Climate Technology

I’m lovin’ it!

Okay, sorry I put that song in your head.

This NYT story is interesting: Apparently McDonald's entrance into the fresh fruit and veggie market -- driven by pressure to offer healthier options, salads and such -- has made it, almost overnight, one of the biggest players in the $80 billion American produce industry.

Two bits from the story, one funny, one significant:

Extreme Makeover: Factory Edition

Russian factories hatch plans to make money from Kyoto Businesses in the Russian town of Archangel have big plans for capitalizing on the Kyoto Protocol. Under the treaty, more-developed countries can help meet their commitments by financing cleaner technologies in dirty facilities elsewhere, like the ones in Archangel. Vadim Eremeev of Archangel’s Energy Efficiency Fund […]

Are You Listening, Oldsmobile?

Pension fund pressures companies to be more responsible on climate The California Public Employees’ Retirement System — the largest public pension fund in the U.S., an economic powerhouse with some $182.9 billion in assets — voted Monday to use its significant clout to help fight global warming. Specifically, CalPERS is asking companies in the Financial […]

Six Percent Under

Canadian businesses find boon in Kyoto Canadian renewable-energy companies are anxiously awaiting Feb. 16. That’s the day the Kyoto Protocol goes into effect, and with Canada’s target of a 6 percent cut in emissions from 1990 levels by 2010, companies selling green, low-or-no-emissions technology are expecting to see quite a bit of their own green. […]

Burial’s Vetting

BP spending $100 million to bury CO2 under Sahara, hopes it stays there With the countdown to Kyoto nearing its end, oil and gas company BP is experimenting with burying some of its carbon-dioxide emissions deep underground in the Sahara desert. The burial project’s price tag of $100 million is expected to cover the injection […]

Shocked, Shocked to Find Politicization in This Establishment

EPA inspector general finds proposed mercury rule biased for industry Brace yourself — your entire worldview is about to be shaken. Turns out, in coming up with its new rules on power-plant mercury emissions, the U.S. EPA violated agency protocol and ignored scientific evidence in order to stay in line with a predetermined goal that […]

Hybrid ceiling?

Interesting.  J.D. Power and Associates has released a report saying that the market for hybrids will top out at a 3% share in 2010, primarily due to the three or four thousand dollar premium consumers have to pay above a comparably non-hybrid.  Green Car Congress has some reflections.

The Altima Sacrifice

Nissan CEO not happy about making new hybrid Altima Automaker Nissan is releasing its first hybrid model, a version of its Altima sedan, next year, but it doesn’t have to like it. In a speech at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in New Orleans, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said hybrids aren’t profitable enough to […]

100 sustainable companies

As usual, I'm getting to this late.  Here are the 100 most sustainable corporations in the world, as announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The comically fuzzy definition: " A Corporation that produces an overall positive impact on society and the environment."

Joel Makower rightly criticizes the opacity of the ranking process and Alex Steffen rightly emphasizes that these types of rankings aren't about seeking perfection so much as moving the debate in the right direction.

Smokestack Lightening

ConocoPhillips will pay half a billion to clean up refineries The largest refinery settlement in U.S. history was announced yesterday, as ConocoPhillips, the nation’s largest oil refiner, agreed to spend more than $525 million to clean up nine refineries, a deal that will remove 47,000 tons of harmful pollutants from the air each year. This […]