Clean Investor, November 22: Dutch institutions buy into onshore windfarm portfolio

Dutch investors APG, PGGM, Delta Lloyd and Rabobank have brought 90% of a group of four German onshore wind farms. The purchase, via the €320m Ampere Equity Fund managed by Triodos Investment Management, is of a stake in a 51MW portfolio from Dutch developer DunoAir. There’s also an option to buy another 12.6MW wind farm. Announcement

India: the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has unveiled what is claimed to be first ever attempt to create a carbon index in an emerging economy. The Mumbai-based exchange has launched a ‘concept note’ for the BSE Carbon Index, saying: “The idea is that such an index will be used by investors to mitigate their exposure to financial risks associated with climate change.”

Deutsche Bank says forest conservation must be given a higher priority because it can mitigate the effects of climate change. And it called for the forthcoming climate conference in Durban to aim via the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism to create an “institutional framework” for forest conservation. Link

The Carbon Disclosure Project’s Europe 300 report has been published today (November 22). It found that if companies in the four highest emitting sectors – utilities, materials, energy and industrials – achieved their current emissions reduction targets, they’d deliver an average annual emissions reduction of just 1.7%. This falls short of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommended cut of 2.65% a year.

The World Bank’s International Finance Corp. (IFC) and Tata Capital have set up a cleantech joint venture, according to reports. Tata will hold 80.5% while IFC will hold the balance of Tata Cleantech, the Economic Times of India said. The venture is to start operations from April next year.

The OECD, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, has published a new book looking at water investments. The 142-page ‘Studies on Water: Meeting the Challenge of Financing Water and Sanitation’ is €25. Link*Norges Bank Investment Management*, the manager of the NOK3trn (€383bn) Norwegian Government Pension Fund, has disclosed a 5.17% stake in New York-listed Chinese solar photovoltaic products maker Trina Solar. Trina yesterday reported a third-quarter net loss of $31.5m.

China will set up its first national climate change think tank, according to a report in China Daily. “We need to strengthen international cooperation on carbon-trading projects, finance and technology,” it quoted Li Junfeng, deputy director of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, as saying.

The world’s first exchange for biomass renewable energy has launched. APX–ENDEX said the first phase of the exchange, developed in cooperation with the Port of Rotterdam, trades standardised, non-cleared products where the physical settlement is arranged bilaterally by the counterparties. Phase two takes place next year. Home page
South Korea has unveiled plans to spend KRW35.5trn (€23bn) by 2020 to develop renewable and nuclear energy and carbon emissions reduction technology, according to a Bloomberg report citing a statement from Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy. It’s part of a blueprint to take 10% of the world’s clean-energy market.

AXA Real Estate Investment Managers, the property investor with €40bn of assets under management, has introduced green leases for all its commercial lettings in Germany. It follows a similar project in France, where some 20 new contracts have been signed. It shows Axa’s “efforts to minimise the impact of the built environment,” said Global Head of Sustainable Development Jean-François Le Teno.

Sportswear maker Puma has released what is believed to be the first environmental profit and loss account. The Puma “E P&L” values its environmental impacts for key areas at €145m in 2010. It “places a monetary value on the environmental impacts of our business, across our operations and entire supply chain, to our most remote raw material suppliers” said executive chairman Jochen Zeitz.