Top ten articles in 2012 Q2

Blue & Green Tomorrow has experienced exponential growth over the last three months. As always, we thank you for your continued support.

In celebration of our progress, here’s a rundown of the most-read articles from the second quarter of 2012: April through to June.

1. The Guide to Sustainable Investment 2012

The Guide to Sustainable Investment was released in April this year, and marks the beginning of our new, updated set of monthly in-depth reports. It endeavours to take you on a journey of discovery— embarking at ethical origins, travelling through the green and growing fields of sustainable and socially responsible investment and disembarking at a new, enlightened destination.

The feedback we’ve had about The Guide has been excellent, and its success has paved the way for two more similar reports: The Guide to Sustainable Tourism and The Guide to Limitless Clean Energy, with many more scheduled for the coming months.

2. “World’s largest solar project” begins major construction

This piece, from May, detailed how a pair of American companies — MidAmerican Solar and First Solar — had begun significant work on a 550 megawatt (MW) solar project that was planned to power some 160,000 Californian homes. The announcement was the first in a long (and continuing) line of impressive solar developments worldwide.

3. Chelsea Flower Show to combat climate change

One our more unlikely most-read articles, but deservedly in the top ten given the potential impact of the news. We reported that this year’s Chelsea Flower Show will actively aim to showcase urban gardens that can counter the effects of climate change.

4. Scotland surges on in renewable energy investment

Every time we write a piece about Scotland, it seems to be an overwhelmingly positive one, and this one is no different. We reported how the country is set to become the UK’s leading location for attracting renewable energy investment, with an £8 billion injection into the sector expected within the next five to six years. Fantastic news all around.

5. Green Investment Bank top directors announced

This piece was about how the much-anticipated Green Investment Bank (GIB) had inched closer to its fully-fledged form with the appointment of two top directors – Lord Smith of Kelvin and Sir Adrian Montague. We’ve covered the GIB in some detail since the beginning of 2012, and whilst we might not have been overly enthusiastic about the location of its headquarters, we completely recognise its importance in pushing the UK towards a sustainable, green economy.

6. FT/IFC Sustainable Finance Awards: the nominees at a glance

Blue & Green Tomorrow recently attended the Financial Times and the International Finance Corporation’s Sustainable Finance Awards & Conference at the Landmark Hotel in London.

We rounded up the excellently informative conference (which incidentally narrowly missed out on a place in this top ten) and also laid out the organisations that took home gongs from the evening awards ceremony. But it was our piece that looked into a number of the nominees, including The Co-operative Bank and Standard Chartered, that appears in this rundown.

7. The Guide to Sustainable Tourism 2012

The second instalment in our new series of in-depth reports focused on sustainable tourism. Our aim was to open your eyes to a new way of experiencing the many wonders of the world, and through the inspiring stories from some of the industry’s leading lights, we believe we have captured this feeling perfectly.

8. The Rise of Renewable Energy 2012

In The Rise of Renewable Energy, we examined the past, present and future of renewably-sourced power, listening to a number of leading voices within the sector to ascertain why the government, and a percentage of the public, don’t fully understand the potential of an essentially limitless supply of clean energy. Whereas the ‘Guide to…’ reports are meaty, in-depth manuals into a subject, the ‘Rise of…’ series are lighter, introductory, literature review-style features.

9. South Africa looks to ocean currents for nonstop energy

This piece, from May, explained how Durban, the fourth largest city in South Africa, had made plans to become a world leader in ocean current energy, as it endeavoured to put an end to recent power outages. A native renewable energy company, Hydro Alternative Energy, has developed a technology called Oceanus, which is an innovative marine hydrokinetic power generation system that uses ocean currents to produce electricity.

10. Gucci and Puma group releases sustainability plan

The final story in our rundown is for the fashionistas in our readership. We reported that Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, the group behind leading luxury and sports brands such as Gucci,  Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen and Puma, has introduced five-year environmental and social targets across its brands as part of the next phase of its sustainability program.

We hope you enjoyed looking back over the last three months with us, and look forward to providing you with a similar rundown at the  end of September. See you then!