Investing in Solutions to Climate Change: Making Green by Being Green
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA 
on 06.20.06
Over at Two Steps Forward, Joel Makower has an excellent piece on the potential for forward-thinking investors (and the large corporations who are being invested in) to profit from changes in climate policy. According to a newly published report by Citigroup Investment Research, in partnership with the World Resources Institute's Capital Markets Research Team, "While there are companies that will suffer from climate policy changes, there are companies that will benefit as well. Someone must sell the products and services that will help companies meet, say, emissions targets should they become law...." GE's Ecomagination campaign is one such program that's highlighted; to be sure, it is one that is cashing in on the development and sale of new, green products and technologies (see this post for more details). The list is certainly not a "who's who in sustainable companies," concentrating instead on those who stand to profit from the transition to a more renewable, less oil-centric economy.
For example, Monsanto makes the list for their development of technology to increase the corn yield per acre, a boon to ethanol production (their use of genetically-modified seeds notwithstanding). GE, as mentioned before, has had to stand up to accusations of greenwashing, though their ability to make large sums of money from their new green technology cannot be denied (see the article for a more complete list).
Though Makower makes some good points about the shortcomings of the report (which we will not deny), we think it could be a very effective way to engage the public at large in sustainability and green technology. Admittedly, not everyone "gets" sustainability, but just about everyone "gets" profitability, saving money and getting more by doing less (anyone looking for confirmation should look no further than the recent spike in gas prices). The report then affords a thumbnail view into a more sustainable economy, which can help everyone from board room executives to potential job seekers see who is best prepared to thrive in a climate-changing world. ::Investing in Solutions to Climate Change via ::Two Steps Forward
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- 5 Reuses for: Watermelon
- DIY Puzzle Piece Friendship Necklace
- How to Cure Green Apathy in Friends and Family
- Preserving the Harvest: Strawberry Balsamic Jam
- Planning a Green Building Project? Beware of Lawyers
- Support Obama's Ocean Policy with a Friendly Letter
Did you know that American Electric Power wants to build an IGCC coal plant in Ohio? While this is a good idea compared to the existing coal plants in Ohio, they want the customers who have to breath the polluted air they already create to pay a rate increase to add less pollution with there next plant. Don't you think that as tax payers and people who are affected by insurance rates you should also have to pay a premium to breath "cleaner" air? Mind you there are no plans in the works to refit or close any existing cancer causers without pollution controls. Look how much money goes into antismoking ads. The same number of people die from breathing in pollution as second hand smoke and in some studies the figures overlap. Which is to say that 56,000 Americans died last year from cancer linked to air pollution, but there is no commercial about that.
How come they aren't ordered to reduce emmissions in their existing plants? Don't get me wrong, people are quick to throw out pollution controls when their lights go out, but this is the 21st century. We are global leaders and have a resposibility to show the rest of the world that we can reduce our impact on the planet through technology. I live in a city that had it's river catch on fire from pollution, but now I catch fish in it. We can make a difference!!!