… 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 … oil companies. On one hand some were resistant to letting plantations set aside land forconservation, since they wanted to maximize opportunities for small farmers. On the other …
… 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 …
… 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 …
… 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 … that the success of solar installations for the poor would depend on designing creative financing solutions for its customers. Many thought the capital expense of purchasing solar … installing solar equipment. However, SELCO’s careful process of needs assessment, design, financing, and service was time-consuming and costly. The company had provided energy …
… 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 … gas emissions were contributing to global warming. Over the next 11 years, the panel - formally convened as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - issued … more climate change assessment reports, pointing to human activity as the primary reason for the increase in greenhouse gases and the rise of global temperatures. The IPCC's …
… hail insurance, the most common policy in agriculture. In years when crops were damaged before they could be harvested and sold, crop insurance provided resources that allowed farmers to be able to plant the following season. Settlements for weather damage not only made it possible for growers to continue their livelihoods, but also helped stabilize the region's food …
… 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 … while large-scale investors are increasingly familiar with residential energy-efficiency financing, they don’t use energy savings in their underwriting criteria. So the cost per …
… In the early 2000s, the Federal government of Mexico enacted a series of laws promoting the use of alternative fuels … oil company PEMEX had to find ways to implement this policy. Nevertheless, in spite of efforts by various government agencies as well as PEMEX, by mid-2014 no ethanol had been … PEMEX: The Ethanol Decision … PEMEX: The Ethanol Decision In the early 2000s, the Federal government of Mexico enacted a series of laws promoting the use of alternative fuels …
… products we buy. However, it is not something that consumers can easily spot or screen for. When, in June 2015, France’s Ecology minister, Segolene Royal, called on her country to … highlighted the hidden role it plays in the global economy. And, as fires set to clear land for palm oil plantations blazed in Indonesia throughout the fall of 2015, covering the … impacts on both global and local scales. The most notable of those impacts stem from deforestation. In Indonesia and Malaysia alone (the two countries responsible for 85% of palm …
… resources, absent a creditworthy off-taker the project would not have been able to line up financing. With Walmart de México’s 15-year PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) in hand, the … 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 … Gómez, Walmart de México’s Director of Sustainability, was considering ways the project financing structure might be further adapted to allow Walmart de México to participate in …