A new Climate Change Vulnerability Index has been released by the risk analysis firm Maplecroft. The index uses 42 separate social, economic, and environmental indicators to calculate the vulnerability of 170 countries to the impacts of climate change over the next 30 years. Sixteen countries, including some of the fast-growing economies in Asia, were identified
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Maplecroft launched rebalanced rankings for the Climate Innovation Indexes (CIIs), which rate the top 350 U.S. companies based on their climate innovation and carbon management programs. GE, Ford, Alcoa, Air Products, J&J, Praxair, Lexmark, Intel, UTC and AMD top the list. [More…]
The aviation industry has long proclaimed that it has a relatively insignificant impact on global climate change, accounting for less than 3 percent of CO2 emissions. The industry also asserts that because of the high cost of fuel, there is tremendous incentive to reduce fuel usage through more efficient engine technology. In fact, some analysts argue that the industry’s engines have become up to 70 percent more fuel efficient since the 1960s. This article examines the validity of the aviation industry’s climate change claims. […]
The U.S. Clean Air Act, which was enacted by U.S. President Richard Nixon in 1970, will mark its 40th anniversary in December. This article reviews the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s assessment of the benefits of the Clean Air Act.
On July 27th, the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) released a comprehensive blueprint for reducing regional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. The centerpiece will be a series of integrated, market-based cap-and-trade systems scheduled to begin operation on January 1, 2012. This will eventually address up to 90 percent of
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Are you leasing office, warehouse or manufacturing space and frustrated by your inability to reduce energy consumption and the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions emitted by that consumption? This article provides ten tips compiled by the United Nations for reducing energy use in leased buildings.
Water shortages and competition for water pose an increasing threat to global security according to a new report prepared by Maplecroft, a firm that specializes in corporate risk intelligence. The Water Security Risk Index described in this article evaluates the water security of 165 countries and can be used by multinational companies to identify potential risks to their operations and global supply chains.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced June 10th that it had awarded grants to demonstrate large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) from three industrial sources. The projects seek to test large-scale industrial carbon capture and storage, an important step in moving CCS technology toward eventual commercial deployment. The selected projects include large-scale applications that capture carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from industrial sources and either store it in a deep saline formation or use it for enhanced oil recovery.
This is the third of a three-part series that examines the recent U.S. SEC Guidance on financial disclosures related to climate change. This article provides detailed suggestions for climate change disclosures.
