Features
Energy bill; unethical investments; Delingpolegate – Quote Bank: May 19-25
A good quote makes all the difference.
“We make ethical decisions all the time, about what we do and don’t buy, what we associate with, how we live our lives, whether we recycle, whether we cycle to work – so why not when it comes to investing your money?” – Lisa Hardman, financial adviser at Investing Ethically. Ensuring your money doesn’t do harm: the ethical investment option.
“At the heart of our electricity market reform measures are feed-in tariffs, with contracts for difference (CfDs), long-term instruments which will provide stable and predictable incentives for companies to invest in low-carbon generation” – Ed Davey, secretary of state for energy and climate change. Energy bill claims to ensure “secure, clean and affordable electricity”.
“The world keeps waiting for the big boys – governments and giant corporate groups – to resolve our problems. We believe it’s time for the average person to step up and do something to take action. It’s urgent” – Evan Hunt, of The Eden Projects. Inspirational reforestation project nears significant milestone.
“Space provides a fantastic source for collecting solar power and we have the advantage of being able to gather it regardless of the time of the day or indeed the weather conditions” – Dr Massimiliano Vasile, of the University of Strathclyde’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Solar developments branch out to space.
“The Treasury seems to see environmental regulations as nothing more than costly red-tape, but what we are talking about here are vital laws to give us clean air, safe food, and a thriving countryside” – Joan Walley, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee. Government urged to put green economy at heart of plans.
“Pension fund holders can’t seem to shake their addiction to tobacco shares but today’s nicotine rush looks set to be followed by withdrawal symptoms tomorrow” – Martin Dockrell, director of research and policy at ASH. Local councils defend tobacco investments.
“It’s kind of a bridge between city hall, local authorities and commercial companies represented by property developers and construction firms. It focuses on the building environment and infrastructure” – Andrew Dowding, managing director of Base Communications. Sustainable cities: a low-carbon opportunity not to be missed.
“Today starts a new and exciting chapter for the solar industry. The sector has been through a difficult time, adjusting to the reality of sharply falling costs, but the reforms we are introducing today provide a strong, sustainable foundation for growth for the solar sector” – Greg Barker, minister for energy and climate change. Industry relief as feed-in tariff cuts delayed until August.
“As soon as everything really escalated and blew up, in July last year, we wrote a letter to Rupert Murdoch, followed by a statement expressing our very strong ethical concern about what is being uncovered and the need for this to be addressed by the company” – Edward Mason, secretary of the Ethical Investment Advisory Group. Church to engage in “board level dialogue” over News Corporation investment.
“Obviously we recognise this is not the easiest of times in the clean energy market but nevertheless the underlying thesis as to why cleaner and more sustainable forms of energy need to scale up still holds true” – Kyung-Ah Park, head of environmental markets at Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs targets multi-billion clean energy investments.
“I would rather a child of mine went into business manufacturing land mines (which at least have a valid defensive purpose) than got involved in the wind farm industry” – James Delingpole, Telegraph blogger. The English literature graduate who pretends to do science.
Further reading:
Solar in Suffolk; Marks and Spencer; SRI+20 – Quote Bank: May 12-18
World’s largest solar project; sustainable fashion; Olympic sponsorship – Quote Bank: May 5-11
Royal Society; European Commission; UNWTO – Quote Bank: April 23-May 4