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Four Months Until National Ethical Investment Week 2013

Thursday, June 13th, 2013 By Blue & Green Tomorrow National Ethical Investment Week (NEIW) – the event that brings together investors, financial advisers, fund managers, charities, faith groups and more, with the aim of raising the profile of ethical, responsible and sustainable investment – is back for another year in just four months’ time (October 13-19). National Ethical Investment Week is an umbrella event and vital focal point for socially responsible , impact , green , best-in-class and sustainable investment. The sector is as concerned with positively selecting the fastest-growing, most innovative industries of the future – in cleantech, biotech, healthcare, sustainable transport, forestry and agriculture – as it is with screening out ‘unethical’ offenders. Click here to read The Guide to Sustainable Investment 2013 The 2012 event was a success , involving more than 400 financial advisers and gaining the support of over 100 additional organisations. On top of this, supporters from charities, faith groups and the financial services industry organised nearly 40 events across 18 towns and cities across the UK – all with the aim of spreading the word about investment strategies that consider environmental and social externalities, and aren’t simply on a reckless search for profit at any cost. But there are high hopes that the 2013 event will make even greater steps. “ NEIW 2013 will look to be bigger and bolder than ever before ”, said Raj Singh, programme director at the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) which co-ordinates the event. “ We’re excited to work with UKSIF members and other partners to spread the word amongst investors about ethical investment . “ The options open to investors who want to invest ethically are growing year by year. We all embed ethics into other spheres of our lives, there’s no good reason for our financial or investment decisions to be exempt from that .” Click here to read The Guide to Ethical Financial Advice 2013 During NEIW 2012, UKISF targeted financial advisers , and urged them to view the event as an opportunity to explore green and ethical funds with their clients.  Clients who invest sustainably are more loyal to their adviser and funds. As we have said before, the best financial advice includes the ethical investment option . It must be part of the know-your-client process, as Barchester Green financial adviser John Ditchfield said in an interview with Blue & Green Tomorrow during last year’s event. Speaking to B&GT again, he said, “ NEIW 2012 was a huge success for Barchester Green and really raised the profile of responsible investing in the UK . “ We managed to attract considerable press attention with events and press releases focusing on the strong performance of many ethical and responsible funds . Ditchfield, who is also co-chair of the Ethical Investment Association, added, “ We are looking forward to making NEIW 2013 another strong year for the responsible investment market and this year we are looking to focus on the growing market for high social impact investments, social bonds and other forms of finance for organisations with a clearly defined social purpose .” Click here to read The Guide to Ethical Funds 2013 At the beginning of NEIW 2012, EIRIS – the responsible investment research firm – released statistics that identified £11 billion of assets invested in UK green and ethical retail funds. Whilst this figure was 3.4% less than the total invested in June 2011, it marks a £7 billion growth in the sector over the last 10 years. Stephen Hine, EIRIS head of responsible investment development, said, “ This is EIRIS’ 30th year of empowering responsible investment and as-ever we will be supporting NEIW, which is now in its sixth year . “ We are planning further activity to follow on from last year’s webinar ‘ Beyond the ethical fund ‘ which was targeted at marketing professionals from financial product providers and focused on how sustainable investment credentials can help with branding in a time of low consumer trust and poor reputations . “ In 2013, we’ve seen an ever-increasing take-up of defined contribution pension schemes in the workplace and so a discussion on the need for ethical investment options around these would seem very relevant. We also plan to release our latest estimate of size of UK ethical retail market statistics . Hine added, “ As always, our consumer website www.YourEthicalMoney.org signposts to information on how people’s money is invested, green and ethical financial products, and how consumers can help make finance more sustainable. Watch this space as our plans progress .” Click here to read The Guide to Ownership 2013 One of the funds at the forefront of the sustainable investment market is WHEB’s Sustainability Fund . Having recruited Henderson Global Investors’ sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) team in May 2012 (and recently celebrating its one year anniversary ), it has gone from strength to strength – becoming one of the most innovative products on offer. Clare Brook, founding partner at WHEB, spoke to Blue & Green Tomorrow about what NEIW needs to do to build on the success of previous years. “ In order to engage the broader public, it’s important that NEIW makes it clear that the sort of investment we’re talking about here is not so much about avoiding alcohol, armaments, tobacco or pornography – those old-style ethical issues ”, she said. “ It’s about asking where your money is invested. If it’s invested in something reasonably long-term like a pension that you’re drawing on in 20 years’ time, what is the world going to look like then? What are the key challenges facing us – and therefore how should your money be invested in a way that aligns your investments with what most concerns you? “ And if what most concerns you are things like resource scarcity, climate change, pollution and demographics, then surely your money should be invested in companies providing solutions to these challenges, rather than perpetuating them . Click here to read The Guide to Sustainable Banking 2012 “ It’s not just about ethics – in the slightly puritanical sense – it’s about safeguarding your future by ensuring it’s invested in companies that are going to be growing in future, not those that are potentially going to be at risk because governments are going to decide that, for example, we simply can’t burn anymore carbon dioxide .” “ What would be good would be to make sure that a lot of the NEIW events were focused on looking into the future and essentially future-proofing investment, rather than nit-picking what we mean by ‘ethics’. I think that gets boring and it misses the point . “ Meanwhile, we’re facing a potentially enormous crisis in the form of climate change. So if I had a wish for NEIW, it’s let’s not dwell on the detail and niceties; let’s get thinking about how we as investors can better invest in a future-proofed economy .” In the same way that Fairtrade Fortnight and Move Your Money Month have helped spread the word about the ethical consumerism and responsible banking respectively, NEIW serves as an important marker for a type of investment that Blue & Green Tomorrow likes to call enlightened. It is not, as one personal finance journalist commented to us, an “ arbitrary promotional event ”. We encourage investors, financial advisers, charities, faith groups, NGOs and communities to get behind ethical investment this October and beyond. For more information, and ways to get involved, visit www.neiw.org . – See more at: http://blueandgreent…h.KPaMR8ru.dpuf Continue reading →

Posted on June 14, 2013 by tsiadmin | Posted in Investment, investments, News, Property, Taylor Scott International, TSI, Uk | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Four Months Until National Ethical Investment Week 2013

“Carbon Farming” Makes Waves at Stalled Bonn Talks

By Stephen Leahy Civil society organisations warn that if agriculture becomes part of a carbon market, it will spur more land grabbing in Africa. Credit: Patrick Burnett/IPS UXBRIDGE, Canada, Jun 12 2013 (IPS) – U.N. climate talks have largely stalled with the suspension of one of three negotiating tracks at a key mid-year session in Bonn, Germany. Meanwhile, civil society organisations claim the controversial issue of “carbon farming” has been pushed back onto the agenda after African nations objected to the use of their lands to absorb carbon emissions. “There is a profound danger to agriculture here, with real potential for more land grabbing and expansion of monocultures in order to harvest credits.” — Helena Paul of EcoNexus At the Bonn Climate Change Conference this week, Russia insisted on new procedural rules. That blocked all activity in one track of negotiations called the “Subsidiary Body for Implementation” (SBI). The SBI is a technical body that was supposed to discuss finance to help developing countries cope with climate change, as well as proposals for “loss and damage” to compensate countries for damages. The SBI talks were suspended Wednesday. “This development is unfortunate,” said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Figueres also said the two-week Bonn conference, which ends Friday, had made considerable progress in the two other tracks. A complex new global climate treaty is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015 with the goal of keeping global warming to less than two degrees C. “Governments need to look up from their legal and procedural tricks and focus on the planetary emergency that is hitting Africa first and hardest,” said Mithika Mwenda of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), an African-wide climate movement with over 300 organisations in 45 countries. And where there is “progress” at the climate talks it is in the wrong direction, according to civil society. “We’ve seen many governments in Bonn call for a review of the current failed carbon markets to see what went wrong, why they haven’t actually reduced emissions and why they haven’t raised finance on a significant scale,” said Kate Dooley, a consultant on market mechanisms to the Third World Network. “If we don’t learn these lessons we’ll be doomed to repeat these environmentally and financially risky schemes, at the cost of real action to reduce emissions,” Dooley said in a statement. In Bonn, two key African negotiators appear to be pushing the World Bank agenda rather than their national interests, civil society organisations claim. Those negotiators are also working for organisations receiving World Bank funding. One appears to want African nations’ mitigation actions to be based on agriculture, they said. The World Bank and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation and other organisations favour what they call “climate smart” agriculture. This is defined as forms of farming that are sustainable, increase productivity and with a focus on soaking up carbon from the atmosphere. African environment ministers from 54 nations recently stated they were not obligated to use their lands to mitigate carbon emissions since Africa is not responsible for climate change. They also instructed African negotiators at the Bonn climate talks to focus on helping African agriculture adapt to a changing climate. “Are these people serving two masters?” asked Mariam Mayet of the Africa Centre for Biosafety, which works to protect farmers’ rights and biodiversity across the continent. “What is the World Bank’s level of influence over these individuals, and is there a risk that this is impacting on their actions and the outcome here?” Mayet told IPS. In December 2011, more than 100 African and international civil society organisations sent a joint letter to African ministers asking for “no soil carbon markets in Africa”. Globally, agriculture is a major source of global warming gases like carbon and methane – directly accounting for 15 percent to 30 percent of global emissions. Changes in agricultural practices such as reducing or eliminating plowing and fertiliser use can greatly reduce emissions. Agriculture can also be used to absorb or trap carbon in the soil. When a plant grows, it takes CO2 out the atmosphere and releases oxygen. The more of a crop – maize, soy or vegetable – that remains after harvest, the more carbon is returned to the soil. Civil society organisations warn that if agriculture becomes part of a carbon market, it will spur more land grabbing in Africa, with woodlands being used mainly for carbon sequestration instead of food production. “There is a profound danger to agriculture here, with real potential for more land grabbing and expansion of monocultures in order to harvest credits,” Helena Paul of EcoNexus, an environmental NGO, previously told IPS. Soils are extraordinarily variable and different climatic regimes affect how they function, said Ólafur Arnalds, a soil scientist at the Agricultural University of Iceland. While soils are a key part of the planet’s carbon cycle, we don’t know enough about soil carbon, Arnalds told IPS at a recent Soil Carbon Sequestration conference in Iceland. That complexity does not suit carbon markets well and drives up costs of accounting and verification. However, Arnalds does believe that soils and agriculture have an important role in climate change and farmers should be compensated for their efforts. Continue reading →

Posted on June 13, 2013 by tsiadmin | Posted in Investment, investments, News, Property, Taylor Scott International, TSI, Uk | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on “Carbon Farming” Makes Waves at Stalled Bonn Talks

Where’s The World Going On Carbon Trading?

Peter Castellas 7 Jun, 2013 Over 2000 visitors from more than 100 countries attended the Carbon Expo in Barcelona last week. Carbon Market Institute CEO Peter Castellas reports on some of the key takeaways for Australia. 1. A new generation of carbon markets are progressing at pace. The transition toward a new generation of carbon markets includes a range of domestic or regional initiatives that will become the cornerstone of the global growth of the carbon market in the coming years. Over 40 national and 20 sub-national jurisdictions have either implemented or are considering market mechanisms that place a price on carbon. The World Bank Partnership for Market Readiness Program (PMR) – in which Australia plays a major role – is a key initiative that is helping to support the introduction of market mechanisms to cut emissions in 16 developing countries including emissions powerhouses China, India, Brazil and Indonesia. Carbon pricing now covers approximately 21 per cent of global emissions. If you include countries that have or are considering carbon pricing between now and 2020, carbon pricing will cover 50 per cent of global emissions. This builds on over 6800 projects registered with the UNFCCC in 88 countries, representing $215 billion of investment. As the EU ETS stutters, the new domestic and regional markets, like China, will be increasingly important for Australian companies to follow as they will be the markets that will impact future carbon pricing, influence international climate negotiations, establish opportunities for possible future linkages and create new business opportunities for carbon market participants. 2. Newer schemes can learn from older schemes. The first generation of market-based instruments is informing what will constitute the future landscape of carbon pricing. There is a strong appetite for learning from countries developing carbon pricing mechanisms. The governance model which underpins the Australian CPM is well regarded in international markets. And, so, just as Australia learned from the EU in the design of our scheme, now others, from both the public and private sector, can learn from Australia. Australia has had a leading role in the PMR with the Australian government opening up new dialogues and transferring regulatory and policy insights to key new potential markets. The International Emissions Trading Association has a complementary initiative – the Business Partnership for Market Readiness – which has engaged industry in developing carbon markets and involved the private sector with experience in carbon markets in the development of public policy. The foundation has been laid for individuals and companies with experience in the development, design and implementation of the Australian scheme to potentially capitalise on the relationships established by initiatives such as the PRM to participate in further knowledge exchange and commercial interaction as these new markets evolve. 3. Eyes are on Australia. As one of the most advanced carbon pricing schemes in the world, the development of the Australian market featured in many of the Carbon Expo sessions. There was strong interest in the proposed linking of the Australian and EU markets as a model for other markets to emulate. Due to the apparent structural weakness in the EU ETS impacting on confidence in the European market, many carbon market participants have been closely watching developments in Australia. Some are weighing up the possibility of establishing operations in Australia. However, the political uncertainty regarding the future of the scheme is impacting that commitment. The views of a strong contingent of Australians at Carbon Expo Barcelona were also constantly sought out regarding this political uncertainty and to get a better understanding of the federal opposition’s policies. At a well-attended workshop session on the Australian market, chaired by CMI, the international audience was informed of the status of the current scheme as well as the possible scenarios and implications of how the politics may play out if there is a change of government in September, and the impact on the carbon market. It was clear that many international delegates hoped that whatever the election result, that there be some forward momentum in the development of the Australian carbon market, in part to give confidence to other markets that are developing. 4. China is a powerful force in the ‘next generation’ of carbon markets. A key Chinese representative from the National Development and Reform Commission presenting at the expo stated that China views market-based instruments as the most cost effective way to address climate change. China plans to use market-based instruments to show progress to climate change goals and to demonstrate their international obligation and responsibility. In addition to the seven major emissions trading pilots schemes beginning this year, China will be actively piloting different approaches such as energy efficiency crediting similar to what is being employed nationally in India. China aims to encourage Chinese enterprises to be active in the market and aims to create a new significant business sector around carbon finance to create commercial opportunities for Chinese companies. However, the capability in China is not equal to capacity and so the rapid evolution of the Chinese market will open up opportunities for international businesses to help establish the governance, infrastructure and efficient operation of the Chinese schemes such as accountancy firms, banks, exchanges and other carbon market service providers. 5. Structural reform of the EU ETS is needed. In addition to a short-term adjustment, the EU ETS is likely to face some longer term structural adjustment to ensure the viability of the scheme. The current surplus of permits in the EU, which has resulted in a low carbon price, is likely to be addressed again in June with another vote on the ‘backloading’ proposal which involves delaying the auction of 900 million EU allowances. Results of an IETA survey released at Carbon Expo highlight that the membership backed a short-term fix (backloading) if combined with structural reform. Such reforms could include the setting of an ambitious 2030 target before 2015 or the permanent cancellation of surplus units. In regard to the EU ETS, it is not easy to change the rules mid-game, but the survey respondents suggested this structural reform is necessary. Overlapping energy and climate policies, at both EU and national level, are also suppressing the demand in the EU ETS and they will need to be somewhat harmonised if there is to be a recovery of the carbon price to levels that will support long term investment. It is important for Australian liable entities to understand these international policy developments especially Australian companies looking to purchase cheap carbon certificates from the EU beyond 2015, as some analysts expect that the EUA price may increase by as much as 50 per cent if a short term adjustment is made. As a ‘price taker’ under a linked market, more substantial structural reform in Europe will have a potentially more significant impact on the long term Australian carbon price. 6. Markets are an important response to climate change, but not the only response. Although a robust price on carbon is a key global response to avert dangerous climate change, it is not the only response. Markets are stronger if they are part of a broader suite of financial efforts. This includes innovation of new climate funds and financial instruments, technology innovation and deployment and economic and industry policies that will lead to a transformation to a low carbon economy. A low carbon growth model will be the new global norm, and it can be enabled by markets as a price on carbon can stimulate investment in low carbon technologies. 7. The private sector needs certainty to invest. The private sector voices at Carbon Expo stressed that carbon markets need to provide a clear price signal for investment predictability. Business needs confidence in the longevity or ‘term’ of market mechanisms in order to gear up to respond efficiently. Price certainty can be impacted through overlapping policies measures such as renewable energy subsidies. Many carbon abatement projects require large upfront capital and projects need a revenue stream. Carbon pricing provides an avoided cost, not a revenue stream. The private sector investment needs to be de-risked and one way is through some price sharing between public and private funding. 8. It is not clear how a globally connected market might emerge. We are already in a world with many different types of carbon units and we are not going to get identical, homogenous units across different markets. At the international level it is important that markets create tradable instruments. We face a risk of silos of markets can’t speak to each other. In order to link markets there must be measurable, definable units across jurisdictions with common accounting standards to link cap and trade schemes, carbon tax schemes and other non-CO2 schemes such as India’s energy efficiency trading scheme. The trend now is for bottom-up linking of carbon markets at both a sub-national and national level, for example Australia and Europe, and California and Quebec. Market linkage leads to a harmonisation of the carbon price which can lessen competitive distortions, but does involve giving up some degree of sovereign control, as in the Australia/EU ETS linkage. It can also result in a lower cost of compliance in aggregate. Australia is recognised as a benchmark in the development of standardised methods to generate domestic credits under the Carbon Farming Initiative. It is a long process to develop the CFI methodologies but those methodologies can potentially be leveraged in to emerging market development activities to ensure future alignment and harmonisation. Similarly, methodologies that have been through a robust approval process in other jurisdictions could be ‘imported’ to Australia to expand the range of eligible domestic abatement projects. Even if there are only a few examples of linked markets, we are seeing a gradual alignment of market design features. This is already producing some of the benefits that linked markets provide. It is important that we develop harmonised rules which ensure that ‘a tonne is a tonne is a tonne’ to assist in fungibility of units across jurisdictions. This is an important precondition to market linkage which can lead to the creation of a global carbon market. We can still progress to a common framework to enable carbon offset development, even if we don’t have a common global scheme. 9. It’s a long journey. Messages at Carbon Expo reflected a strong sense of the enviable evolution of an interconnected market of carbon pricing schemes. The top down approach for developing a global carbon market through the UNFCCC process may either be replaced or enhanced by regional, national and sub-national schemes, but either way, forward momentum will continue. Capacity will continue to be built in new markets and market evolution enhanced by increased international participation. The major milestone for the international community will be the negotiations at COP 21 in Paris in 2015 where an agreement for a global market and emissions reductions target by 2020 will be the aim of the negotiations. Although there is a high degree of scepticism with regard to achieving a global climate agreement in Paris in 2015, rapid progress is being made and important new alliances such as between the US and China are being created. The practical experience in the evolution of the Australian market positions Australia with a potential leadership role in the lead up to 2015 and beyond, if we desire it. There is a key seat at the negotiating table if we want it. If we have the political will and ambition we can open up significant commercial opportunities for Australia’s carbon market professionals, investors and clean technology companies as the trend to a low carbon economy continues apace. Peter Castellas is CEO of the Carbon Market Institute , an independent membership-based not-for-profit organisation. Read more: http://www.businesss…g#ixzz2VuMftA5b Continue reading →

Posted on June 11, 2013 by tsiadmin | Posted in Investment, investments, News, Property, Taylor Scott International, TSI, Uk | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Where’s The World Going On Carbon Trading?