 acres of crop land, and managing 22,000 head of beef and dairy cattle, had been accused of multiple improprieties in formal legal complaints, including not feeding organic grain to cattle, selling fraudulent organic feed and “laundering” conventional cattle as organic.

“We are pleased that justice has been served in the Promiseland matter,” said Mark A. Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst for the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute. Scrutiny from Cornucopia, one of the industry’s most aggressive independent watchdogs, was part of the genesis for the comprehensive USDA investigation and subsequent legal proceedings.

Promiseland became the focus of Cornucopia’s investigation into giant factory farms, milking thousands of cows, that were allegedly operating illegally. Promiseland sold thousands of dairy cows to giant factory dairy farms owned by Dean Foods (Horizon Organic), Natural Prairie Dairy in Texas and Aurora Dairy based in Colorado. Aurora and Natural Prairie supply private-label, store-brand milk for Wal-Mart, Costco, Target and major supermarket chains such as HEB, Safeway and Harris Teeter.

“It appears that it was the investigation into improprieties by Aurora that finally led to the hammer coming down on Promiseland” Kastel observed. Aurora operates five dairies in Texas and Colorado and was found by USDA investigators to have “willfully” violated 14 tenets of federal organic regulations in 2007. However, Bush administration officials let the $100 million corporate dairy continue in operation under a one-year probation.

“It’s sad that the civil servants at the USDA, who had recommended Aurora be decertified, were overruled” Kastel lamented. “They should have been banned from organic commerce the same way Promiseland, and its owner Tony Zeman, now have been”

Although Cornucopia has praise for the professionalism of law enforcement agents at the USDA, and the career staff at the National Organic Program (NOP), who carried out the Aurora and Promiseland investigations, the farm policy research group has harshly criticized past management at the USDA which allowed Promiseland, and Aurora, to operate illegally for years.

“From formal legal complaints that we filed, Bush Administration officials at the USDA were alerted, starting in January 2005, to the alleged improprieties by massive factory farms masquerading as organic” said Will Fantle, Research Director for The Cornucopia Institute.

Documents secured under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by The Cornucopia Institute indicate that the initial investigation was squashed for political reasons by Dr. Barbara Robinson, who until recently directed the USDA’s organic program.

“It is inexcusable that these improprieties took place for so long and that justice was delayed” said Gary Cox, an attorney who represents Cornucopia. “Ethical organic dairy farmers have been placed at a distinct competitive disadvantage and consumers were obviously taken advantage of”

An investigation by the Office of Inspector General at the USDA, focusing in part on the relationship between Robinson and prominent agribusiness lobbyist and lawyer Jay Friedman, was profiled in a July 3 Washington Post story. Friedman, in addition to representing Aurora and Dean Foods, also was the lawyer for Promiseland when they were targeted by the USDA for investigation.

New documents made public have prompted Cornucopia to prepare additional legal complaints asking the USDA to focus attention now on Quality Assurance International (QAI), the certifier for Promiseland when many of the alleged abuses took place.

“This is not the first time QAI has been suspected of incompetence or improperly accommodating corporate agribusiness” said Fantle. The Robinson, Friedman and QAI connection is part of an investigation by the USDA’s Inspector General. QAI also certifies portions of Aurora’s operation and Dean Foods’ corporate-owned industrial dairies.

“However grim it sounds, this investigation and the legal proceeding illustrate that if organic stakeholders are persistent, the system works” Kastel said.

Cornucopia and other organic policy groups have been delighted by what they have called a “decisive shift” that has taken place since Obama administration officials have taken over at the USDA and its organic program.

At a recent industry meeting in Washington, D.C., Miles McEvoy, USDA Deputy Administrator and the new director of the National Organic Program, stated emphatically that we were now entering the “age of enforcement” at the NOP.

“We started asking for new management at the organic program in 2004″ said Kastel. “We had suggested that they go outside of the Department to gain the needed expertise from someone who was universally respected by participants in the organic industry. We couldn’t have asked for a more qualified candidate than Mr. McEvoy”

In addition to investigating QAI, Cornucopia has formally asked USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to reopen the Aurora matter, alleging that the consent agreement allowing their probation included illegally favorable provisions. The farm policy group also asked that complaints involving Dean Foods and its Horizon label, which had languished under the Bush administration since early 2005, now also be actively investigated by the new administration.

“We think that organic consumers and the family farmers who have built this industry have good reason to be optimistic and confident that from this point forward, when they see the organic seal on a product, they know that the public servants in Washington share their steadfast desire to maintain the integrity of the organic label” Fantle stated.

The USDA’s decertification order can be viewed here (pdf)

It appears that QAI, the certifying agent, did not act in the Promiseland matter until they were compelled to do so by USDA investigators, even though court records indicate that QAI had reported they knew of “significant audit trail deficiencies” as early as 2005.

“If I’d been guilty of just one of these ’willful’ violations, my farm would’ve been shut down in a New York minute” said Bruce Drinkman, a farmer from Glenwood City, Wisconsin and board member of the Midwest Organic Dairy Producers Alliance.

“Rumors swirled for years about shady practices by Tony Zeman” said Bill Welsh, long-time Iowa organic livestock producer, Cornucopia board member and former member of the USDA’s National Organic Standards Board. “Many of the major players that bought meat and dairy replacement animals knew very well what the allegations were and chose, during a period of time when supply was extremely tight, to look the other way. I’m sure there’s some heavy soul-searching going on right now”

At the time the legal action was finally brought against Promiseland, in June 2008, Cornucopia and other industry observers were highly critical that the Bush USDA only asked for a suspension of Promiseland, and its owner Anthony J. Zeman, in lieu of requesting a permanent decertification of the operation. The USDA and the administrative law judge both found Zeman and Promiseland had “willfully” violated federal law.

In addition, the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 gave the USDA the right to fine operators like Zeman up to $10,000 per incident for willful violations of the law. They could have levied millions of dollars worth of fines but failed to do so.

“Enforcement actions of this nature should serve as a strong deterrent to other industry scofflaws” said Kastel. “We lament the failure of the past administration to aggressively carry out the will of Congress in this regard”

“Like Al Capone, they didn’t actually convict Zeman and Promiseland of actually cheating in organics” Kastel said.

Promiseland was found guilty of not allowing USDA investigators to audit and inspect their financial and organic operating records. “The “audit trail” is the backbone of organic certification” said Fantle. “Obviously, they had something to hide”

Al Capone was not convicted of murder or racketeering but rather of federal tax evasion. He also died of syphilis in prison…

A widely cited 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Livestock’s Long Shadow, estimates that 18 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions (which is more than cars) are attributable to cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, camels, pigs, and poultry. But recent analysis by Goodland and Anhang finds that livestock and their byproducts actually account for at least 32.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, or 51 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions.

Reviewing both direct and indirect sources of GHG emissions from livestock, the study finds that previous calculations have both underestimated and overlooked certain emissions sources as well as assigned emissions they deem to be livestock-related to the wrong sectors. The authors locate these discrepancies in previous analyses of livestock respiration, land use, and methane.

Based on their research, Goodland and Anhang conclude that replacing livestock products with soy-based and other alternatives would be the best strategy for reversing climate change. “This approach would have far more rapid effects on GHG emissions and their atmospheric concentrations—and thus on the rate the climate is warming—than actions to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy.”

Basically stop eating meat (and fish) if you really want to make a big change in stopping global warming. It is a simple and easy step you can take that will have far reaching consequences.

The problem is that where there is smoke there is fire, and where there is money there are scams. Green washing has run rampant in this country. People truly want to do good by the planet, and advertisers are taking advantage of that desire to sell them crap wrapped up in a “green” disguise.

One of the worst (in my opinion) has always been Trader Joe’s. Next time you walk into this upscale shop-a-torium take a look at what they offer. Almost every single thing in the store (even down to a lot of the produce) is in multiple layers of fancy packaging. They offer an array of things imported from all the corners of the earth. Almost everything in the store is processed, packaged, ready to eat, or from 1000’s of miles away from where you are.

And now it has come out that the fish they sell at the stores is on the so called “red list” (Red List Seafood Sales: Greenpeace surveys found Trader Joe’s sells 15 of the 22 red list seafoods: Alaskan pollock, Atlantic cod, Atlantic salmon, Atlantic sea scallops, Chilean sea bass, Greenland halibut, monkfish, ocean quahog, orange roughy, red snapper, redfish, South Atlantic albacore tuna, swordfish, tropical shrimp and yellowfin tuna.). Basically humans have been so efficient at harvesting fish from the ocean that we are on the brink of wiping out a large number of species of them. Trader Joe’s blissfully continues to sell these fish species, all while putting forth this aura of eco-goodness.

Greenpeace has gotten involved with their “Traitor Joe” campaign. See how Trader Joe’s ranks here. (pdf)

Ahoy!

Traitor Joe here. I’m up to my eyeballs in red list seafood. My stores have so many red list fish on ice, that I’d bet there aren’t any left in the oceans. Seafood gets red listed if it’s fished using methods that harm ocean habitats or other critters, or because there just aren’t that many of the fish around anymore. But have I helped save them? Heck no!

Greenpeace released the third edition of their supermarket scorecard and Trader Joe’s came in at the bottom of the list again (17out of 20). Ouch! In fact, this is the third time Trader Joe’s scored as the worst of the national supermarket chains surveyed about sustainable seafood. Just call me your one-stop-shop for ocean destruction.

If ocean destruction bothers you, and you want Trader Joe’s to get out of the business of trading red list seafood, then visit my website traitorjoe.com, and do something about it. Send a singing fish telegram to Trader Joe’s and tell them to stop destroying the oceans and passing the guilt onto their customers.

But, I hope you won’t, though, because that way I can keep confusing my customers, all while turning a profit.

From the bottom of the barrel,
Traitor Joe

It would seem to me that the basic premise of Trader Joe’s is a good one, we DO WANT stores to cater to green desires. We most certainly want them to sell us sustainable products, and do the best they can for the world. We should pour money into the coffers of places that can provide sustainable goods and services. However what we can not let stores do is PRETEND to be green, simply to take our green. If we discover for instance that a certain store is pretending to be all green and lovely, but is actually helping to depopulate our oceans, well it’s time to stop giving them our money.

This spring, as the temperatures begin to rise in Washington, DC, the debate over energy policy is heating up — with the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives’ energy committees both considering a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) this week. The RES, which enables renewable energy sources to provide a growing amount of the nation’s electricity, would, for the first time, provide a long-term commitment to renewable energy in the U.S.

A national RES is not only favored by 75% of Americans as shown in this recent poll (pdf) — it also promises to create hundreds of thousands of American jobs and foster a healthier and more secure environmental future. Take a look, and share with your friends, this video testimonial that shows the meaning of wind industry jobs to Americans who have been laid off in a down economy and are excited about new careers.

Unfortunately, as the RES provision moves through Congress, the strength of the standard is being watered down. At this critical moment in the reshaping of our nation’s energy policy, we need your help. Please take a stand now – e-mail your Senators and Representatives and ask them to support a strong RES policy.

To create a long-term commitment to renewable energy, the U.S. needs to adopt a national RES that calls for 25% of our electricity to come from renewable resources, such as wind and solar power, by the year 2025. This policy would foster a sound investment climate for renewable energy manufacturers to invest billions of dollars in new facilities and employ hundreds of thousands of Americans in high-quality jobs.

The Senate and House of Representatives are currently considering energy legislation that includes a national RES. Draft bills are currently calling for only half of the 25% by 2025 level – not strong enough to demonstrate a true national commitment to renewables. NOW is the time to let your Members of Congress know that you support a meaningful RES.

Please take a moment to contact your Senators and Representative and express your support for a national 25% renewable electricity by 2025 policy. Click here to contact your Senators and Representative to express your support for a national RES.

In a move that signals the start of the our clean energy future, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) ruled today EPA had no valid reason for refusing to limit from new coal-fired power plants the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming. The decision means that all new and proposed coal plants nationwide must go back and address their carbon dioxide emissions.

“Today’s decision opens the way for meaningful action to fight global warming and is a major step in bringing about a clean energy economy,” said Joanne Spalding, Sierra Club Senior Attorney who argued the case. “This is one more sign that we must begin repowering, refueling and rebuilding America.”

“The EAB rejected every Bush Administration excuse for failing to regulate the largest source of greenhouse gases in the United States. This decision gives the Obama Administration a clean slate to begin building our clean energy economy for the 21st century,” continued Spalding

The decision follows a 2007 Supreme Court ruling recognizing carbon dioxide, the principle source of global warming, is a pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act.

“Coal plants emit 30% of our nation’s global warming pollution. Building new coal plants without controlling their carbon emissions could wipe out all of the other efforts being undertaken by cities, states and communities across the country,” said Bruce Nilles, Director of the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign. “Everyone has a role to play and it’s time that the coal industry did its part and started living up to its clean coal rhetoric.”

The Sierra Club went before the Environmental Appeals Board in May of 2008 to request that the air permit for Deseret Power Electric Cooperative’s proposed waste coal-fired power plant be overturned because it failed to require any controls on carbon dioxide pollution. Deseret Power’s 110 MW Bonanza plant would have emitted 3.37 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.

“Instead of pouring good money after bad trying to fix old coal technology, investors should be looking to wind, solar and energy efficiency technologies that are going to power the economy, create jobs, and help the climate recover,” said Nilles.

To get background information and see how the case unfolded click here.

A copy of the decision can be found here (PDF)

This is HUGE. Basically it means that coal power plants MUST use the most up to date (and most expensive) methods to control CO2 available. Don’t expect one red cent to be invested in coal for the next ten years. Instead look for all that money to be directed towards wind, solar, and geothermal. This one is big people, this one is big.

In Red Sky at Morning, James Speth has this to say about negative perception of America overseas:

At the root of America’s negative role is what can only be described as a persistent American exceptionalism, at times tinged with arrogance. It appears in many guises, including not feeling it necessary to participate in international treaties.

I’ve started a list of things I wish my country would do.

The List:

At last count, 192 countries had ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This treaty has been ratified by virtually every country in the world and the United States is not among them. The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets out the rights that must be realized for children to develop their full potential, free from hunger and want, neglect and abuse. It reflects a new vision of the child. Children are neither the property of their parents nor are they helpless objects of charity. They are human beings and are the subject of their own rights. The Convention offers a vision of the child as an individual and as a member of a family and community, with rights and responsibilities appropriate to his or her age and stage of development. By recognizing children’s rights in this way, the Convention firmly sets the focus on the whole child.

182 countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The United States is the only industrialized country not among them. Here we join Iran, Sudan and Somalia.

The United States has not ratified the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (The Ottawa Treaty). Some of the other countries joining us in this position are Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Libya. 151 countries have ratified this treaty.

The United States has not ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and we are joined here again by Libya. 167 countries have signed this treaty. The CBD establishes three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources.

The Law of the Sea Treaty has been ratified by 143 nations, including the European Union – but not by the United States. Among its many provisions, the Convention limits coastal nations to a 12-mile territorial sea, establishes 200-mile exclusive economic zones, requires nations to work together to conserve high seas fisheries, and establishes a legal regime for the creation of property rights in minerals found beneath the deep ocean floor.

The International Criminal Court (ICC). 98 countries have ratified it but the United States is not among them. The ICC conducts trials of individuals accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity when there is no other recourse for
justice. The ICC identifies gender crimes and the crime
of apartheid as crimes against humanity. Article 7 of the Statute presents clear language that defines rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity as gender crimes.

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) has been ratified by 149 countries but not the United States. The ICESCR requires states to promote and protect a wide range of social, economic and cultural rights, including the right to health, to an adequate standard of living, to education, and to social protection. It is often referred to as the “International Bill of Rights.”

The Kyoto Protocol. 141 countries have signed it but the United States, which is the largest producer of CO2 emissions in the world, has not.

December 2007 – Australia has now decided to sign – the only other western industrialized nation that had not.   Now the U.S. stands alone.

The Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption. This has been signed thus far by 46 countries but the United States is not among them.

Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) of the World Health organization. The FCTC entered into force on 27 Feb 2005. 168 countries have signed the treaty, and 134 have become Parties. Algeria became a Party on 30 Jun 2006. The United States has signed but not ratified this treaty. Tobacco needs to be regulated internationally because globalization has facilitated the spread of the tobacco epidemic through a complex mix of factors that transcend national borders. This means that countries cannot regulate tobacco solely through domestic legislation. Currently, it is estimated that there are 1.3 billion smokers in the world. Of those, 84% live in developing and transitional economy countries. Currently, an estimated 4.9 million people die annually as a result of tobacco-related diseases. Tobacco, is currently responsible for the death of one in ten adults worldwide. When consumed as indicated by the manufacturers, tobacco kills one half of its regular users.

With even more reported under construction, the industry is on track to surpass the banner year of 2007, when 5,249 MW were installed, with a total of about 7,500 MW this year (7,500 MW would generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of about 2.2 million homes).

In welcome news for the economy, the industry is also aggressively expanding its manufacturing base in the U.S., creating jobs and fostering investment and growth even in a difficult financial climate. AWEA’s report tallies the opening of eight new wind turbine component manufacturing facilities this year; the expansion of nine facilities; and the announcement of an additional 19 facilities. As a result of recent manufacturing investment, AWEA estimates, the share of domestically made components in wind turbines has risen from about 30% in 2005 to 50% today. The new facilities will create an estimated 9,000 jobs.

“The convenient truth here is that wind power provides a stimulus for our economy, as well as a climate change and energy security solution,” said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher. “The market, in spite of all its turmoil, clearly points to wind power as one of the most attractive energy options available today. But if we are to keep this momentum going, the new President and Congress will need to put in place what the majority of the American people support but the country still lacks: a long-term renewable energy policy.”

Highlights of the report/project installations:

Texas, reaping the benefits of its excellent wind resource and a proactive transmission expansion policy, added 693 MW – the most wind power capacity of any state in the 3rd quarter. Texas moved into the 6 GW category, which propels it into the ranks of global leaders. Only Germany, India and Spain had more wind energy capacity installed at the end of last year.
West Virginia: The state with the fastest wind power capacity growth was West Virginia, which more than tripled its existing capacity with the addition of a 164-MW project; another 100-MW project is scheduled to come online in West Virginia by the end of the year. Utah added its first multi-turbine project, the 9-turbine Spanish Fork project. The Dakotas: Acciona Energy, a wind turbine manufacturer, brought its first U.S. turbines online at a 120-turbine project straddling the North Dakota/South Dakota border.

Highlights of the report/manufacturing investment:

In August, Vestas announced plans to further expand its American manufacturing presence with new wind turbine blade and nacelle assembly factories in Brighton, Colo. (the nacelle is the structure that sits at the top of a wind turbine tower. It can be as large as a school bus, and houses the generator). When fully operational in 2010, the blade factory is expected to employ 650 people and the nacelle factory is expected to employ an additional 700.

In September, TPI Composites opened a new production facility in Newton, Iowa, for wind turbine blades for the U.S. market. At full capacity, TPI Iowa plans to employ 500 associates, giving the Midwestern city an economic boost.

Based on projections for the remainder of the year, 2008 will mark the fourth year in a row that new wind capacity installations have set records, but that is not expected to continue next year. With some 8,000 MW already under construction for completion this year or next, the wind industry remains relatively strong. But because of the late extension of the wind production tax credit and the evolving financial crisis, new construction starts are expected to slow in 2009.

The steps that the new Administration and Congress take to promote renewable energy will therefore be critical. Long-term, stable policies are needed to take full advantage of the industry’s role in stimulating job creation and economic development, and to support growth of domestic turbine and component manufacturing, which will be one of the leading sources of new manufacturing jobs in the 21st century. These policies include a long-term extension of the wind production tax credit (the recent financial rescue package extended the credit for one year only), a federal renewable energy standard, strong climate change legislation, and investment in new transmission infrastructure.

The report is available here (pdf).

Giant Pile Of Wood To Be Used To Make Toilet Paper

Thats what is going on right now. Shocking new photos released today reveal the existence of a massive stockpile of old-growth logs that are destined to become disposable products like Kleenex tissue and Cottonelle toilet paper for tissue giant Kimberly-Clark Corporation (K-C). The logs originate from the Ogoki Forest, the single most ecologically valuable area left in Ontario’s southern Boreal Forest and the site of growing controversy.

The stockpile is evidence of Kimberly-Clark’s egregious mismanagement of the forests despite company claims that “much of [the] fiber from the Canadian Boreal forest comes to K-C in the form of wood pulp produced from sawdust and chips – or leftovers – of the lumber production process.” (1)

As these new photos and recent government correspondence reveal, Kimberly-Clark is currently purchasing huge quantities of pulp made primarily from whole, old-growth trees from intact areas of Canada’s Boreal Forest. According to the Ontario Ministry of Environment, the stockpile contained 85,000 cubic metres of wood as of the end of March 2008. That’s equivalent to over 7,000 logging trucks full of wood. Since the closure of an area sawmill in June 2008, this wood has been trucked to the Terrace Bay pulp mill where it is being turned directly into pulp for Kleenex and other disposable products. In total, the logs will have been trucked 6-7 hours from the forest to the mill.

What’s worse, even with this massive stockpile of timber already cut and waiting to be pulped, the Ogoki Forest continues to be logged, largely in order to supply Kimberly-Clark.

The Ogoki Forest is the northernmost area in Ontario subject to logging. Unlike other forests in the province that have been logged for the last 70-100 years, the first industrial logging in Ogoki did not occur until 1998. For this reason, it is the most intact of all the forest management units in Ontario. Because the neighboring Kenogami Forest was managed so poorly by Kimberly-Clark and then Buchanan Forest Products, and because regeneration there has been so unsuccessful, logging company Buchanan is pushing further and further north to supply its pulp mill at Terrace Bay.

The size, location, and near pristine state of the Ogoki Forest make it critical habitat for the threatened woodland caribou, while its carbon-dense trees and soils make it critical for mitigating climate change. The Kenogami Forest was turned from a vast expanse of healthy, near-pristine forest to a severely damaged landscape rife with environmental problems during 70 years of mismanagement by K-C.(2) The Ogoki Forest cannot be allowed to become the next Kenogami.

Unfortunately, as this new photographic evidence shows, Ogoki is already being subjected to the same gross mismanagement as the Kenogami. As incredible as it may seem, K-C is apparently willing to risk total devastation of yet another valuable eco-system in order to make its disposable paper products.

In light of the discovery of this staggering woodpile that was once pristine ancient Boreal Forest, Greenpeace is calling on Kimberly-Clark to ensure that no more fiber from the Ogoki Forest enters its product stream by immediately engaging with us and other stakeholders in a process to revise its ineffective and unsustainable fiber procurement policy.

1 Kimberly-Clark Fact Sheet on Sustainable Fiber Practices updated July 30,2008. http://www.kimberly-clark.com/pdfs/KC_Sustain_NAmerica.pdf (pdf)
2 Greenpeace. 2008. Cut & Run, Kimberly-Clark’s legacy of environmental devastation and social conflict in the Kenogami Forest. http://www.kleercut.net/en/node/936

Fast facts:

- As of the end of March 2008, the stockpile contained 85,000 cubic metres of wood, equivalent to over 7,000 full logging trucks
- According to the Ontario Ministry of Environment, the stockpile has now diminished to 12,000 cubic metres, as large amounts of pulp have been shipped to Terrace Bay for pulping since the shutdown of the Nakina sawmill in June
- The distance between where the stockpiled wood was logged and where it will be pulped is an approximately 6-7 hour drive
- Kimberly-Clark purchases 55 per cent of the 420,000 metric tonnes (462,970 tons) of pulp produced at the Terrace Bay pulp mill each year, an amount equal to the weight of over 1150 jumbo jets
- Kimberly-Clark uses the pulp produced at Terrace Bay to make Kleenex, Cottonelle, Scott and Viva brand products that are sold across North America and Europe.

Get your own – Open publication

The Book Of Rubbish Ideas is a step by step guide to reducing the amount of waste you produce. Also issuu is a pretty interesting service by which you can embed documents into your website…I thought I would test them both out at the same time. If you are interested in reducing your waste (always a good idea), or some fun DIY projects (something I am a fan of), or publishing your own stuff online, check it out.

Food waste in America, click for larger image

No really, 50% of the food that is grown, gets wasted before it ever gets to anyone’s mouth (or an ethanol factory, or a cows mouth). It’s no wonder there have been food riots, rising prices, and record shortages. To meet the challenge of feeding growing populations and the global hungry, massive reductions in the amount of food wasted after production are needed. The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) will today, release a policy brief “Saving Water: From Field to Fork – Curbing Losses and Wastage in the Food Chain,” that calls on governments to reduce by half, by 2025, the amount of food that is wasted after it is grown and outlines attainable steps for this be achieved.

Tremendous quantities of food are discarded in processing, transport, supermarkets and people’s kitchens. This wasted food is also wasted water. In the US, for instance, as much as 30 percent of food, worth some USD 48.3 billion (!!!), is thrown away. That’s like leaving the tap running and pouring 40 trillion liters of water into the garbage can – enough water to meet the household needs of 500 million people. Besides being horrifically inefficient, through international trade, savings in the US might benefit communities in other parts of the world.

More than enough food is produced to feed a healthy global population. Distribution and access to food is a problem – many are hungry, while at the same time many are stuffing themselves, becoming fat and unhealthy in the process. The Report highlights an often overlooked problem: we are providing food to take care of not only our necessary consumption but also our wasteful habits.

“As much as half of the water used to grow food globally may be lost or wasted,” says Dr. David Molden, Director of Research at IWMI. “Curbing these losses and improving water productivity provides win-win opportunities for farmers, business, ecosystems, and the global hungry. An effective water-saving strategy requires that minimising food wastage is firmly placed on the political agenda.”
Food production is constrained by the availability of water and land resources. An estimated 1.2 billion people already live in areas where there is not enough water to meet demand. And with rising demand for water-intensive agricultural products, such as beef and bioenergy, pressure mounts. According to the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture 2007, these trends will lead to crises in many places, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. “Unless we change our practices, water will be a key constraint to food production in the future,” said Dr. Pasquale Steduto of FAO.

Water losses accumulate as food is wasted before and after it reaches the consumer. In poorer countries, a majority of uneaten food is lost before it has a chance to be consumed. Depending on the crop, an estimated 15-35 percent of food may be lost in the field. Another 10-15 percent is discarded during processing, transport and storage. In richer countries, production is more efficient but waste is greater: people toss the food they buy and all the resources used to grow, ship and produce the food along with it. The Report stresses that the magnitude of current food losses presents both challenges and opportunities. “Improving water productivity and reducing the quantity of food that is wasted can enable us to provide a better diet for the poor and enough food for growing populations,” says Prof. Jan Lundqvist of SIWI. “Reaching the target we propose, a 50 percent reduction of losses and wastage in the production and consumption chain is a necessary and achievable goal.” The report is available here (pdf).

Here are some stats to get you thinking:

• 777 million people in developing countries do not have access to sufficient and adequate food. Source: UNESCO
• 27 million people in countries in transition suffer from under nourishment, and 11 million in industrialized countries. Source: UNESCO
• Pasture and crops take up 37% of the Earth’s land area. Source: UNESCO
• To produce a kilogram of meat takes anywhere between 5,000 to 20,000 litres of water per kilogram, depending on the type of animal and the way they are raised (for example livestock grazing on rain-fed pasture consumes less water than industrial feedlots supported by irrigation). Source: Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI)
• Under current practices, certain liquid bio-fuels may contribute as much to the greenhouse effect as fossil fuels as they require large amounts of fossil resources to make fertilisers, run agricultural machinery, and refining. Source: SIWI
• Reducing food wastage by 50 % – including post-harvest losses, losses in transport and handling, and losses in the household – might vastly reduce or even negate the need for additional water to grow more food, which will ensure sufficient water is available for food in the future. Source: SIWI
• With current levels of water productivity, the additional consumptive use of water linked to food security by 2025 and 2050 is estimated at 3800 and 5600 km3/year, respectively. Source: SIWI
• Based on today’s water productivity and a projected diet of 3000 kcal/day, an additional 5600 km3/year of water needs to be appropriated by 2050 to eradicate undernutrition and feed an additional 3 billion world inhabitants. This is almost three times as much as the present global consumptive water use in irrigation. Source: SIWI
• Currently, farmers often pay devastatingly high rates of interest for credit. In some African countries it is in excess of 40%. Source: SIWI
• Trade in food is literally also trade in water. Since food production uses large volumes of water, a certain volume of consumptive water is used when producing each food item. The total amount of water resources used to produce a crop is referred to as “virtual water.” Source: SIWI
• In OECD countries, farmers receive more than one-third of their income from government subsidies, in total over USD 300 billion every year. The value of total agricultural support in OECD countries is more than five times higher than total spending on overseas development assistance and twice the value of agricultural exports from developing countries. Source: SIWI
• Producing 1 kg of meat requires as much water as an average domestic household does over 10 months (50l/person/day).

Exploitation of North America’s shale and tar-sand oil reserves could increase atmospheric CO2 levels by up to 15%, a new report from WWF-UK and the major UK financial group Co-Operative Financial Services (CFS) has warned.

Extraction of the projected 1,115 billion barrels of recoverable oil from unconventional fuel sources such as Alberta’s oil sands and Colorado’s oil shale, which involve much more energy intensive procedures for extraction than traditional oil reserves, would significantly increase global risks of dangerous climate change, the report said.

Unconventional Oil: Scraping the bottom of the barrel (pdf) reported that companies including Shell, ExxonMobil and BP have announced over $CAN 125 billion worth of development in Canada’s oil sands by 2015. Increasing oil prices are also increasing interest in unconventional oil sources has been given added impetus by rising oil prices.

“The extraordinary lengths some oil and gas companies go to in attempting to make the climate-hostile fuels somewhat less so should be re-directed to bringing forward low-carbon energy,” said Ian Jones, head of Responsible Investment at Co-Operative Investments, part of the CFS group. In other words, why bother spending billions of dollars on tar-sands when you could be putting up hundreds of thousands of wind turbines with that money?

“Most oil companies have hardly begun to factor in the externalities that are currently imposed on the environment.” Duh…they don’t give a shit about anything but making money. They don’t like wind energy because the fuel always stays the same price, free. They will make about the same amount of money every year from a wind farm. The price of oil on the other hand goes up and up and up and and up and up….

These externalities include mass deforestation, such as Alberta’s Boreal forests, which lie above 140,000 square kilometres of oil sands, and are now crisscrossed with seismic lines and open-cast mines.

This region, identified as a “life support system for the planet,” is home to 11% of global terrestrial carbon sinks, themselves necessary for mitigating the climate change.

Production of oil sands is also extremely water intensive, requiring three barrels of water to produce each barrel of oil. This is threatening the ecosystem of the Athabasca river by reducing flows to dangerous levels.

Canada’s indigenous communities are also concerned with water quality in former wetlands now featuring tailings ponds up to 50 square kilometres in size which can be seen from outer space. Only 5-10% of waste water is judged sufficiently non-toxic to be returned to waterways

Risks to investors

Scraping the bottom of the barrel outlines potential risks to investors from the high capital costs of sand and shale to oil projects, looming regulatory restrictions, the likelihood of litigation, environmental liabilities from tailing ponds and restoration requirements and reliance on unproven technologies such as carbon capture and storage. Investors could end up with stranded assets,

The authors of the report themselves call for tighter regulations such as the Emissions Standards in place in California that, by prohibiting sales of fuels with high life cycle emissions, would effectively outlaw fuel extracted from tar sands and oil shale.

“Companies and investors claim to recognize the need to tackle climate change and support international efforts such as Kyoto. In oil sands we have an activity that is going against this imperative…it is time for investors to challenge this strategy” said James Leaton, WWF-UK’s senior oil and gas adviser.

“Shareholders should challenge those oil companies that fail to steward investment responsibly.” added Jones. The American public should also recognize that you don’t kick the oil habit by getting your drugs from a different source. Even if we could dig up enough tar-sands (assuming our eco-system holds out that long) to fuel our growing oil needs, we would still eventually run out. Even if it took 100 years, we would eventually run out, and have to find some other way to power our cars. The time is now to move over to an electricity based renewable energy driven energy system. Wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal should be the power sources of the future. Our earth can’t keep dealing with high carbon emissions, we must act now in order to avert economic, and ecological disaster.

Climate change worries, growing support from world governments, rising oil prices and ongoing energy security concerns have combined to fuel another record-setting year of investment in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries in 2007, according to an analysis issued Tuesday July 1 by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

“The clean energy industry is maturing and its backers remain bullish. These findings should empower governments – both North and South – to reach a deep and meaningful new agreement by the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen in late 2009,” Achim Steiner, the head of UNEP, says.

Says Mohamed El-Ashry, Chair of the Renewable Energy Global Policy Network REN21: “One reason for the steady growth of renewables is simple economics: while the cost of fossil fuel energy is rising, the costs of renewable energy technology are falling. And with renewables there are no fuel costs – and no carbon emissions.”

“What is unfolding is nothing less than a fundamental transformation of the world’s energy infrastructure.” Mr Steiner UN Under-Secretary General.

Over $148 billion in new funding entered the sustainable energy sector globally last year, up 60% from 2006, even as a credit crunch began to roil financial markets, according to the report, “Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008,” (download here 2.8m pdf)prepared by UK-based New Energy Finance for UNEP’s Paris-based Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative.

Wind energy again attracted the most investment ($50.2 billion in 2007), but solar power grew most rapidly: attracting some $28.6 billion of new capital and growing at an average annual rate of 254% since 2004, driven by the advent of larger project financings.

The picture since the end of 2007 has been somewhat subdued across the sector, with only mergers and acquisitions up as several substantial wind developers sold their portfolios – many realizing that with the tightening up of the credit markets they could not finance the growth themselves – and the US ethanol industry undergoing restructuring…a nice way of saying people are realizing ethanol is a crappy way to subsidize big agra-business and little else. But in the second quarter of 2008 most areas of investment rebounded, even as global financial markets remained in turmoil. Sustainable energy venture capital and private equity in Q2 2008 was up 34% on Q2 2007, new build asset finance was up 8% and public market investment showing a strong recovery with the IPO of Portuguese utility EDP’s renewable energy business, EDP Renovaveis.

“Just as thousands were drawn to California and the Klondike in the late 1800s, the green energy gold rush is attracting legions of modern day prospectors in all parts of the globe,” says Mr Steiner, who is also a UN Under-Secretary General. “A century later, the key difference is that a higher proportion of those looking for riches today may find them. With world temperatures and fossil fuel prices climbing higher, it is increasingly obvious to the public and investors alike that the transition to a low-carbon society is both a global imperative and an inevitability. This is attracting an enormous inflow of capital, talent and technology. But it is only inevitable if creative market mechanisms and public policy continue to evolve to liberate rather than frustrate this clean energy dawn.

Most of the new money flowed into Europe (who are far ahead in promoting renewable energy), followed by the USA. However, China, India and Brazil draw growing investor interest, their share of new investment growing from 12% in 2004 to 22% in 2007, an increase in absolute terms of 14 times, from $1.8 billion to $26 billion. It is good to see the so called “developing world” investing heavily in renewable energy. In fact is probably the only way they could ever hope to meet their growing energy needs without destroying the global environment and themselves in the process.

Total 2007 sustainable energy transaction volume was $204.9 billion, of which $98.2 billion went into new renewable energy generation (especially wind in the US, China and Spain), $50.1 billion went into technology development and manufacturing scale-up, and $56.6 billion changed hands through mergers and acquisitions.

With 31 gigawatts of new installed generation, sustainable energy accounted for 23% of new power capacity added globally in 2007, about 10 times that of nuclear. Sustainable energy companies accounted for 19% of all new capital raised by the energy sector on the global stock markets in 2007.

“Investment in the sustainable energy sectors must continue to grow strongly if targets for greenhouse gas reductions and renewables and efficiency increases are to be met,” says the report.
“Investment between now and 2030 is expected to reach $450 billion a year by 2012, rising to more than $600 billion a year from 2020. The sector’s overall performance during 2007 and into 2008 sets it on track to achieve these levels.” Says Michael Liebreich, CEO of New Energy Finance Ltd, a co-author of the report: “2007 was a banner year for the clean energy industry. Wind continued its strong progress, with installed capacity passing the 100 GW mark. Solar is maturing rapidly, with heavy investment to ease the silicon bottleneck and new thin-film technology beginning to reach scale. And there are plenty of other technologies lining up to be the next ones to begin a real march to scale – including biomass and geothermal. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is the only sector where we did not see as much progress as we had expected, with the regulatory and funding environments for these projects remaining murky and timelines for the first commercial projects being extended.”
According to Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: “The positive trend in the renewable energy market is at least in part a business response to a policy expectation. If that expectation is not met, the conventional bottom-line will be the main driver for investment decisions. To put it another way, business people think that politicians are going to do a certain thing (promote clean energy) and if they don’t all this positive growth could sputter, and ohh by the way the earth might be destroyed. No biggy.

“According to the IEA, a massive amount of US $20 trillion is projected to be invested to meet the world’s energy demand in 2030. If these investments are not made in a climate-friendly way, emissions of green house gases might go up by 50% in 2050, while science tells us they need to be cut by 50% in 2050. I hear businesses crying out for clear policy signals to make the right investment decisions today. Setting a long term target for 2050 is useful, but I think it would give investors much more clarity if rich countries would indicate where they want to be in 2020 or 2030.” This is a very nice way of saying that America is fucking it up for global business. If we would simply announce that we are moving to a carbon neutral (or even negative) economy, the world would get right in line behind us. Even though we have a “pro-business” president, he seems to pro-carbon business. We can only hope for the sake of our economy, and our planet that the next person in office is a bit more far sighted.

The report offers a host of insights into sustainable energy investment worldwide:

Wind
Wind attracted more investment globally last year than any other non-fossil fuel based technology, including large hydro and nuclear power. In Europe and the US wind capacity additions in 2007 on their own accounted for 40% and 30%, respectively, of new power capacity.
Iberenova, the wind power development arm of Spanish power giant Iberdrola, raised $7.2 billion in a landmark flotation in December 2007, the largest Spanish IPO ever and the fourth largest public deal of the year.
Global installed wind capacity surpassed 100GW in March 2008.

Ethanol
With US feedstock costs up and ethanol prices down, venture capital and private equity investment in biofuels fell by almost one-third in 2007, to $2.1 billion. However, biofuels investment has not dried up altogether, shifting to Brazil, India and China.

Solar
Solar surged ahead in 2007, increasing its share of almost every investment category. Solar attracted by far the most venture capital and private equity investment ($3.7 billion), although biomass and waste to energy saw the fastest (432%) growth.
During 2007 Chinese solar companies raised $2.5 billion on the US and Europe equity capital markets.

Energy efficiency
Investment in energy efficiency technology reached a record $1.8 billion, an increase of 78% from 2006.
North America attracted most energy efficiency investment during 2007, followed by Europe, despite the fact that its energy legislation lags behind Europe.
Buildings offer by far the greatest energy saving potential (and represent the source of 40% of CO2 emissions). Industry and the transport efficiency follow, with the power sector (perhaps surprisingly) as the sector with the least scope for savings.
According to the International Energy Agency, each $1 invested in energy efficiency an average avoids more than $2 needed to create new supply.
Europe still leads
The EU remained the leading region for investment, particularly later-stage financing. Supportive policies, as well as an investor base that is comfortable with financing renewable energy projects and more intense competition for deals, drove European asset finance to a record level of $49.5 billion in 2007. This was 62% of asset finance worldwide.

Strong growth in USA
In the USA acceptance of sustainable energy became more widespread, extending beyond its traditional heartland of California, with Texas leading the wind energy charge. A new administration in 2009 is expected to make renewable energy and energy efficiency a political priority while recent uncertainty in the US (particularly over the possible introduction of a CO2 regulations) has put a significant number of coal-fired generation plants on hold.
The US financial sector is also gearing up for a major shift in political attitude. Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley have jointly launched a set of “Carbon Principles”, which will guide how they lend to and advise major power companies in the US.
The banks developed the principles to evaluate risks in financing carbon-emitting projects, given the growing uncertainty around regional and national climate change policy. They will also consider power companies’ inclusion of energy efficiency and renewable resources in their portfolios as part of an “enhanced diligence process”.

China
During 2007, investment in non-hydro renewables capacity in China increased by more than four times, to $10.8 billion, and new wind capacity doubled to 6 gigawatts.
The report says the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games “sharpened the country’s political resolve and strengthened programmes to promote cleaner generation and cut energy intensity..”
Besides a surge of Chinese solar companies listing on US and European stock markets, public market activity is also growing at home. Notably, the Chinese wind manufacturer Goldwind raised $243 million last year in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s first IPO related solely to renewable energy.

Brazil
Brazil is the world’s largest renewable energy market, thanks to its long established hydropower and bioethanol industries.
Sustainable energy investment in Brazil continued to be dominated by ethanol in 2007, as investor interest shifted there from the beleaguered US ethanol market. Infinity Bio-Energy (listed on London AIM) and the US agribusiness giant Cargill both made important investments in the sector.
Beyond ethanol production, investment in sugar cane cogeneration, biodiesel production and wind generation are also picking up.

India
Asset financing in India grew significantly, to $2.5 billion, mostly for 1.7GW of new wind projects. These installations place India fourth in the world, both in terms of new capacity added in 2007 and total installed capacity.
Funds raised on Indian stock exchanges reached $628 million in 2007, although companies increasingly looked to foreign markets for new capital, raising $1.4 billion overseas in 2007. Public market activity was marked by a series of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs) from established Indian renewable energy companies such as Suzlon ($500 million raised) and Moser Baer ($150 million).
The year 2007 also saw several aggressive cross-border deals involving Indian or Chinese acquirors, including Suzlon’s $1.6 billion acquisition of Repower and China National Building Material Group’s purchase of German turbine blade manufacturer NOI Rotortechnik.

Africa
Africa continues to lag other regions in terms of sustainable energy investment. Asset finance, however, was up in 2007 to $1.3 billion (five times as much as in 2006), reversing a gradual decline since 2004 and bearing witness to increasing installed renewable capacity. Investment was mainly in biofuels and geothermal. Promising large-scale solar developments were also initiated in North Africa and some signs of change in South Africa, where targets for renewable energy have been set and the country’s first wind farm commissioned.
Sub-Saharan Africa, “arguably the region that has the most to gain from renewable energy,” remains largely unexploited, according to the report.

Carbon finance shifting to the private sector
$13 billion had been invested in carbon funds by the end of 2007, an important source of investment for “Clean Development Mechanism” projects in developing countries. Most new investment was into private funds as carbon trading becomes more established.
The first quarter of 2008 saw the emergence of private interest in the post-Kyoto market, with investors beginning procuring post-2012 CDM credits eligible for trading in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Market broadens, diversifies into emerging technologies
Investments not only grew in 2007, but broadened and diversified. Mainstream capital markets are now fully receptive to sustainable energy companies, according to the report.
2007 also saw greater activity in so-called “next generation technologies,” such as cellulosic ethanol, thin-film solar technologies and energy efficiency.
Early venture capital investment surged 112% to $2 billion in 2007, boosted by interest in emerging renewable technologies, rather than just those on the brink of commercialisation.
“The willingness to look beyond mature technologies suggests that investors are taking renewable energy and energy efficiency increasingly seriously,” the report says.

Public investment
General public investments, through stock and other markets, more than doubled in 2007 to $23.4 billion, up from $10.5 billion in 2006.
The Wilderhill New Energy Global Innovation Index (NEX) rose 57.9% in 2007. It then fell 17.9% in first quarter of 2008 but recovered half this loss in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, assets under management in clean energy funds rose to $35 billion in 2007.
A record 17 new clean energy public equity fund launches occurred in 2007, up from just five in 2006. Several of these were ‘climate change’ funds launched by mainstream investment firms including HSBC, F&C, Schroders, Deutsche Asset Management and Virgin Money.
The arrival of such heavyweights in the market is “likely to encourage the larger publicly listed companies they normally invest in to expand into sustainable energy and other low carbon sectors,” says the report.

Research & Development
Research & Development spending on clean energy and energy efficiency was $16.9 billion in 2007, including corporate R&D of $9.8 billion, and government R&D of $7.1 billion.
Europe and the Middle East saw the most corporate R&D activity, followed by the Americas and then Asia. Patterns of government R&D are the reverse, with Asian governments (notably Japan, China and India) investing relatively heavily in R&D.

Corporate Mergers & Acquisition
Corporate Mergers & Acquisition activity increased 52% to $25.7 billion in 2007.

A unique worldwide tree planting initiative, aimed at empowering citizens to corporations and people up to presidents to embrace the climate change challenge, has now set its sights on planting seven billion trees (read report here PDF).

It follows the news, also announced today, that the Billion Tree Campaign has in just 18 months catalyzed the planting of two billion trees, double its original target.

The campaign, spearheaded by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), was unveiled in 2006 as one response to the threat but also the opportunities of global warming, as well as to the wider sustainability challenges from water supplies to biodiversity loss.

To date the initiative, which is under the patronage of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Kenyan Green Belt Movement founder Professor Wangari Maathai and His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco, has broken every target set and has catalyzed tree planting in close to 155 countries.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said today: “When the Billion Tree Campaign was launched at the Climate Convention meeting in Nairobi in 2006, no one could have imagined it could have flowered so fast and so far. But it has given expression to the frustrations but also the hopes of millions of people around the world”.

“Having exceeded every target that has been set for the campaign, we are now calling on individuals, communities, business and industry, civil society organizations and governments to evolve this initiative onto a new and even higher level by the crucial climate change conference in Copenhagen in late 2009,” he said.

“In 2006 we wondered if a billion tree target was too ambitious; it was not. The goal of two billion trees has also proven to be an underestimate. The goal of planting seven billion trees, equivalent to just over a tree per person alive on the planet, must therefore also be do-able given the campaign’s extraordinary track record and the self-evident worldwide support,” he added.

The Billion Tree Campaign has become a practical expression of private and public concern over global warming.

Heads of State including the presidents of Indonesia, the Maldives, Mexico, Turkey and Turkmenistan as well as businesses; cities; faith, youth and community groups have enthusiastically taken part. Individuals have accounted for over half of all participants.

• In a single day in Uttar Pradesh, India, 10.5 million trees were planted.
• 35 million young people in Turkey have been mobilized to plant trees.
• 500,000 schoolchildren in sub-Saharan Africa and the United Kingdom have become engaged.

It has also attracted the support of multilateral organizations including the Convention on Biological Diversity whose new Green Wave initiative was launched in advance of its important conference being held in Bonn, Germany later this month, and which supports the Billion, now Seven Billion, Tree Campaign.

Tree planting remains one of the most cost-effective ways to address climate change. Trees and forests play a vital role in regulating the climate since they absorb carbon dioxide, containing an estimated 50% more carbon than the atmosphere. Deforestation, in turn, accounts for over 20% of the carbon dioxide humans generate, rivaling the emissions from other sources.

Trees also play a crucial role in providing a range of products and services to rural and urban populations, including food, timber, fiber, medicines and energy as well as soil fertility, water and biodiversity conservation.

“The Billion Tree Campaign has not only helped to mobilize millions of people to respond to the challenges of climate change, it has also opened the door, especially for the rural poor, to benefit from the valuable products and services the trees provide,” said Dennis Garrity, Director General of the Nairobi-based World Agroforestry Centre. “Smallholder farmers could also benefit from the rapidly growing global carbon market by planting and nurturing trees,” he said.

The two billionth tree was put into the ground as part of an agroforestry project carried out by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP). It now planted 60 million trees in 35 countries to improve food security. This news comes as the United Nations calls for resolute action to end the global food crisis which affects an estimated 73 million people in 80 countries around the world.

In announcing the agency’s contribution to the Billion Tree Campaign, WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said: “WFP is concerned about rising costs of food and fuel which inevitably hit the ‘bottom billion’ hardest. More people will require WFP assistance at a time when WFP’s current programmes are reaching fewer due to the critical funding gap created by rising costs.”

In terms of geographic distribution, Africa is the leading region with over half of all tree plantings. Regional and national governments organized the most massive plantings, with Ethiopia leading the count at 700 million, followed by Turkey (400 million), Mexico (250 million), and Kenya (100 million).

The campaign has also generated significant appeal in post-conflict and post-disaster environments. In acting upon the words of the campaign’s patron Wangari Maathai “when we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope,” communities in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq, Liberia and Somalia contributed to the global effort with over 2 million trees.

Furthermore, mangrove plantings were organized by Planète Urgence in Banda Aceh and other Indonesian provinces recovering from the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, while Replant New Orleans initiative in the United States sponsored a planting of fruit-bearing trees to breathe new life into a community struggling in the aftermath of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina.

The private sector pitched in as well, accounting for almost 6% of all trees planted. Multinational corporations including Bayer, Toyota, Yves Rocher, Accor Group of Hotels and Tesco Lotus supported the campaign, as did hundreds of medium and small-sized enterprises the world over.

The Billion Tree Campaign has further highlighted the cultural and spiritual dimension of trees with groups as diverse as the International Olympic Committee, the World Scouting Movement, SOS Sahel Initiative or yet “Geiko and Maiko for Forests”, Japanese geishas from the hometown of the Kyoto Protocol, actively participating in the initiative.

“The Billion Tree Campaign is UNEP’s call to the nearly 7 billion people sharing our planet today to take simple, positive steps to protect our climate. It is a defining issue of our era that can only be tackled through individual and collective action. I am convinced that the new target will be met ? one tree at a time,” concluded Executive Director Steiner.

The new report, called Arctic Climate Impact Science – An Update Since ACIA, represents the most wide-ranging reviews of arctic climate impact science since the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) was published in 2005.

The new study found that change was occurring in all arctic systems, impacting on the atmosphere and oceans, sea ice and ice sheets, snow and permafrost, as well as species and populations, food webs, ecosystems and human societies. In essence fucking up everything.

Melting of arctic sea ice and the Greenland Ice Sheet was found to be severely accelerated, now even prompting the expert scientists to discuss whether both may be close to their “tipping point” (the point where, because of climate change, natural systems may experience sudden, rapid and possibly irreversible change).

“The magnitude of the physical and ecological changes in the Arctic creates an unprecedented challenge for governments, the corporate sector, community leaders and conservationists to create the conditions under which arctic natural systems have the best chance to adapt,” said Dr Martin Sommerkorn, one of the report’s authors and Senior Climate Change Adviser at WWF International’s Arctic Program. “The debate can no longer focus only on creating protected areas and allowing arctic ecosystems to find their balance. At the same time, we need to simultaneously reduce the vulnerability of social and environmental systems of the Arctic by reducing threats from human activity and building ecosystem resilience — the ability of ecosystems to remain stable when under a lot of pressure.”

According to last year’s reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, if the entire Greenland Ice Sheet were to melt, sea levels would rise 7.3 metres, making its status a global concern. While it is currently impossible to accurately predict how much of the ice sheet will be melting, and over which time, the new report shows there has been a far greater loss of ice mass in the past few years, much more than had been predicted by scientific models.

Likewise, the loss of summer arctic sea ice has increased dramatically, with record lows reached in 2005 and — way more dramatic — in 2007. In September 2007, the sea ice shrank to 39 per cent below its 1979-2000 mean, the lowest since satellite monitoring began in 1979 and also the lowest for the entire 20th century based on monitoring from ships and aircraft.

“When you look in detail at the science behind the recent arctic changes it becomes painfully clear how our understanding of climate impacts lags behind the changes that we are already seeing in the Arctic,” said Sommerkorn. “This is extremely dangerous, as some of these arctic changes have the potential to substantially warm the Earth beyond what models currently forecast. That is because climate models don’t currently adequately incorporate important underlying drivers of the arctic changes we are already observing, such as the interaction between sea ice thickness and water temperature.”

The Arctic is not only one of the places on Earth most vulnerable to climate change, but also a place where vulnerability is of urgent global relevance. WWF calls for a two-pronged strategy to minimize the impacts of climate change. “We need to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases to levels that will avoid the continued warming of the Arctic and the anticipated resulting disruption of the global climate system,” said Sommerkorn.

The renewable energy industry is stepping up its meteoric rise into the mainstream of the energy sector, according to the REN21 Renewables 2007 Global Status Report. Renewable energy production capacities are growing rapidly as a result of more countries enacting far-reaching policies.

Prepared by the Renewable Energy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) in collaboration with the Worldwatch Institute, the Renewables 2007 Global Status Report (pdf) paints an encouraging picture of rapidly expanding renewable energy markets, policies, industries, and rural applications around the world. In 2007, global wind generating capacity is estimated to have increased 28 percent, while grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity rose 52 percent.

“So much has happened in the renewable energy sector during the past five years that the perceptions of some politicians and energy-sector analysts lag far behind the reality of where the renewables industry is today,” says Mohamed El-Ashry, Chair of REN21.

Renowned researcher Dr. Eric Martinot led an international team of 140 researchers and contributors from both developed and developing countries to produce the report. He says renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, and small-scale hydropower offer countries the means to improve their energy security and spur economic development.

Citing the report, Martinot says the renewable energy sector now accounts for 2.4 million jobs globally, and has doubled electric generating capacity since 2004, to 240 gigawatts. More than 65 countries now have national goals for accelerating the use of renewable energy and are enacting far-reaching policies to meet those goals. Multilateral agencies and private investors alike are integrating renewable energy into their mainstream portfolios, capturing the interest of the largest global companies.

Worldwatch President Chris Flavin says the report shows that renewable energy is poised to make a significant contribution to meeting energy needs and reducing the growth in carbon dioxide emissions in the years immediately ahead. “The science is telling us we need to substantially reduce emissions now, but this will only happen with even stronger policies to accelerate the growth of clean energy,” he says.

El-Ashry emphasizes that many of the trends described in the Renewables 2007 Global Status Report are the result of leadership and actions launched since the major renewable energy conference held in Bonn, Germany, in 2004. “This leadership has never been more important, as renewable energy has now reached the top of the international policy agenda under the United Nations and the G8,” said El-Ashry.

Commenting on the dramatic rise of renewables, Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said: “The findings come in the wake of UNEP’s annual gathering of environment ministers in Monaco last week. It is clear from ministers in Monaco and from reports like REN21 that we are beginning to see elements of an emerging Green Economy, fueled by the existing climate change agreements and the prospect of even deeper and more decisive emissions reductions post 2012.”

The Renewables 2007 Global Status Report is being released ahead of the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC), taking place March 4-6 in Washington, D.C. WIREC will be the third such international conference following those in Bonn in 2004 and Beijing in 2005.

REN21 Renewables 2007 Global Status Report: Highlights (read the full report here pdf)

* Renewable electricity generation capacity reached an estimated 240 gigawatts (GW) worldwide in 2007, an increase of 50 percent over 2004. Renewable energy represents 5 percent of global power capacity and 3.4 percent of global power generation. New renewable energy (not counting large hydropower) generated as much electric power worldwide in 2006 as one-quarter of the world’s nuclear power plants. Large hydropower itself accounted for 15 percent of global power generation.

* The largest component of the renewable power capacity increase was wind power, which grew again by over 25 percent worldwide in 2007, to reach an estimated 95 GW.

* The fastest growing energy technology in the world is grid-connected solar photovoltaics (PV), with 50 percent annual increases in cumulative installed capacity in both 2006 and 2007, to an estimated 7.7 GW. This translates into 1.5 million homes with rooftop solar PV feeding into the grid worldwide. Another estimated 2.7 GW of stand-alone systems brings global PV capacity to over 10 GW.

* Rooftop solar heat collectors provide hot water to nearly 50 million households worldwide, and space heating to a growing number of homes. Existing solar hot water/heating capacity increased by 19 percent in 2006 to reach 105 gigawatts-thermal globally.

* Biomass and geothermal energy are commonly used for both power and heating, with recent increases in a number of countries, including uses for district heating. More than 2 million ground-source heat pumps are used in 30 countries for heating and cooling of buildings.

* Production of biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) exceeded anestimated 53 billion liters in 2007, up 43 percent from 2005. Ethanol production in 2007 represented about four percent of the 1,300 billion liters of gasoline consumed globally. Annual biodiesel production increased by more than 50 percent in 2006.

* Renewable energy, especially small hydropower, biomass, and solar PV, provides electricity, heat, motive power, and water pumping for tens of millions of people in rural areas of developing countries, serving agriculture, small industry, homes, schools, and community needs. Twenty-five million households cook and light their homes with biogas, and 2.5 million households use solar lighting systems.

* Developing countries as a group have more than 40 percent of existing renewable power capacity, more than 70 percent of existing solar hot water capacity, and 45 percent of biofuel production.

* Investment reached an estimated $71 billion in new renewable power, fuel, and heat production assets worldwide in 2007 (excluding large hydropower), of which 47 percent was for wind power and 30 percent was for solar PV. Investment in large hydropower represented an additional $15-20 billion.

* Investment flows became more diversified and mainstreamed during 2006/2007, including those from major commercial and investment banks, venture capital and private equity investors, multilateral and bilateral development organizations, and smaller local financiers. The renewable
energy industry saw many new companies, huge increases in company valuations, and many initial public offerings. Just counting the 140 highest-valued publicly traded renewable energy companies yields a combined market capitalization of more than $100 billion. Companies also broadened expansion into emerging markets. Major industry growth is occurring in a number of emerging commercial technologies, including thin-film solar PV, concentrating solar thermal power generation, and advanced/second generation biofuels (with first-ever commercial plants completed in 2007 or under construction).

* Jobs worldwide from renewable energy manufacturing, operations, and maintenance exceeded 2.4 million in 2006, including some 1.1 million for biofuels production.

* Policy targets for renewable energy exist in at least 66 countries worldwide, including all 27 European Union countries, 29 U.S. states (and D.C.), and 9 Canadian provinces. Most targets are for shares of electricity production, primary energy, and/or final energy by a future year. Most targets aim for the 2010-2012 timeframe, although an increasing number of targets aim for 2020.

* There is now an EU-wide target of 20 percent of final energy by 2020, and a Chinese target of 15 percent of primary energy by 2020. In addition to China, several other developing countries adopted or upgraded targets during 2006/2007.

* In addition, targets for biofuels as future shares of transport energy now exist in several countries, including an EU-wide target of 10 percent by 2020.

* Policies to promote renewable energy have mushroomed in recent years. At least 60 countries-37 developed and transition countries and 23 developing countries-have some type of policy to promote renewable power generation. The most common policy is the feed-in law. By 2007, at least 37 countries and 9 states/provinces had adopted feed-in policies, more than half of which have been enacted since 2002.

* Strong momentum for feed-in tariffs continues around the world as countries enact new feed-in policies or revise existing ones. At least 44 states, provinces, and countries have enacted renewable portfolio standards (RPS), also called renewable obligations or quota policies. There are many other forms of policy support for renewable power generation, including capital investment subsidies or rebates, tax incentives and credits, sales tax and value-added tax exemptions, energy production payments or tax credits, net metering, public investment or financing, and public competitive bidding.

When you have as much money as Google, and your corporate slogan is “do no evil” it makes a lot of sense that you would set up a giant philanthropic organization to make the world a better place. We have covered Google.org before, in their efforts to make solar cheaper than coal, and promote plug-in hybrids.

Well now their mothers can be happy cause Google.org has itself a five year plan. In its continuing effort to use the power of information and technology to help people better their lives, Google.org has rolled out five core initiatives that will be the focus of its philanthropic efforts over the next five to ten years.

Yesterday’s announcement includes more than $25 million in new grants and investments to initial partners. The resources come from a commitment by Google’s founders to devote approximately 1 percent of the company’s equity plus 1 percent of annual profits to philanthropy, as well as employee time.

“In their first Letter from the Founders (2004), Larry Page and Sergey Brin said that we wanted to ‘make Google an institution that makes the world a better place.’ The work of Google.org will help us do that by applying Google’s strengths in organizing information and scaling technology to these complex issues,” said Sheryl Sandberg, VP Global Online Sales & Operations, and Google.org Board member.

Added Dr. Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org, “These five initiatives are our attempt to address some of the hard problems we as a world need to face in the coming decade. We have chosen them both because we think solving them will make a better, fairer, safer world for our children and grandchildren – and the children and grandchildren of people all over the world – but also because we feel that these core initiatives fit well with Google’s core strengths, especially its innovative technologies and its talented engineers and other Googlers, who are really our most valuable assets.”

Google.org five initiatives and initial partners include:

Predict and Prevent

Google.org supports efforts to empower communities to predict and prevent events before they become local, regional, or global crises, by identifying “hot spots” and enabling a rapid response. Rapid ecological and social changes are increasing the risk of emerging threats, from infectious diseases to drought and other environmental disasters. Google.org is initially focused on Southeast Asia and tropical Africa. In Southeast Asia, a hot spot for SARS and potentially bird flu, Google.org is working with partners to strengthen early warning systems and build local capacities to prevent the next pandemic. Initial grants include:

$5 million to InSTEDD (Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases and Disasters) to improve early detection, preparedness, and response capabilities for global health threats and humanitarian crises. InSTEDD will work with the community of relief and response organizations, governments, academia and top scientists around the world to address gaps in information flow with software and other technology-based tools and services. Acting as an innovation laboratory, InSTEDD aims to support the humanitarian community in preparing for and responding to global public health emergencies, working together towards a safer world. For more information, see http://instedd.org/.

$2.5 million to the Global Health and Security Initiative (GHSI), established by the Nuclear Threat Initiative to prevent, detect, and respond to biological threats. Google.org’s support will help GHSI to strengthen national and sub-regional disease surveillance systems through workforce training and better laboratory capacity in the Mekong Basin area (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Yunnan province, China). For more information, see http://www.ghsi.org/.

More than $600,000 to Clark University, with equal funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, for Clark Labs to develop a system to improve monitoring, analysis and prediction of the impacts of climate variability and change on ecosystems, food and health in Africa and the Amazon. This system is a prototype platform to deploy global environmental, health, and development data, information and analysis tools that the global community can freely access over the Internet. For more information, see http://www.clarklabs.org/.

Inform and Empower to Improve Public Services

Google.org works with partners to improve the flow of vital information to improve basic services for the poor in India and East Africa. In many countries in the developing world, essential public services are failing, especially for the poorest members of society. Google.org supports efforts to provide information to empower citizens and communities, providers, and policy makers to improve the delivery of essential public services such as education, health, water and sanitation. Initial grants include:

$2 million to Pratham, a non-governmental organization in India, to create an independent institute that will conduct the Nationwide Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) as well as large scale assessments in the education sector. Our goal is to expand these types of assessments to other sectors. For more information, see http://www.pratham.org/.

$765,000 to the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, a Bangalore-based analysis group, to create a Budget Information Service for local governments to facilitate better district- and municipal-level level planning in India. For more information, see http://www.cbpsindia.org/.

$660,000 to the Center for Policy Research, an action oriented think tank based in India, to increase the debate and discourse on issues of urban local governance and urban service delivery. With the rapid expansion of cities in India, our goal is to provide policy makers the necessary information to make more informed decisions. For more information, see http://www.cprindia.org/.

Fuel the Growth of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Google.org supports efforts to lower transaction costs to invest in SMEs, create opportunities to access larger financial markets and make investments in this sector. SMEs are critical for inclusive economic growth and job creation in the developing world, but lack the capital and tools necessary to succeed. Many micro-enterprises and most large businesses have access to capital through microfinance institutions, banks and capital markets, but SMEs remain extraordinarily under served, creating a “missing middle.” Google.org wants to help increase the flow of capital to “the missing middle” by tackling some of the root causes that prevent these firms from becoming profitable investment opportunities. Technoserve is an initial partner:

$4.7 million grant to TechnoServe to provide general support to expand Technoserve’s efforts to support enterprises, spur job creation, and strengthen poverty alleviation programs globally, and to develop and implement a business plan competition to support entrepreneurs in Ghana and Tanzania. For more information see, http://www.technoserve.org/.

These three new efforts join two climate change related initiatives announced earlier this year:

Develop Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal (RE

This cross-Google collaboration has set a goal of producing one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal, within years not decades. The initiative, known as REhttp://www.google.com/renewable-energy. As part of the RE

$10 million to eSolar, a Pasadena, CA-based company specializing in solar thermal power which replaces the fuel in a traditional power plant with heat produced from solar energy. eSolar's technology has great potential to produce utility-scale power cheaper than coal. Google announced its intention to work closely with eSolar in November, and has now closed the investment deal. For more information, please visit here (pdf).

Accelerate the Commercialization of Plug-In Vehicles (RechargeIT)

RechargeIT is a Google.org initiative that aims to reduce CO2 emissions, cut oil use and stabilize the electrical grid by accelerating the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid technology. Google.org launched a $10 million request for investment proposals this Fall, and will invest amounts ranging from $500,000 to $2 million in selected for-profit companies whose innovative approach, team and technologies will enable widespread commercialization of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, electric vehicles and/or vehicle-to-grid solutions.

Unlike conventional philanthropies, Google.org is a hybrid organization, giving it the flexibility either to make direct grants or invest in for-profit companies that might yield returns. Google.org can also lobby public officials in favor of policies supporting its goals.

Additional Google Giving
Beyond the grants and investments announced today under Google.org’s core initiatives, Google will continue its philanthropic work through programs to leverage Google products for non-profits, including: Google Grants™, which donates free ads to non-profits; Google Apps™, which provides free, web-based services to non-profits; and contributions from departments including Google Earth™, which offers mapping to monitor events such as the crisis in Darfur.

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