IPCC climate change report: averting catastrophe “will not cost the world”
Catastrophic climate change can be averted without sacrificing living standards according to a UN report, which concludes that the transformation required to a world of clean energy is eminently affordable. “It doesn’t cost the world to save the planet,” said economist Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, who led the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) team. The cheapest and least risky route to dealing with global warming is to abandon all dirty fossil fuels in coming decades, the report found. Gas – including that from the global fracking boom – could be important during the transition, Edenhofer said, but only if it replaced coal burning. The authoritative report, produced by 1,250 international experts and approved by 194 governments, dismisses fears that slashing carbon emissions would wreck the world economy. It is the final part of a trilogy that has already shown that climate change is “unequivocally” caused by humans and that, unchecked, it poses a grave threat to people and could lead to wars and mass migration. (The Guardian)
Coal will be a main energy source for decades, says Australian environment minister
Coal will be a predominant energy source for “decades and decades” to come, but with “drastically” reduced greenhouse emissions owing to technological advancement, the environment minister, Greg Hunt, has predicted as he responds to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The third report from the IPCC working group said the cheapest and least risky route to dealing with global warming would be to abandon all dirty fossil fuels in coming decades. It said gas – including that from the global fracking boom – could be important during the transition, but only if it replaced coal burning, and included nuclear as a low-carbon option. It also included carbon capture and storage but noted it was an untested technology on a large scale and may be expensive. But Hunt said he believed carbon capture and usage would be crucial to Australia’s emissions reductions. “Coal will be used for decades and decades more … but what I do think will change is the emissions from it and that is the critical thing,” he told Sky news, describing “highly prospective” technology being developed by Csiro. (The Guardian)
Responsible Investment
Investors predict executive pay protest against UK banks
Investors are planning to register a protest vote against UK banks including Barclays and HSBC for boosting the fixed salaries of their top executives in response to the EU’s new bonus cap. Several big investors told the Financial Times they expected a significant protest vote at this year’s shareholder meetings, which start this month. Some of them said they want banks to go further in shrinking their bonus schemes to offset the increased fixed pay. “I do expect investors to express their dissatisfaction on one of the three votes on pay they will have this year – it is a question of how it will play out,” said Eugenia Jackson, director of governance and sustainable investment at F&C Investments. “Some banks have reduced total incentive pay by 40 per cent since the crisis – so, yes, overall pay is coming down, but fixed pay is going up,” Ms Jackson said. (Financial Times)*
Policy & Research
New scheme to help Singapore construction companies go green
A scheme to get small construction firms to adopt “green and gracious” work practices has been launched by Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA). Under the voluntary scheme, firms are required to implement measures to minimise dust and noise. Separately, BCA also announced a revised Green and Gracious Builder Scheme for larger firms, which will become mandatory progressively from 2015 onwards. Larger construction firms wanting to take on public sector projects will need to be certified under the scheme in order to register or renew their registration, and BCA expects some 400 firms to be certified by 2016. Straits Construction, which is developing a residential project in Kovan, has been awarded the “Star” rating at this year’s Green and Gracious Builder Awards, for measures such as the use of sound barriers and special netting to minimise noise and dust from the project. (Eco-Business)
Business must ‘ramp-up’ understanding of built environment issues
Businesses need to increase board-level understanding of built environment issues if they are to make smarter investment decisions that deal with issues such as carbon reduction targets, a new report warns. Results of a cross-sector survey of major FTSE listed companies, including BAE Systems, Marks & Spencer, Rolls Royce and PwC, found that reducing carbon emissions is the main built environment concern major organisations expect to tackle within the next 30 years. This is followed by transportation pressures, energy shortages, flooding and increases in urban populations. It also revealed that almost all those surveyed thought the UK would become less competitive on a global scale if it did not improve its understanding of built environment issues. Commissioned by University College London‘s faculty of the built environment, The Bartlett, the survey found that more than 80% highlighted the need for greater understanding of built environment issues at board level. (Edie)
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