China has surged ahead of the US to regain its title as the world’s biggest investor in renewable energy, mostly thanks to growth in the country’s solar power sector. However, the amount of money put into wind farms, solar parks and other forms of green power worldwide plummeted 11 percent in 2012, the biggest annual fall in at least eight years, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The fall was caused by a mix of regulatory uncertainty and policy changes in big renewables markets such as the US, Spain, Italy and India, said BNEF. This took global investment down to $268.7bn last year, well below a revised figure of $302.3bn for 2011. (Financial Times*)
Waste project latest to benefit from GIB funding
One of the first major schemes to be backed by the UK’s Green Investment Bank (GIB), an investment bank dedicated to ‘greening the economy’, is to be a recycling and green energy project in West Yorkshire. The anaerobic digestion plant will be built by the waste group, Shanks, who struck the £750 million deal with the GIB on Monday. The project has been supported by £30.4m in funding from the GIB, as well as support from Barclays, the German bank BayernLB and the Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. The facility will process up to 230,000 tonnes of waste each year and will help the local council divert 90 percent of waste away from landfill. (Financial Times*, Edie, Scotsman)
Cemex launches water methodology
Cemex says it has developed a methodology to standardize water measurement and management across all of the company’s operations as it aims to minimize its water footprint and increase efficiency. The building materials firm will start rolling out the methodology to all of its businesses worldwide in 2013. The company will focus initially on measuring its footprint, and secondly on defining actions to increase its water efficiency and reduce its water use. This project is the result of a three-year partnership between Cemex and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. (Environmental Leader)
Consumers
Coca-Cola addresses obesity in TV advert
Coca-Cola has launched an advert addressing obesity for the first time on television. The two-minute commercial highlights the firm's record of making low-calorie drinks and gives viewers ideas for burning calories. The move follows mounting pressure on the soft drinks industry in the country: New York City is preparing to ban large sugary drinks in restaurants, cinemas and stadiums. "There's an important conversation going on about obesity out there, and we want to be a part of the conversation," Stuart Kronauge, from Coca-Cola North America. (BBC, Telegraph)
COMMENTS