… 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 situation appeared to have …
… that this tropical product has taken off in the international market. An invisible component of many products, palm oil can be found in cookies, in chocolates, in soaps, in … 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 …
… on Climate Change (GC3), a group charged with creating a comprehensive climate strategy for the State of Connecticut. As of September 2016, Garcia remained undecided about a key element of that strategy – nuclear power plants. There were strong proponents and opponents of nuclear energy on the GC3 and Garcia was weighing each side’s arguments before announcing his own …
… 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 … cost per project can be too low for significant resources to be dedicated to vetting each one. Plus, the methods of energy-efficiency upgrades have not been systematized enough for …
… 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 … 18% of the electricity Walmart de México consumed in Mexico in 2010. The wind farm was just one part of the efforts Walmart de México was undertaking in the sustainability area. The … 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 …
… 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 stop eating Nutella to avoid palm oil, she inadvertently highlighted the hidden role it … the global economy. And, as fires set to clear land for palm oil plantations blazed in Indonesia throughout the fall of 2015, covering the region in haze, the ubiquitous commodity …
… 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 numerous recognitions; he is frequently cited as one of the top social entrepreneurs in India and an example for the entire developing world. … 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 …
… 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 … a number of financial-assistance programs for environmental projects in the state. One of these programs is the EBF, a financing program designed to accelerate …
… In early 2014 Alcoa announced that Ford's F-150 pick-up trucks, the best-selling vehicles in the U.S., would use … with steel makers and for over a century had geared their production to steel components. In addition, aluminum faced competitive threats from other materials. Steel makers … were also increasing their lightweight alternatives for specific automotive components. Given these uncertainties, planners at Alcoa and other aluminum manufacturers faced …
… 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 … 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 failed to …