Environmental

NAB endorses natural capital declaration

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 16 DEC 2011  |  NEWS
National Australia Bank and Rabobank are the first two banks to endorse a financial sector declaration to address the use of natural capital by businesses.

Use of renewable energy to grow by 6% a year to 2035

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 14 DEC 2011  |  NEWS
The use of renewable energy resources in electricity generation is expected to grow at 6% per year between now and 2035, according to Professor Quentin Grafton, executive director and chief economist of the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE).

Presima joins Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 14 DEC 2011  |  NEWS
Presima, a global boutique investment manager that invests in listed real estate securities, has joined the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) as a member.

Sunshine Coast TAFE certified carbon neutral

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 14 DEC 2011  |  NEWS
Low Carbon Australia has announced Sunshine Coast TAFE (SCT) as the country's first educational institution in to be certified under its Carbon Neutral Program.

Environmental Upgrade Agreements vehicle for green investment

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 9 DEC 2011  |  NEWS
Environmental Upgrade Agreements (EUAs), a new category of tri-partite lending vehicles, have been created for use in commercial buildings in New South Wales and the City of Melbourne. EUAs provide longer term, fixed rate debt facilities for owners to ...

Reports critique ASX companies' supply chain disclosures

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 9 DEC 2011  |  NEWS
The social and environmental supply chain policies and disclosures of ASX-listed companies has come under renewed scrutiny, with Net Balance concluding ASX100 companies do not uniformly disclose those supply chain impacts, and the Australian Council ...

Renewable energy provides 10% of Australia's electricity

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  WEDNESDAY, 7 DEC 2011  |  NEWS
Nearly 10% of Australia's electricity was derived from renewable energy sources in the year to September 2011, according to a report by the Clean Energy Council.

Perpetual creating dashboard ESG reports

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 2 DEC 2011  |  NEWS
As Perpetual finishes its second year as a UNPRI signatory, the investment manager will continue embedding environmental, social and governance (ESG) into its investment considerations, including finalising a dashboard report approach to ESG with their ...

ICMM warns of risks of differing carbon pricing policies

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 2 DEC 2011  |  NEWS
Differences in carbon pricing policies in various countries and regions will cause variations in production costs for the mining industry, raising the possibility that production in one area will become less competitive than in others, the International ...

Low Carbon Australia partners with Macquarie Equipment Finance

RACHEL ALEMBAKIS  |  FRIDAY, 2 DEC 2011  |  NEWS
Low Carbon Australia and Macquarie Equipment Finance have established an Energy Efficient Asset Financing Program to stimulate uptake of clean energy technologies in existing commercial buildings.