Finance company targets €600m investment in wind and solar
An investment vehicle launched today expects to raise €600 million (£485 million) from pension funds and insurance companies to finance up to 400MW of European renewable energy assets. Prime RenewablesGmbH, structured by Frankfurt-based financier Prime Capital AG, is targeting institutional investors through the issuance of 25-year profit-participation notes. Countries around Europe are looking to increase the participation of such investors in infrastructure projects, which offer long-term, stable returns with relatively low risks.
In a UN report produced for Rio+20 – Leadership in a Rapidly Changing World – it is the chairs and chief executives of some of the world's most influential businesses who are calling for business schools to accelerate sustainable development. They are urging schools to develop business leaders who are motivated and equipped to put global challenges at the heart of their business strategies. It is significant that business schools are opening this gathering. At the first Rio summit twenty years ago, business leaders were at the margins and business schools were nowhere to be seen.
Water shortage 'to hinder world's economic growth'
Seven of the world's ten most populated regions face such severe water shortages over the next three decades that they threaten to derail the economic growth which is vital for poverty reduction. The value of goods and services produced in these regions – which include large parts of India, Bangladesh and North-eastern Africa and are all in the developing world – is forecast to increase more than sevenfold to $15.6 trillion (£10.1 trillion) by 2050. Water use in these regions is growing so fast that unless action is taken to safeguard its supply they will "face unsustainable water consumption, with significant water scarcity," warns the report, by economic consultancy Frontier Economics.
China emissions study suggests climate change could be faster than thought
China's carbon emissions could be nearly 20% higher than previously thought, a new analysis of official Chinese data showed on Sunday, suggesting the pace of global climate change could be even faster than currently predicted. China has already overtaken the United States as the world's top greenhouse gas polluter, producing about a quarter of mankind's carbon pollution that scientists say is heating up the planet and triggering more extreme weather. But pinning down an accurate total for China's carbon emissions has long been a challenge because of doubts about the quality of its official energy use data.
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