There's less than a month before policymakers gather in Copenhagen to hammer out a post-Kyoto agreement on climate change. Things don't look good. Since the last big get-together in Bali two years ago, negotiations have crawled to an almost standstill. And after talk of all countries signing up to binding reductions in carbon emissions, politicians have backpedalled. For most, Copenhagen is now just another step towards a new climate change treaty.
So how will this affect business? A key figure to focus on is $150 billion. That's the amount of investment developing countries will need each year by 2020 to tackle climate change, according to the European Union. Under proposals still being worked out, money would come from both (mostly Western) public coffers and the private sector (tentatively under an expanded version of the Clean Development Mechanism that provides economic incentives for companies to invest in emerging economies). Billions more will be spent in developed countries to cut carbon output.
If countries agree to the $150 billion goal, it could open up new opportunities for business. For one, existing plans for renewable energy generation in emerging economies, particularly in China and India, may get a shot in the arm. But the money wouldn't just focus on green energy. Agriculture, water management, and energy efficiency -- to name a few -- could also fall under the financial program. Ancillary industries, such as project management and carbon reporting, may similarly become sought after services.
For sure, issues still remain. At a G-20 summit in Scotland on Nov. 7, leaders failed to agree who should finance climate change investment. The sticking point: should developed countries, especially the U.S. and Europe, pick up most of the tab, or should emerging giants, like China and India, also put money on the table? Other issues relate to how much cash should come from public sources (and whether that money is new support, or just taken from other budgets)? And how would the private sector guarantee investment if a post-Kyoto agreement isn't in place?
Answers to these questions are needed before any money is doled out. But with expectations of a wide-ranging agreement at Copenhagen fading by the minute, politicians will want some good news to come out of the summit. That could make investing $150 billion a year in developing countries a high priority.
The end of the year is fast approaching, so predictions for 2010 are starting to get the rounds. On Nov. 4, it was consultancy Deloitte's turn to pull out its crystal ball. In a report entitled 'Energy Predictions 2010', Deloitte laid out trends it expects to take hold next year. Here's a crib sheet for green business:
1) Smart grids/meters will take the world by storm. Annual global spending on the technology will jump to $33 billion by 2014 vs. $12 billion in 2008. That could increase electricity grids' efficiency two-fold and reduce consumers' energy consumption by 30%.
2) Oil-producing countries (particularly in the Middle East and North Africa) will become hotbeds for renewable energy. Close proximity to European markets, abundant cash to invest from oil revenues, and ideal weather conditions, especially for solar power, could pay off in a big way.
3) Sector-specific carbon cap-and-trade systems, say for the shipping or aviation industries, may take precedent over unwieldy national, regional, or global plans. Under the schemes, companies, wherever they're based, would agree to binding targets, then trade carbon credits between themselves.
That sounds all well and good, but I'm not sure I agree with all the predictions.
1/ This week a universal cell phone charger was adapted by the International Telecommunication Union, the industry's standards setting body. Sounds boring? Well imagine how many chargers the world would save if spares could be carried over from an old phone to a new one. GSMA reckons that every year, 51,000 tons of this sort of redundant chargers are made every year. The new standard also promises to cut standby power draw by 50%...
As part of the 2009 Global Green Challenge, a driving duo has set a new distance record by going 311 miles on a single charge in a Tesla battery-powered car. That’s nearly 30% farther than the vehicle’s official specs.
Drivers Simon Hackett and Emilis Prelgauskas aren’t your everyday drivers. They set the record in Australia as part of the Eco Challenge, an 1,860-mile green car contest that includes vehicles powered by a variety of green fuels, from commercial diesel and hybrid cars to exotic solar-powered buggies built specifically for the race. Hackett and Prelgauskas told PC Authority that they kept the car at a constant, fairly low speed, averaging around 34 mph, to squeeze the most distance from the car’s 6,800 lithium battery cells.
Last week, I caught up with Martin Eberhard, co-founder and former CEO of Tesla Motors. At a manufacturing conference sponsored by Siemens in Minneapolis, Minn., Eberhard talked about the challenges of bringing Tesla from concept to showroom. Check out our chat below:
It might have seemed that $4 gas finally broke US consumers of their SUV habit. But the Great Recession is proving that the shift has lasted through this period of lower gas prices. There are signs that a permanent shift is underway in the way US drivers related to the cost and value of transportation. Consider car sharing. When I checked in with Zipcar in summer 2008, growth at the leading national car share service was being fueled by high-cost gas. Since then, though, Ken Belson in the NY Times reports that even with lower gas prices Zipcar has continued to expand membership steadily, as have national rivals such as Enterprise and Connect by Hertz, as well as smaller regional chains such as WeCar. In the past year, membership at Zipcar has surged by 30%, with revenue up by 25%, Belson reports. Nationwide, the car share market is expected to grow to 2 million drivers by 2013.
According to the annual Arctic Report Card, issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, scientists are seeing "drastic changes" in northern most areas of the globe compared to just...
Though they may have once been considered an oxymoron, green business school programs are multiplying fast at top b-schools. This week, Beyond Grey Pinstripes, a project run by the Aspen...
The press conference at the National Press Club, ostensibly called by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, was seemingly packed with reporters—and the message was stunning. Purporting to speak for Chamber...
From the first flight at Kitty Hawk, it took about 50 years to engineer the switch from spinning propellers to more efficient jet engines. Now wind technology could be...
The upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen are less than two months away, and everyone is looking to throw in his/her two cents. On Oct. 10, it was billionaire George Soros'...
After all, companies routinely come and go from professional bodies with little notice. And with some 3 million business members, the Chamber is the world’s largest commercial federation. So what...
In Green Business, BusinessWeek Energy & Environment Editor Adam Aston and Associate Editor Heather Green cover the green scene from New York, with Senior Correspondent John Carey in Washington D.C. and correspondent Mark Scott filing from London. Keeping on top of the business aspects of energy, the environment and climate change, their focus is the technologies, policies, markets and people that are shaping how the earth's resources will be used in the century ahead.
