Energy

Week in Review Stories discussed this week (9:58). Features Highlights from the mainstage of GreenFin 21 (22:35) In the first of two parts, we feature outtakes from two great panel discussions this week during the inaugural GreenFin event. Look for more coverage on the site and in this podcast next week. Meanwhile, let’s hear from: Rick

In this article 9501.T-JP Japan’s plan to release treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean will have “zero environmental impact,” according to one professor who spoke to CNBC. Japan said Tuesday the Fukushima plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co or TEPCO, will treat and dilute the water before pumping it

Agriculture sustainability improvements have long-term positive outcomes both for the planet and the farmer’s wallet, but the upstart costs can be a preventative obstacle. Some big food companies trying to address their Scope 3 emissions have started working to knock down those barriers for farmers.  In 2018, the Land O’Lakes Sustain program, now part of

Date/Time: May 4, 2021 (1-2PM ET / 10-11AM PT) According to Project Drawdown, adopting end of life strategies for old refrigerants (e.g., CFCs, HCFCs, and HFCs) will prevent the release of 57.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) into the atmosphere. According to a recent MIT study, emissions from the remaining stocks of CFCs alone

In this article IBE-ES The proposed hydrogen project will be located near Whitelee Windfarm, a major facility near Glasgow, Scotland. Billy Currie Photography | Moment | Getty Images ScottishPower has submitted plans to develop a major “green” hydrogen facility that it says will use the U.K.’s largest electrolyzer. In a statement earlier this week the

Date/Time: April 27, 2021 (1-2PM ET / 10-11AM PT) As corporations of all sizes increase sustainability commitments and take decisive action on climate change, some companies have begun engaging their employees in corporate-sponsored sustainability initiatives.  These initiatives can directly reduce employee carbon emissions and can also have many indirect benefits, including increasing overall employee engagement

This Earth Day, you might be thinking, “Hey, there’s a pandemic. Let’s sit this one out.” Probably no one would blame you. But journey back with me to last year, at the beginning of COVID-19, when the roads were clear and the air was pristine. If you were like me, it might have been the

Date/Time: May 11, 2021 (1-2PM ET / 10-11AM PT) Today’s corporate energy manager faces a challenging balancing act: how to accommodate cost and renewable energy goals, all within an organization’s risk tolerance.  The status quo “transactional” process of buying energy is not the same as the best practices of a well-managed energy portfolio. This webcast

As the world’s largest financial institutions jockey for leadership positions in financing the transition to a clean economy, JPMorgan Chase is creating a team dedicated to building deeper relationships with companies that sell “environmentally-friendly” products and services or that focus on environmental conservation. The new Green Economy team is explicitly tasked with providing services for

Reprinted from GreenFin Weekly, a free weekly newsletter. Subscribe here. It started with intangibles. I spent about a decade of my life writing about corporate accounting before I began focusing on sustainability and sustainable finance. In between all the conversations on accounting for stock options and leases, one megatrend in corporate accounting beat them all:

Week in Review Stories discussed this week (5:05). Features Learning through simulation (16:30) Last spring, GreenBiz teamed up with leadership development firm WholeWorks on the “Leading the Sustainability Transformation” professional certificate program, organized as a simulation exercise. GreenBiz Senior Vice President and Senior Analyst John Davies drops by with a progress report. Making community investments count

Sports leagues are seeing the impacts and the surge of climate-responsible athletes using their platforms to promote positive environmental and social impact — it’s something for the history books. The golf industry, for one, is increasing its efforts to promote environmental sustainability and marketing to the general public its desire to embrace a more diverse demographic.

For me, the most important element of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure and climate action plan is the administration’s conviction that “historically marginalized and polluted overburdened communities” should have a loud say in the policy decisions. It’s not just talk: The Biden bunch has committed to directing at least 40 percent of related investments toward those

In this article ORSTED-DK SGRE-ES Owaki/Kulla | The Image Bank | Getty Images Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has agreed to pay around 1.375 billion euros ($1.63 billion) for a 50% stake in one of the world’s biggest offshore wind farms, Orsted’s 752 megawatt (MW) Borssele 1 & 2 facility. Managed by Norges Bank Investment Management,

Date/Time: May 6, 2021 (1-2PM ET / 10-11AM PT) From global automakers announcing billion-dollar investments in EVs, to the Biden-Harris Administration’s pledge to electrify the federal fleet, the time for electrification is here. Fleet operators and business owners will need to meet a new set of demands and complexities with battery-electric vehicles and infrastructure.  

This article originally was published on World Resources Institute. In the aftermath of the 6.5 magnitude earthquake in Aceh, Indonesia, in 2016, disaster managers were able to able to identify which communities were at greatest risk due to rapid access to data. They used the open source InaSAFE platform to access real-time hazard data and

For more than a decade, this has been the time of year — the run-up to Earth Day — when I’ve surveyed the public opinion polls, of which there have been many, to assess consumer and citizen trends on environmental issues, notably related to shopping. I started doing this in 2007 and, with a few

In this article IYE This handout image supplied by the IIPA (Iran International Photo Agency) shows a view of the reactor building at the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant as the first fuel is loaded, on August 21, 2010 in Bushehr, southern Iran. Getty Images The U.S. and Iran are ramping up efforts to resolve

In the waning months of 2020, the European Union took ambitious steps to address the more than 12 million tons of electronic waste the bloc produces annually. Acknowledging that “Europe is living well beyond planetary boundaries,” a European Parliamen vote called for mandatory repairability scores for consumer electronics, amongst a host of other initiatives intended

John Kerry, special presidential envoy for climate, speaks during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images No single country can solve the climate crisis — and the American pursuit of greater research and

Week in Review Stories discussed this week (2:00). Features Getting together to buy renewable energy (19:45) Last month, life sciences company MilliporeSigma teamed up with Akamai, Synopsis and Uber to commit to buying 111 megawatts from an Enel Green Power wind-plus-solar project in Texas. We get the details from Greg Rizzo, director of origination-commercial office

Cargill’s new sustainability program, SeaFuther, expands its carbon reduction commitments from the terrestrial to the oceanic. The commitment focuses on Cargill’s aquaculture and aquaculture feed business, targeting a reduction in Scope 3 emissions of 30 percent by 2030, from a 2017 baseline.  As sustainable and environmentally friendly diets increase in popularity, the seafood market is

A handout picture released by the Suez Canal Authority on March 24, 2021 shows a part of the Taiwan-owned MV Ever Given (Evergreen), a 400-metre- (1,300-foot-) long and 59-metre wide vessel, lodged sideways and impeding all traffic across the waterway of Egypt’s Suez Canal. Suez Canal Authority | AFP | Getty Images CAIRO — Egyptian

During the 20th century, coal was a cheap and reliable source of electricity. Today it’s relatively expensive and highly polluting. The shift to cleaner, less expensive renewable energy is rapidly underway, and it’s happening faster than anyone expected. Our nation’s task now is to manage that transition in a just and sustainable way so that

In this article .IXIC HYD XLF XLI XLB XLE XLK KRE US10Y Wilmington Trust’s Meghan Shue expects growth stocks, including Big Tech, to hit more turbulence over the next three months. “Our main takeaway was to lean a little bit more into value and trim some of our growth exposure,” Shue, the firm’s head of

Date/Time: April 29, 2021 (1-2PM ET / 10-11AM PT) Amazon has been investing in sustainability for many years. Back in 2014, Amazon started making major investments in renewable energy. Most recently the company committed to powering global operations on 100% renewable energy by 2025 as part of The Climate Pledge, a commitment to be net-zero

Oil tanks at an oil processing facility of Saudi Aramco, a Saudi Arabian state-owned oil and gas company, at the Abqaiq oil field. Stanislav Krasilnikov | TASS via Getty Images The chief executive of the world’s biggest oil company on Wednesday said he believes the firm will still be able to meet dividend payout expectations

As we move into a crucial decade of action on achieving serious progress on sustainability, many are hoping the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic recession will serve to reset our priorities toward a greener future in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, many experts are not optimistic about the possibility of a

Welders work on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve pipeline on June 1, 1980, in West Hackberry, Louisianna. Begun under President Ford to reduce the threat of oil embargoes, the SPR crude oil is stored in huge underground salt caverns along the Gulf of Mexico, a natural choice due to the proximity of many refineries and distribution

When I returned to the office after having my first child, I noticed for the first time that all of the offices and conference rooms either had windows or non-locking doors, which left me without any safe spaces for pumping. Fortunately, I work for a supportive company that requested modification from building management to convert

This article originally appeared in the State of Green Business 2021. You can download the entire report here. As the circular economy ramps up, we’ve seen impressive innovation in materials, products, models and processes — but innovation on how we treat people has been notably absent. However, as companies, cities and countries alike adopt a more

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on tackling climate change prior to signing executive actions as White House climate envoy John Kerry and Vice President Kamala Harris listen in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 27, 2021. Kevin Lemarque | Reuters President Joe Biden this week is set to unveil details of

Net-zero commitments may have ricocheted across banking sector over the last 18 months, but big banks’ attestations of climate concern did not stop many from expanding financing for the world’s top fossil fuel firms during the pandemic year. That is according to the latest edition of the Rainforest Action Network’s annual fossil fuel financing tracker,

When we talk about infrastructure, we usually mean big, heavy stuff: roads; bridges; seawalls and the like. But as Democrats turn their attention to infrastructure measures potentially costing trillions of dollars, that focus needs broadening. Often the most cost-effective infrastructure is not made of concrete or steel, but soil. To see what I mean, check

The Taiwan-owned MV ‘Ever Given’ (Evergreen) container ship, a 400-metre- (1,300-foot-)long and 59-metre wide vessel, is lodged sideways and impeding all traffic across the waterway of Egypt’s Suez Canal, on March 27, 2021. AHMAD HASSAN | AFP | Getty Images The owners of the massive ship blocking the Suez Canal aim to refloat the vessel

The grid faces twin challenges: It needs to become resilient and clean. Alone, either would be daunting. Together, with the right policy support, they might just be urgent enough to get something done.  This week, the Biden administration announced a major infrastructure package, with clean energy and updates to the U.S. electrical grid playing a

This photo released by the Suez Canal Authority on Friday, March 26, 2021, shows the Ever Given, a Panama-flagged cargo ship, after it become wedged across the Suez Canal and blocking traffic in the vital waterway. Tugboats and a specialized suction dredger worked Friday to dislodge a giant container ship that has been stuck sideways

Week in Review Stories discussed this week (4:22). Features A new wave for ocean adaptation? (19:30) Oceanographer John Englander chats with Senior Editor Deonna Anderson about his upcoming book, “Moving to Higher Ground: Rising Sea Level and the Path Forward.”   BSR’s take on resilient business strategies (36:55) A new guide from the nonprofit BSR

The behemoth cargo ship stuck in the Suez Canal and blocking traffic in one of the world’s most important maritime trade chokepoints isn’t set to break free just yet.   The Ever Given, a 220,000-ton mega ship nearly a quarter-mile long with a 20,000 container capacity, ran aground after being blown by strong winds while entering

As discussions over the Biden administration’s $3 trillion infrastructure vision take shape, one principle central to the president’s ideas to help America “build back better” after COVID-19 is ensuring that investments shaping a clean economy are firmly rooted in social and environmental justice.  What better way to actually do that than by more intentionally including

A sign of Swiss banking giant UBS is seen at a branch in Zurich on October 26, 2018. Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images UBS Global Wealth Management sees 5% to 10% upside for global stock markets, with emerging markets, financials, energy stocks and small caps best placed to capitalize. In a monthly investment

This commentary is part of a series on emerging issues from Adaptation Leader. The Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), an initiative of the influential Financial Stability Board (FSB), offers a framework for disclosure of climate risks. Despite the generally positive response and resulting buzz, in particular among advocates for climate action by businesses and

Jeff Landry, Louisiana attorney general, speaks during a news conference outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Sept. 9, 2019. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images Fourteen states filed suit on Wednesday against President Joe Biden‘s moratorium on new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and waters. A coalition of

Interest in corporate sustainability metrics has skyrocketed in the last few years, particularly in the financial industry. With it has come a surge in demand for information related to these activities, one accommodated by existing reporting standards and frameworks produced by organizations such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB),

“I am discovering a whole new respect for chief sustainability officers,” I texted the facilitator of Leading the Sustainability Transformation. I was general manager of a mock company, Rio Negro Bioproducts, with the express goal to transform it from a traditional business to a sustainable one — economically, environmentally and socially — over a 20-year

Nova Innovation An electric vehicle charging point which uses tidal energy has started operations, providing road users on an island north of mainland Scotland with a new, renewable option for running their cars.   The facility is located on Yell, which is part of Shetland, an archipelago of roughly 100 islands. The charging point gets its

This article originally appeared in the State of Green Business 2021. You can download the entire report here. Modern aviation had never seen a year like 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a near-total halt in air travel, with airlines hemorrhaging billions of dollars and shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs. It wasn’t just that

Under the traditional capitalist model, financial performance for shareholders has been the primary measure of the success of a business. However, a growing awareness of ESG trends has given rise to the concept of “stakeholder value,” whereby the focus is on long-term value creation for customers, employees, society and the environment rather than just short-term