Sony is in many ways leading the way to green energy . In the last year alone, Sony Group saved 100,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, mainly by using green renewable energy. Sony Europe has astonishingly achieved nearly 100% reduction, while it’s headquarters in Japan, ‘Sony City’ has invested in using 50% renewable energy for it’s operations - the equivalent energy use of 4,400 homes, according to this article.

Aside from promoting the use of renewable energy, the company invests heavily in the research and development of technologies for energy-saving products and recycling. It is good to see that some companies are still prioritizing the fight against climate change.

Technorati Tags: Sony, green energy, CO2, renewable, energy, recycling, climate change

A fantastic and long overdue plan that will reduce emissions per flight has finally been approved in Europe.
‘Single European Sky II’, a plan approved by European lawmakers today will reduce the current 27 airspaces to just 9 by June 2012, according to the Guardian.

What this means is that airlines will no longer have to zig-zag through national airspaces to reach their destinations, reducing the distance they travel significantly. For one example: a flight from Lyon to Frankfurt is currently 40.7% longer than necessary.

This will save millions of tonnes worth of fuel (and CO2 emissions) and billions of euros to the airlines that are struggling in the recession.

“These proposals lead to a modernisation of air traffic management which will render air transport more feasible, more sustainable and safer,” European Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said.

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But Dudley Curtis of environment campaign group T&E said the climate benefits were exaggerated as reduced fuel costs would lead to lower ticket prices, in turn boosting demand for flights.
“It shouldn’t be seen as an excuse to prolong aviation’s special treatment — exclusion from the Kyoto agreement (on climate change) along with VAT and fuel tax exemptions,” he added.

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The plan would increase airport capacity, upgrade radar technology and expand the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) power so it would also cover airports and air traffic management.
EASA will aim to improve safety by harmonising rules on air traffic management and air navigation.

The UK’s second emissions permit auction sold 4 million permits at 10.98 euros a ton today, raising 43.92 million euros for the UK treasury, according to this report by Reuters.

The UK Debt Management office, which oversaw the auction, said it was 5.76 times over-subscribed.

After auctioning an initial 4 million permits last November and a further 4 million in its second auction on Tuesday, the Department of Energy and Climate Change plans to auction another 27 million carbon permits through March 2010 [ID:nLO932657]

In order to stop the EU’s emissions trading scheme from being discredited in midst of the recession, the Carbon Trust and PwC are proposing that some kind of “floor price” on emissions certificates (CER) or a carbon tax be put in place ahead of tomorrow’s CER auction in the UK, according to the Guardian.

Richard Gledhill, PwC’s global climate change leader, said that volatility and low carbon prices were undermining the business case for long-term investment in emissions reductions.

He added that a mixture of cap-and-trade schemes such as the ETS plus a –carbon tax could be the way forward. “Business needs clear, long-term price signals if major shifts in private sector investment are to be made,” he said.

Understandably.

They are proposing that a ‘hybrid system’ consisting of carbon tax and emissions trading, would benefit the fight against global warming more effectively in current times, and in the future.

PwC points to estimates that the world needs to spend about $500bn a year over the next 20 years on renewable energies and energy efficiency alone, many times the current level. That level is already dropping back because of the seizing-up of capital markets.

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“A hybrid trading scheme with price ceilings and floors offers a potentially attractive balance of price flexibility and predictability that we think merits serious consideration by governments as a potential alternative to either pure trading or pure tax solutions.”

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The consultancy says its hybrid system could be merged into the ETS with relatively few modifications and then linked into similar schemes in the US and other major developed economies. It could also be used for developing countries such as China and India in the medium term.

The oil giant that continues to make obscene profits in midst of the greatest economic challenge of our generation has seemingly giving up on trying to solve the greatest challenge of mankind.

For years they have been promoting their work on renewable energy, however most of those investments have now been effectively frozen, and Shell will have hardly any involvement in technologies such as wind, solar and hydro power. From now on they will focus on biofuels as this fits in better with the company profile (fuel production and distribution), according to executive director Linda Cook, as reported in this article from Environmental Finance.

Other than biofuels, they will also continue to invest in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology.

“Wind and solar are interesting, but they continue to struggle to compete with other investment opportunities in our portfolio, even with substantial subsidies in many markets … The outlook is we don’t expect a material amount of investment in this area going forward,” added Cook.

The company has done a great deal of work in developing renewable energy, that is true, but they are a business, not philanthropists. Any work they do will only ever be justified by the profits they generate, and right now renewable energy isn’t making the cut.

Shell are not alone in their decision to put the future of new technologies at risk. BP is withdrawing its UK investments in renewables and taking them to the US. Consensus Business Group has sold off a third of its clean-tech investments. Many other multinationals are putting their much valued capital in other places, and smaller companies can’t find the investments to develop their green initiatives, according to the Telegraph:

Smaller companies and start ups are finding it challenging to get investments off the ground and are frustrated by, amongst other things, policy uncertainty, an insufficiently high carbon price, and planning problems. This Government’s failure to create a favourable investment environment for decarbonisation is remarkable given the UK’s legally binding 80% emissions reduction target by 2050.

The investment needed to transition the UK to a low carbon future is simply not being delivered. This is a major problem and requires new thinking. Issuing climate change bonds, as described by James Cameron in The Times is a great idea. We also need to lower the costs of financing and lengthen periods of finance for low carbon investments. This should be pursued with great urgency.