SustainabilityHQ.com Weekly Highlights November 10, 2011

New Profiles Added to SHQ - ESG

• Coalition for Urban/Rural Environmental Stewardship's mission is to “create and deliver science-based solutions and education to ensure that tools to control pests and grow plants are used in ways that protect people and the environment.”

• Organic Consumers Association describes itself as “an online and grassroots non-profit 501(c)3 public interest organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability.”

• World Trade Organization (WTO) calls itself “…the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations.”

• Western Growers Association describes its work by writing “Being the nation's leading agricultural trade association, it is Western Growers' vision to guide our members toward a healthy, sustainable and profitable future by offering quality services and programs that complement their businesses.”

• Terra de Direitos was established “…with the objective of developing and supporting activities related to the promotion and defense of the rights and liberties of Latin American, and in particular, Brazilian social movement.

• Michael Pollan is a writer whose work focuses on food -- particularly food production, nutrition, and eating habits. Pollan’s most recent book, Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual, is designed to provide the reader with simple advice on healthy eating.

ESG / Sustainability

Debate rages despite carbon tax green light  
(Perth Now)  History  may have been made but it was a mixed reaction that greeted the passing of the carbon tax, with debate over the controversial tax still inciting heated debate. Earlier today, the ‘Clean Energy Bill’ cleared its final parliamentary hurdle when it went to a favourable vote in the Senate, after months of public debate and fierce opposition from the coalition.  Associated Profiles : Investor Group on Climate Change - Australia / New Zealand 

‘We Cannot Burn Our Way to the Future, Consume our Way to Greater Prosperity’, Secretary-General Tells Labour Summit, Urging Sustainable Growth, Development  
(IEWY.com)  Here together, today, we are at the right place at the right time. Once again, labour issues are moving up the global agenda. That’s no accident. It took advocacy and hard work from all of you. And it took idealism and energy of your members around the world.You and the United Nations share the same DNA. The values and principles that you stand for, every day, are the same as those we stand for, every day: justice; dignity; human rights, including the right to work; fairness; equity. More formally, you belong to the United Nations family through the International Labour Organization (ILO).  Associated Profiles : UN - Global Compact 

The Real Issue With Solar Energy Isn't Its Cost  
(Seeking Alpha)  In the last decade or so, solar energy really has come of age. There is serious money going into renewables like solar energy:  Also in the US: In the past half-decade, venture capitalists have pumped more than $7 billion into dozens of solar start-ups developing cutting-edge technology, most of them in the San Francisco Bay area, according to data compiled by GTM Research and Ernst & Young.  Associated Profiles : Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Commentary

Occupy Wall Street – answers to some, but not all the questions.  (Source:  Ken Cynar, Executive Vice President of the Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc)  For weeks now small groups of people have been carry placards and pitching tents and occupying somewhere:  Wall Street, Dublin, London, Oakland, Seattle, and more communities in the United States.  And the “occupy” movement is spreading to other cities – London’s St. Paul’s church is “occupied” at this writing. People have assembled to protest something ...well, what that is, I am not quite sure.  So, I started a quest to find out who they are, what specifically they were protesting -- and what do they want to happen as a result of their protests.  Associated Profiles : Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc.

Sovereign Wealth Funds

China aid to Europe should await workable plans: c.bank adviser
(Reuters)  China should await workable plans from Europe before Beijing puts money into any bailout package, an adviser to the Chinese central bank said on Friday, adding that China should insist on "certain controls" over how the money will be used. Associated Profiles : China Investment Corporation, National Social Security Fund (SPF)

UK pension funds deficit reduced, says PPF  
(BBC News)  The deficit faced by the UK's private sector pension funds was cut to £159bn by the end of October, according to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). The 6,533 final-salary schemes remained in the red for a third consecutive month, but the deficit was less than the £196bn recorded at the end of September.  Associated Profiles : Pension Protection Fund - United Kingdom

Permanent Fund takes an early beating   
(Juneau Empire)  Alaska’s Permanent Fund lost more than three billion dollars in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012, the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. announced Wednesday. That could mean a big hit for next year’s and future years' dividends, depending on whether the losses are made up during the remainder of the year. The fund ended the quarter Sept. 30 at $37 billion, down $3.1 billion from where it had been at the start of the quarter and fiscal year on July Associated Profiles : Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation 

Libya Waits for New Govt. Before Seeking Release of More Frozen Assets
(The Tripoli Post)  Libya will wait until a new government is in place before pushing for the release of more Libyan assets frozen abroad, an official with the country’s stabilisation group said. “We are in a comfortable financial situation for the next nine months, so we decided it’s best to wait” until Libya regains political stability, Wafik Shater, head of financial affairs for the group, said in an interview with Bloombergin Dubai. Associated Profiles : Libyan Investment Authority

Asset Managers

China Stocks Rise for First Time in Three Days on Inflation Data 
(BusinessWeek)  China’s stocks rose for the first time in three days after the country’s inflation cooled to the slowest pace in five months, giving policy makers more room to support economic growth. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. led gains for lenders as the statistics bureau said consumer prices rose 5.5 percent in October from a year earlier. PetroChina Co. and Jiangxi Copper Co. paced gains by commodity producers after oil and metal prices climbed.  Associated Profiles : Credit Suisse Group AG 

Change in sale process for Dodgers?   
(ESPN)  The process of selling the Los Angeles Dodgers will deviate slightly from the norm, according to three sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity. In this case, Major League Baseball's vetting of groups or individuals who apply to buy the club, which normally is one of the final steps in the process, will instead be one of the initial steps. This change was agreed upon by Frank McCourt, the current owner of the club who announced last week his intention to sell, and MLB. Associated Profiles : The Blackstone Group

MF Global Creditors to Form Committee, Seek Ways to Recover
(Bloomberg) 

MF Global Holdings Ltd. creditors looking to recover from the eighth largest bankruptcy in U.S. history may sue the company’s advisers, search for assets overseas and seek information from a probe into the commingling of customer accounts at the brokerage, a bankruptcy lawyer said. Creditors seeking a position on a committee that could shape the approach to recoveries are set to meet today at the Millennium Hilton hotel in Manhattan. A trustee overseeing the liquidation of the company’s operating unit, MF Global Inc., started his investigation into possible fraud or misconduct on Nov. 4. The FBI has also started a probe, according to a person familiar with the matter. MF Global has until Jan. 30 to report a detailed list of its assets and debt.

Associated Profiles : Credit Suisse Group AG

This is just a sample of some of the articles from this weeks SustainabilityHQ Highlights.  You can view the full Highlights by using the following links.  Sustainability | ESG, Highlights for the Week of November 10, 2011