The Commonwealth Environmental Investment Network (CEIP), established by Clarkslegal`s Forbury Investment Network in alliance with the Royal Commonwealth Society, is delighted to announce the launch of its latest regional hub - the Manx Cleantech Hub - managed by Browne Craine & Co in the Isle of Man....
"Resource efficiency in every form is vital as urban development grows at a rate never experienced before," Sir David King, The Foreign Secretary`s Special Representative for Climate Change, told a Thames Valley audience of business leaders and academic experts....
The opportunity for Cardiff to lead the development of smart, sustainable cities internationally was outlined last week at a conference hosted by Cardiff Council and the Commonwealth Environmental Investment Platform (CEIP) at Cardiff`s SWALEC Stadium. Attended by business and sustainability leaders from across the UK and internationally, the proceedings of the conference demonstrated the environmental and economic benefits available to cities, especially those in the Commonwealth, by sharing their expertise in technology, innovation and knowledge....
Optimism in our world seems in short supply. The persistent economic challenges of many developed countries have not surprisingly dominated their domestic or regional politics. Daunting social and economic problems of many developing countries seem to have no end in sight. Hostilities in troubled countries create great sadness and damage prospects for future prosperity. There are many examples of weak governance damaging economic growth and investment....
In conjunction with Global Action Plan, the award-winning environmental charity, we are co-hosting an exclusive series of breakfast events in Reading where you can hear from business leaders who have successfully embedded sustainability into their growing companies....
On Wednesday 22nd June, we will be hosting C8 Consulting`s latest roundtable discussion and Q&A, at our Reading office....
We are hosting a networking event in Swansea to launch Forbury Investment Network in Wales on Tuesday 15th March....
Over the next decade it is predicted that more power capacity will be decommissioned than new capacity will become available. This points us to the conclusion that in order to ‘keep the lights on` we will have to reduce our domestic, commercial and industrial power consumption. There are a range of measures designed to help this need: for industrial users the EU-ETS incentivises stakeholders to emit fewer greenhouse gases; for commercial users the Carbon Reduction Commitment encourages businesses to reduce their energy consumption; and for households the Green Deal will help meet the upfront cost of improving energy efficiency in the home....
General Electric has recently announced over $50m dollars of investment into crowd-sourced ideas for its Ecomagination challenge....
Business as usual is clearly failing us and over the coming years we will need to adapt to many different challenges if we are to survive - the most notable challenge being the reduction of the daily environmental impact of our lives. The adoption of innovative new ideas and technologies is essential for this adaptation. Realisation of this innovation, however, requires funding. What is not clear is where the funding has gone and if it has not gone then why ‘venture` (the undertaking of risk) has left venture capital and how can we get it back?...
A major new UN report was released in Nagoya, Japan, during October; The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (Teeb). Teeb sets out the value of our natural world and the dependence we have on it financially and economically. Though not a novel idea, the report serves to highlight the interdependent relationship between economics and biodiversity, whose association will certainly become closer than ever as the impacts of climate change begin to materialise. In order to maintain a sustainable economy, biodiversity and the natural world should be managed and protected in the same way that other assets are valued....
Clarkslegal are delighted to support the upcoming Rushlight Clean Technologies Show, which is taking place on 27 January 2011 at Central Hall Westminster, London....
From 1 October 2010, The EIC Environmental Investment Network no longer operates as such, but Forbury Investment Network (FIN) will continue the same activities of helping early stage technology companies secure finance. FIN will still focus on environmental technologies but its remit will include a wider range of sustainable technology and innovation....
Our subsidiary environmental consultancy, Forbury Environmental are delighted to announce that we are hosting our first environmental investor briefing with Rushlight; an evening that focuses on analysing the market trends and technology developments in the solar sector....
As investor awareness of climate change and environmental concerns has risen, there has been a concerted move to more responsible investing principles....
Investments in the realm of climate change tend to be focussed mainly on financial returns - not surprising as the very nature of an investment is to make a return. However, there is an increasing need to focus on the social and environmental benefits along with the financial benefits as climate change-related impacts begin to affect all aspects of society....
The last UK government often stated that to enable the transition to a low-carbon economy, the UK needed a trinity of solutions. The trinity consisted of renewables (mostly wind power), nuclear and carbon capture and storage (CCS). There has been a huge amount of money invested into renewables. Although there are significant costs, the returns on investment are commercially attractive....
An often dismissed subject, which also ties into the theme of climate change, is water. Water is essential to every aspect of life, from growing food to industrial production and basic human survival. Yet the dire state and outlook of the world`s current freshwater resources seems to be overlooked in favour of carbon emissions....
The built environment contributes a significant proportion of total global emissions. In fact, 45% of UK carbon emissions are attributed to the built environment. It is worth noting that 80% of the buildings that will house us in 2050 have already been built today. Investment into the greening of real estate via retrofits and increase in energy efficiency will play a significant role in achieving the carbon emissions targets, now mandated by UK law, in an economically efficient and technically simple manner. As an investment asset class though, green real estate has yet to receive the investment needed to achieve such targets, though the tide seems to be slowly turning....
In April 2010, the UK government introduced a feed in tariff (FIT) to encourage microgeneration from renewable sources. This follows a long lobbying campaign from environmental groups and investors, who see FITs as a vital way to encourage investment in smaller scale clean energy technologies. This is backed up with evidence from Germany and Spain, where FITs have been in place for many years and have incentivised large domestic consumer uptake, and created new business opportunities. The government sees the introduction of a FIT as a method of encouraging domestic and commercial consumers to produce their own energy, thereby reducing total demand on the grid, and helping meet our renewable energy targets....