… financial backing, buy and erect the turbines, and begin generating electricity by 2010. For Walmart de México, becoming the wind farm’s off-taker accomplished a number of important … electricity at below the rates charged by Mexico’s state-controlled utility, shaving costs for the famously thrifty retailer. In addition, the project allowed Walmart de México to get … meet ambitious goals, looking to reduce waste in its and its suppliers' operations. In the energy area, the company was hoping to receive 50% of its energy from renewable sources by …
… most heavily traded edible oil in the world. Golden Agri Resources (GAR) has been in the forefront of this palm oil boom in Indonesia. Founded in 1996 by the influential Widjaja family (operators of the Sinar Mas business group), GAR became the holding company for the family’s agribusinesses, including its Indonesian subsidiary PT SMART. The company … concerned environmentalists. Palm oil plantations had been carved out of precious rainforest and peat land, resulting in the release of carbon into the atmosphere and the loss of …
… In 2014, the four largest palm oil trading companies signed an agreement to end deforestation, development of peat lands and exploitation of locals not only with their own operations, but also from all of their suppliers. For environmental NGOs, the Indonesian Palm Oil Pledge (as the agreement was named) represented a dramatic advance in their decades-long efforts to protect the Indonesian rainforest from further destruction. One year later the …
… Harish Hande and the company he founded, SELCO, provide solar electricity for lighting and power to India's poor. For the work of his company, Hande has received … the solar equipment and sometimes this meant restructuring activities so that solar energy could power a client’s needs. From his field research, Hande realized early in … might expand. The company decided to institutionalize its design process by building an innovation center. SELCO also added products that provided energy solutions beyond solar. …
… finally produce a workable, global scheme to reduce greenhouse gasses in the environment. Unfortunately, the conference produced little concrete action and most agreed that the final … participants said had been badly organized and run." The conference also left in doubt the future of current mechanisms such as the European Carbon Market. The conference in … as the cornerstone of its long-term business strategy, but the firm was also investing in energy-conscious real estate and private equity to continue its goal of "creating wealth …
… In early 2014 Alcoa announced that Ford's F-150 pick-up trucks, the best-selling vehicles in the U.S., would use … planned another $150 million on facilities in Tennessee to meet the demand generated by the Ford contract. The aluminum industry's growing success in the automotive sector reflected … the response of auto manufacturers to the increasingly rigorous fuel economy standards for U.S. vehicles and consumer preferences for high mileage vehicles. To meet those …
… 2017, the Harvard Kennedy School of Government bestowed the prestigious Ash award in policy innovation, the "Nobel of policy," upon the Connecticut Green Bank for its role in "sparking the green bank movement." The Green Bank used financial structuring to attract private capital to clean energy projects in Connecticut. Using transaction enablers and risk mitigants like loan …
… Infrastructure Bank (RIIB), a quasi-public state entity, sought to bring much-needed clean-energy finance into the state market. This case study describes how this bank set up the … Public Energy Partnership (RIPEP) was temporarily accelerating utility energy-efficiency efforts. The new state leadership created the RIIB. It was built by renaming and restructuring … brought into the agency. The RIIB administers a number of financial-assistance programs for environmental projects in the state. One of these programs is the EBF, a financing …
… NY Green Bank (NYGB), New York State’s $1-billion clean-energy fund, and a young new efficiency company named Sealed signed a $5-million loan-financing agreement as a way to broaden the market for home energy-efficiency upgrades. In New York State, those upgrades face two key barriers … adoption. The first barrier is that a whole-home upgrade is a high out-of-pocket investment for a homeowner. Homeowners who make upgrades often have to pay cash outright or take out …
… Like many countries, Australia has a large existing building stock that is responsible for a substantial percentage of its greenhouse-gas emissions. Given that it will take decades for these buildings to be replaced, the rigorous standards developed in recent years for new … of greenhouse gases that these buildings emit and reduce their operating costs. While these energy-efficiency upgrades are often cash-flow-positive with the right loans, they have …