Climate Technology

U.K. ethical funds investing in pseudo-green companies, says report

Idealistic views of socially responsible investment funds are misplaced, according to a new report from British independent financial adviser Holden & Partners. An assessment of all SRI funds open to private investors in the U.K. found that while such funds do screen out companies with highly objectionable policies, many still end up offering stock in […]

Bush will sign economic stimulus bill sans green incentives

President Bush will sign an economic stimulus bill Wednesday, meaning you may have a check winging your way after tax time. Not included in the bill: funding for clean-energy credits and green jobs, which were dropped from the Senate version after narrowly failing to get enough votes. Undeterred, Democrats in the House of Representatives may […]

Staples cuts off contracts with paper supplier over eco-concerns

This is spiffy, so allow us to Post-it: Office supply giant Staples has cut off all contracts with gigantic Asia Pulp & Paper, citing concern that APP feeds Indonesian and Chinese rainforest into its pulp mills. In recent years, other businesses including Office Depot have quit dealings with APP over environmental concerns, but Staples had […]

An interview with Google’s green energy czar, Bill Weihl

The phrase “to Google” has become synonymous with “to search.” But soon it may connote something altogether different: “to green.” That is, if the internet titan can successfully pull off its latest world-changing endeavor. Bill Weihl. In late 2007, the dot-com giant announced its intention to make renewable energy cheaper than coal. The RE<C program […]

Thanks to the ethanol boom, big investors are plowing cash into corn country

Big investors seem to have forgotten how to exist without some sort of speculative bubble. In the last decade, they’ve whipped cash from tech stocks to bonds to emerging markets to real estate to junk mortgages. With the latter bubble now deflating rapidly, they’ve turned to … Midwestern farmland? Yes, big cornfields. Here’s a Chicago […]

Umbra on green-company buyouts

Dear Umbra, So glad you were ransomed. (I happily did my bit.) I’m worried that the gentle-on-the-environment start-ups are taking the money and running. First our favorite toothpaste, Tom’s of Maine, sold out to Colgate (I think) and now Burt’s Bees has become a product line acquired by a bleach company. Where do we turn […]

Range of green credit cards offer carbon offsets for purchases

Major banks in the United States last year started offering green credit cards that use about 1 percent of the amount of customers’ purchases to offset their emissions. So far, the cards seem to be taking off, benefiting credit card companies and, arguably, the planet. The cards come complete with hokey names like GreenPay MasterCard, […]

Wind-power technicians are in high demand

As the wind industry experiences a huge boom, trained technicians are in high demand. Wind techs must have smarts in mechanics, hydraulics, computers, and meteorology — and, of course, not be afraid of heights. The relatively new industry’s oldest independent training programs aren’t even five years old, and the industry is hustling to support training […]

Don’t let Wal-Mart’s greenish diversions distract you

The following is a guest essay by Alex Goldschmidt, online editor at Wal-Mart Watch.

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Wal-Mart has been trying its hardest to distract its environmental critics. In a carefully orchestrated act of diversion, the company shows off its skylights and light bulb sales. In doing so, Wal-Mart has managed to draw attention away from the other, deeper environmental problems lying at the heart of the company's business model.

Wal-Mart's public relations efforts help hide the fact that despite all its talk, the company isn't any greener than it was in 2005 when it laid out a series of company-wide environmental initiatives. The fact remains that Wal-Mart's energy use is still rising. Until the company significantly reduces the amount of energy used to earn a dollar, its sustainability initiatives remain fundamentally flawed. Several aspects of the company's basic business model hinder this kind of comprehensive change:

More bad news for coal as big banks reconsider financing

I assume you’ve all heard the good news that three huge investment banks are planning to impose stricter standards on investments in coal-fired power plants. See WSJ’s Jeffrey Ball here and here. I’d like to think this was the sheer power of green groups or the moral sensitivities of bank executives finally acting up, but […]