Green Investment Bank launches £100m community renewables push
The UK Government-created Green Investment Bank (GIB) will announce a new front in its investment activity, confirming it will team up with the Strathclyde Pension Fund (SPF) as part of a £100 million funding drive. The two organisations plan to mobilise £60 million of investments through Albion Community Power plc (ACP), a specialist in the development and operation of community scale renewables projects, which is working to attract a further £40 million from co-investors. The finance will provide equity funding of between £1 million and £10 million to up to 30 new renewables projects; generating around 24,000MW of energy. Business Secretary Vince Cable will today visit the GIB’s headquarters in Edinburgh to announce the new funding and to announce that the first project to benefit from the new funding will be Green Highland Renewables’) £8.5 million, 2MW run-of-river hydro-power project on the River Allt Coire Chaorach, Scotland. (BusinessGreen)
Circular Economy
DHL joins Circular Economy 100 to collaborate on reverse logistics
Package delivery behemoth Deutsche Post DHL is turning its focus to improving its logistics models to enable a more circular flow of goods, having being accepted as a Circular Economy 100 member of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. DHL impressed the MacArthur’s Foundation with its GoGreen programme, which includes initiatives to optimise transport routes, develop vehicles with alternative drive systems and energy-efficient warehouses. The German delivery company is championing the concept of ‘reverse logistics’ – moving a product from its point of consumption to the point of origin to recapture its value – which it believes will be “an important enabler” in the transition to a circular economy. Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s chief executive Andrew Morlet said: “Reverse logistics is an important enabler in the transition to a circular economy and Deutsche Post DHL will play a key role in providing new insights and collaborative opportunities within the program.” (Edie)
Corporate Reputation
Shareholders to Chevron: Bar All Political Contributions
Environmental groups, accusing the oil company of soaking the 2014 city elections with some $3 million in funding, are calling for Chevron to stop committing its money to local, state and federal elections. To drive home the point, Sierra Club, Green Century Funds, local politicians and activists are backing a shareholder resolution to prevent the corporation from making political contributions. “Chevron flooded our democracy with millions of dollars in 2014, but Richmond voters saw through their attempt to buy our elections and the progressives’ candidates triumphed,” said council member and former Richmond mayor Gayle Mclaughlin. Chevron’s political contributions to Richmond elections were only a small part of the money it spent on political contributions in 2014. According to its federal corporate political contributions filing for that year, it contributed almost $10 million to public and private organisations and political representatives. (Triple Pundit)
Policy and Research
Biofuel from trash could create green jobs bonanza, says report
Creating biofuels from waste produced by industry, farms, and households could generate 36,000 jobs in the UK and save around 37 million tonnes of oil use annually by 2030, according to a new report. Across Europe, hundreds of thousands of new jobs could be created by using these ‘advanced biofuels’, which could replace 16% of the continent’s road transport fuel by the same year, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) study said. But the gains will not come without ambitious policy to promote advanced biofuels, it warned. Chris Malins who led the analysis for ICCT, said that a mandatory advanced biofuels goal was “absolutely crucial” to realising the sector’s potential, as it would bring market certainty and long-term signals for investors. However, a key vote in the European Parliament’s environment committee next week could stop this potential being realised, as a centre-right grouping of MEPs has signalled that it will oppose a biofuels reform package. (The Guardian)
Supply Chain
Information black hole suppresses supply chain sustainability, says CDP
A lack of information is hindering companies’ attempts to make sustainable decisions in their supply chains, according to Dexter Galvin, the head of Supply Chain at CDP. As part of CDP’s recent Supply Chain Sustainability Report, 66 multinational corporations – including Ford, Coca-Cola and Microsoft – asked 6,500 of their suppliers to answer a series of questions on climate risks and opportunities: only 52% of those suppliers actually answered the survey. As a result, CDP is in the process of creating a database with the type of uniform supplier information that buyers need but are forced to ask for every time they choose a new supplier. “CDP is looking to standardise this information on big-time commodities like palm oil and distribute this data to buyers to streamline the procurement process” Galvin said. Suppliers will also benefit by not having to answer the same questionnaire many times over, giving them more time to implement the sustainability initiatives that buyers want. (Edie)
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