The GREEN MARKET ORACLE

Monday, April 13, 2015

Ontario and Quebec Sign Cap-and-Trade Deal

On Monday April 13th, the Canadian province of Ontario will join Quebec and participate in a cap-and-trade scheme designed to use market forces to reduce climate change causing greenhouse gas emissions. Ontario's involvement will put a price on carbon emissions that exceed current government-set limits. Under the cap-and-trade deal companies can either limit their greenhouse gas emissions or buy credits from companies who have come in under the cap.

Ontario will join Quebec's cap-and-trade system which functions in consort with California. If Ontario signs an agreement with California, the three jurisdictions could trade emissions.

Harvard Heat Week Launch: Fossil Fuel Divestment Event

On April 12th, 2015 at the First Parish Unitarian Church in Cambridge Massachusetts hundreds of people will come together to launch Harvard Heat Week. This is an important start to a round of divestment campaigning focusing on New England.

Harvard Heat Week commences on April 12 and runs until April 17. A number of climate justice activists will be present at the April 12th event alongside labor organizers, faith communities, students, alumni, and many others.

Harvard Heat Week: Background and Rationale

From April 12th to April 17th, Harvard Heat Week will spearhead the next round of divestment campaigning. This peaceful initiative is an important part of the ongoing movement to divest from fossil fuels. The event may be taking place at one of the most high profile schools in the world but its influence will extend far beyond Harvard. All across New England there will be events urging colleges, governments and faith communities to divest from fossil fuels. Harvard students, faculty, alumni, and community members will come together on the Harvard campus to speak out for climate justice, learn from one another, and take principled action.

There are plans underway to dramatically increase the amount of tar sands oil being shipped to international markets. If these plans proceed they would undermine efforts to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

Tar sands oil is some of the most carbon intensive oil on earth. The extraction process of the tar sands alone is three times as carbon intensive as the extraction of conventional oil.

Expanding the tar sands is antithetical to the global climate agreement that is being sought at COP 21 in Paris later this year. As former NASA scientist James Hansen has said, radical increases in the amount of tar sands oil that goes to market would mean "game over" for efforts to combat climate change.

Green Electricity in Eastern Canada: A Letter to the Premiers of Quebec and Ontario

Here is an open letter to the premiers of both Quebec and Ontario urging them to work together to reduce greenhouse gases and save $14 billion by forging a green electricity deal.
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Dear Premiers Couillard and Wynne:

On November 21, 2014 in Toronto you agreed to investigate “long-term opportunities to expand electricity trade” between Quebec and Ontario.

Far from just warming the planet, climate change is deadly, it kills people, plants, trees and entire forests. It is also decimating some wildlife species and destroying entire aquatic ecosystems.

Climate change is killing the western prairie fringed orchid and the Quiver tree (Aloe dichotoma). Climate change is even putting entire forests at risk. One prominent example involves the pine and aspen forests of the Rocky Mountains. Climate change is making them more susceptible to insect infestations and wildfires.

Energy Efficiency Industry Leaders: Energy Star Award Winners for 2015

Here are the recently announced Energy Star award winners for 2015. For 23 years the Energy Star program has helped American businesses to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through investments in energy efficiency.

The EPA's Energy Star program is a voluntary effort that is designed to assist businesses (and individuals) increase energy efficiency to both save money and reduce climate change causing emissions.

The US is showing real climate leadership with a series of bold government initiatives designed to lower the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. The combination of historic and current emissions as well as the nation's unparallelled economic might make it essential that the US lead emissions reduction efforts. The US has a global presence that resonates all around the world which makes their participation in a comprehensive effort to combat climate change absolutely essential.

The US is an economic powerhouse without peer, their world leading GDP is $17.4 trillion (2014), this is almost equivalent to the combined GDPs of the next three highest ranking countries (China, Japan and Germany). The US is the world’s biggest economy and the globe's largest per capita polluter with a carbon footprint of around 7 billion metric tons per year.

It is no secret that our current emissions trajectory is perilous. A wide variety of sources tell us that we must drastically reduce carbon emissions if we are to have a chance of staving off the worst impacts of climate change.

Climate Change Makes us Sick both Physically and Mentally

Climate change has far reaching health impacts on human beings. People in developing countries tend to suffer the most from climate impacts however, people in wealthy countries are also vulnerable. Whether as a consequence of extreme weather events, food and water scarcity, economic impacts, social tensions, conflict or stress, we all suffer from climate change. No one is immune, it is interesting to note that climate scientists also suffer from a wide range of psychological disorders related to their research.
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Scientists who are on the front lines of climate research are sometimes afflicted with psychological maladies. While it is increasingly understood that climate change causes physical illnesses it is less well known that it can also cause a wide range of psychological disturbances. This is particularly true for those who are studying climate change. Climate researchers are both scared by their own findings and frustrated by the absence of a coordinated response. These scientists are afflicted by a host of mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Climate change is a health issue and the health care sector is increasingly leading the charge to do something about it.

Climate change causing emissions compromise our health and the health of those we love both now an in the future. These concerns are prompting a number of health organizations to act on climate change and these efforts include divestment from fossil fuels.

Energy East Concerns In Ontario and National Action

In January the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) organized seven public meetings on the Energy East pipeline. These meetings helped to inform the Ontario Government's position as intervener in the the National Energy Board (NEB) hearings on the Energy East pipeline.

In addition to concerns about the impact on beluga whales in Quebec, people in Ontario are concerned about water risks from spills and greenhouse gas (GHG) impacts.

The Intended Nationally Determined Contribution, or "INDC," is a post 2020 national plan for action on climate change. Each country has already submitted or will soon submit its INDC in advance of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris scheduled for December 2015.

The informal deadline for INDC submission was March 31 although many nations extend this deadline. The European Union, the United States, Russia and Mexico have already submitted their INDCs while others are expected to communicate their INDCs prior to the June 2015 UNFCCC session in Bonn, Germany.

The US small business community overwhelmingly believe in the veracity of climate change. They see this as a threat to their businesses and they endorse government regulatory efforts to reduce power plant emissions.

The views of the small business community on climate and energy issues is crucial because they are both a powerful economic engine and the primary source of job creation in America. The sheer size and scope of the small business community make their contributions to climate mitigation and adaptation absolutely essential.

These are the findings in a June 2014 American Sustainable Business Council poll of 555 small business owners. For the purposes of this study small business are defined as those with between 2 and 99 employees.

Belugas Slow Energy East Pipeline Project

The Energy East tar sands pipeline is off to a very rocky start. Concerns about the impacts on the local beluga whale population has forced the cancellation of a proposed terminal in Quebec. Further, plummeting oil prices call into question the financial viability of the project.

TransCanada's proposed Energy East pipeline project would ferry Alberta's tar sands to Saint John, New Brunswick. The 4,600 kilometre pipeline would carry 1.1 million barrels of oilsands crude each day for overseas export (that is a quarter million more barrels per day than the contentious Keystone XL pipeline).

Business sustainability efforts appear to have plateaued due to the fact they harvested the low hanging fruit and they have not yet understood what it will take to move on to the next tier. This is a simplified summary of the eighth State of Green Business report for 2015. It offers an annual assessment of the environmental performance of companies around the world, along with the trends to watch in the year ahead. Greenbiz produces the report in conjunction with Trucost.

Event - National Conference on Ecocinema: Celebrating Landscapes and Waterscapes

The Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, K.K. Birla Goa Campus, Goa, is organising a National Conference on "Ecocinema: Celebrating Landscapes and Waterscapes” on 09 & 10, October 2015 at K.K. Birla Goa Campus.

The conference is organised as part of tiNai Ecofilm Festival 2015. tiNai Ecofilm Festival (TEFF) is an annual event of BITS Pilani, K.K. Birla Goa Campus organized in collaboration withKuala Lumpur Ecofilm Festival (KLEFF), Malaysia, School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, LILA Foundation for Translocal Activities, New Delhi, Bangalore Film Society (BFS), Bangalore, ASLE, USA and other organizations. TEFF will present a set of new ecological documentaries from across the globe.

The egg is a prominent symbol of Easter and a fitting metaphor for the Earth. An egg symbolizes the promise of new life and at the same it is fragile and can be easily broken. As a festival celebrating the return of spring and as a Christian holiday, Easter calls us to remember the cycles of renewal and the interconnectedness of life and death.

Above all, Easter symbolizes rebirth, and renewal. From an ecological perspective this is precisely what is required as we engage the serious work of being better environmental stewards. A number of symbols have become part of the Easter tradition. Some are directly related to the life of Jesus Christ and other date back to pagan traditions.

For Christians, Easter is a celebration of Christ's resurrection, the ultimate symbol of rebirth. Easter's known pagan roots date back to the 8th century, specifically an Anglo-Saxon fertility goddess known as "Eostre," whose name may be derived from "eastre," meaning spring.

Video - Now is the Time to Invest in Sustainability (IFC)

There has never been a better time to make profitable investments in sustainable development. See what IFC is doing to support viable projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency, green buildings, sustainable agriculture and resource efficiency.

Videos - Sustainability is a Business Opportunity (Laszlo, Keeble and Kux)

Chris Laszlo is a partner and co-founder of Sustainable Value Partners, Inc., a firm helping companies create value for shareholders and stakeholders. He is the author of three books, including The Sustainable Company: How To Create Lasting Value Through Social And Environmental Performance (Island Press). Laszlo received his Ph.D. with distinction in Economics and Management Science from the University of Paris and has a Masters in Economics from Columbia University. He currently teaches a course on creating shareholder value through corporate responsibility in the CEDEP Executive Education program at INSEAD (Europe). For nearly ten years, he was a senior executive at Lafarge S.A., a world leader in materials, holding positions as head of strategy, general manager of a manufacturing subsidiary, and vice president of business development. Prior to that he was with Deloitte & Touche, where he consulted on strategy to global industry leaders such as Dupont, Toshiba, Avon Products and Renault. He speaks on creating shareholder value through social and environmental performance.

Video - Environmental Sustainability in Europe (Workshop)

This is a video of a workshop that took place at the end of January on ecology and business. It was organised by Ecopreneur, UnternehmensGruen, Greenbiz, Entreprendre Vert and Grüne Wirtschaft. Ecopreneur.eu is the European umbrella organization of national green economy entities. They are unified in their acceptance of responsibility for the economy, environment and society. Together they are charting a course for sustainable economic policies.

Video - Sustainability and Nature: Design Influence at Interface

Interface is an early green adopter and a sustainability pioneer. In this video Interface Director of Strategic Sustainability, Lindsay James explains the principles of biophilia, or love of nature, and how they influence design.

Climate Leadership from the Head of the Episcopal Church

Katherine Jefferts Schori is the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, she believes that those who deny the science of climate change are both "blind" and "immoral." Jefferts Schori is not only a religious authority, she also has some serious scientific credentials. She holds a doctorate in oceanography and worked as a marine biologist before becoming a priest.

At a March 24 Episcopal event in Los Angeles called The Climate Change Crisis Forum, Jefferts Schori delivered a speech in which she said, "this planet is overheating, its climate is changing, and the residents are sick, suffering, and dying."

As reported by the Huffington Post, Jefferts Schori said, “We are making war on the integrity of this planet. We were planted in this garden to care for it, literally to have dominion over its creatures. Dominion means caring for our island home.” She went on to say that humanity must make a "life and death" decision and she added that the window of opportunity to do so, "will not last long."

The future for renewable energy is looking bright. Renewable energy had one of the best years every in 2014 and this growth trend is expected to continue in 2015 and beyond.

The 2030 Market Outlook is a Bloomberg New Energy Finance Report. According to the report renewables will command over 60 percent of the 5,579GW of new capacity and 65 percent of the $7.7 trillion of power investments.

Last year saw more new installed renewable energy capacity around the world than ever before in history. Global investments in renewable energy increased by 17 percent in 2014 reaching $270 billion. Despite the drastic collapse of oil prices, the total amount of new installed renewable capacity in 2014 was 103 GW. The 2014 totals compare very favorable to the 86 GW generated in 2013 and 80.5 GW generated in 2011. These are some of the findings in the United Nations Environment Program's 9th annual report on Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment which was released at the end of March. The report was prepared by Frankfurt School--UNEP Collaborating Centre and Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Solar Photovoltaic Best Practices: Guides for Installation Operations and Maintenance

New solar photovoltaic system best practices guidelines have been released that provide guidance in the areas of installation, operations and maintenance. The goal of these guides is to help improve investor confidence in the long term viability of PV systems. They help to provide a degree of uniformity in the way solar assets are developed. The guides offer consistency in the way solar energy systems are deployed and maintained. This protects long term system production and enhances asset cash flows.

The two guides were released by The Solar Access to Public Capital (SAPC) working group, which was convened by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions keep rising. It is well known that we must drastically reduce emissions if we are to have a chance of staving off the worst impacts of climate change. Although the most long lived anthropogenic GHG is a molecule known as perfluorotributylamine (PFTBA), of the three most common anthropogenic GHGs, the one that garners most attention is carbon. That it because it is the most abundant and the single biggest driver of climate change.

Another Blazing Oil Rig Calls into Question the Obama Administration's Consideration of Offshore Drilling

Another oil platform explodes in the Gulf of Mexico giving the Obama administration reason to rethink its decision to consider offshore drilling along America's coastlines. The fire that erupted earlier today in the Gulf of Mexico killed four people and injured dozens of others. Hundreds of others were forced to jump into the water and they were evacuated by helicopter. The inferno continues to burn at this hour as eight fireboats try in vain to extinguish the blaze. The Abkatun Permanente platform belongs to Pemex oil company, a Mexican state owned company. An unknown quantity of oil is leaking into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the explosion.

Although melting ice sheets in the Western Antarctic has received the bulk of concern, it would appear that a similar forces are at play in the Eastern Antarctic. Warm water is eating away at the ice from underneath, this in turn exposes more ice to the water. As the ice above the water melts it collapses into the water and melts as well.

The melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet is accelerating at an unprecedented rate and this has very significant implications for flooding around the world. If the entire West Antarctic ice sheet were to melt sea levels would rise 11 feet (3 meters) and thirteen million people would be at risk. The cost in property damage would exceed $2 trillion.

There is a raft of good climate and environmental news on this the first day of April, 2015. This includes radical policy shifts from previously intransigent political parties in the US, Canada and Australia. Fossil fuel companies that are embracing a greener world and evidence that greenhouse gas emissions are declining. Scientists are studying algae that is reducing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and thanks to a newly discovered bacteria methane trapped in the permafrost may not pose as great a risk as once thought. The latest meteorological statistics shed light on extreme weather and both sea level rise and global warming may be declining.

Politics

Republicans have been stalwart in their resistance to initiatives that combat climate change. However, many of the presidential candidates appear to have had a change of heart recognizing that they are at risk of being unelectable if they continue to flout scientific evidence. Of all the declared and possible candidates 18 of the 23 possible Republican presidential candidates now say that they will make the war against climate change a priority if they are elected.

Summary of the Three Major Anthropogenic GHGs

Greenhouse gases (GHGs) contribute to the greenhouse effect by absorbing the sun's rays (specifically infrared radiation) causing the greenhouse effect, which warms the surface of the Earth. Although greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere, the elevated levels especially of carbon dioxide and methane that have been observed in recent decades are directly related to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and the deforestation of tropical forests. Here is a summary of three types of GHGs carbon dioxide (CO 2), methane (CH 4), nitrous oxide (NO 2).

Despite a Republican majority control an energy efficiency bill managed to get through the Senate. The bipartisan bill named the Portman Shaheen Energy Efficiency Bill (S 535) focuses on government buildings, grid enabled water heaters and commercial tenants. The bill was authored by Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) who have been trying to secure approval for energy efficiency legislation for years. It managed to squeak through the Senate on March 27 and it will now go to the House for consideration when they reconvene in mid-April.

A one hour webinar titled, Risk Management – Planning for Ups and Downs, will take place on Wednesday, April 15, 2015 at 02:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time.

Recent developments in fracking, which brought on the shale boom, has drastically changed not only the way natural gas is extracted, but also its pricing dynamics in the open market. While higher natural gas production has dampened prices, daily price movements have become increasingly more volatile as the market wrestles with supply and demand balance.

A prudent risk management plan is needed to safeguard users against volatility in the budget, as a result of volatile market prices. Fully protecting against rising cost by fixing prices may not produce a low-cost budget, and total exposure to open market prices may yield a much higher than expected budget. A step-by-step risk management plan that culminates into an actionable risk policy would provide an achievable balance toward managing the energy budget in a volatile environment.

Renewable energy is growing faster than fossil fuels in the US. In 2014 new capacity from renewables has grown faster than coal, oil and even gas. Renewable energy generating capacity has increased 72 times faster than coal and 163 times faster than oil. According to the Sustainable Energy in America Factbook, between 2008 and 2015 wind and solar energy capacity in the US has tripled. Renewable energy now contributes just under 17 percent of total installed capacity in the US. That is more than oil and nuclear combined.

Why Business Can Change the World

There is a compelling humanitarian and economic argument for embedding sustainability and social purpose into a company's DNA. Far too often businesses are singled out for egregious wrongs like environmental insults or employee mistreatment. However, there is an alternative. While many businesses conduct themselves in ways that contribute to the popular perception that capitalism is the problem, others are on the forefront of working towards meaningful change. Having a social purpose and being focused on sustainability are not yet be the norm. However, interest is growing as companies realize that doing social and environmental good does not detract from the bottom line it adds to it.

Sustainability is a key driver of innovation which in turn provides meaningful returns. Innovation affords an opportunity to rethink and improve a product or service to create value and enhance brand appeal. In addition to being good for consumers, sustainable innovation has environmental and social benefits. This can boost a brands reputation and translate to improvements in brand equity (trust, awareness, regard, and esteem). One of the most powerful bottom line benefits of sustainability comes from innovation that reduces costs and enhances consumer appeal.

Sustainability leader Unilever offers a great example of how sustainability and innovation partner well together. For example, Unilever created a cleaning product that is a fraction of the size and weight of similar products and uses far less resources than its predecessor. This product provided a powerful competitive advantage while at the same time reducing costs for resources and transportation.

The business case for sustainability has been building for years and it has been made by corporations, banks and investors and more than 20 studies. Each day anecdotal evidence emerges that includes improved ROI and enhanced shareholder value.

Those who are not yet on-board need to understand that the business environment has changed significantly in the last 50 years. In 1970 economist Milton Friedman published an article titled, "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits". This article is at odds with the far more inclusive understanding of business today. Dated business models premised on the thinking we see in Friedman's article are collapsing. The contemporary business context has an expanded sense of the success factors that help to drive profits. The sustainability equation sees profits as a byproduct of serving both people and the planet. This is the so called, "triple bottom line."

Event - World Engineering Summit

The World Engineering Summit (WES) 2015 will take place on July 21 - 24 at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre. WES is a high profile conference organized by IES to further their mission of "advancing and promoting the science, art and profession of engineering for the well-being of mankind".

Climate change impacts are real and touches every area of engineering. Engineers are seeking better, cleaner, more sustainable solutions. WES Climate Change 2015 Expo is poised to present a regional showcase of the latest in green and sustainable engineering solutions to meet market need and demand.

THE WORLD ENGINEERS SUMMIT ON CLIMATE CHANGE EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

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