CorporateResponsibility.Net

Barack Obama’s transition team is reportedly working on a wide-reaching green jobs programme that is expected to form a major part of the president-elect’s economic stimulus package when he takes office.

Citing an anonymous senior aide to Obama, the New York Times reported that the green element of the wider economic stimulus plan would be worth at least $15bn a year, and could be worth far more depending on which infrastructure projects are defined as green.

The source said that the green jobs program would probably include a home insulation initiative covering hundreds of thousands of homes, a roll out of smart meters, and a huge increase in funding to state and local governments to support low carbon transport and infrastructure projects. Read more

Source: Business Green

Chrysler LLC, the automaker considering a combination with General Motors Corp. to survive, has been forced to kill its only gasoline-electric model because of poor sales of its largest sport-utility vehicle.

The hybrid versions of the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen SUVs, which went on sale this month, are produced at the Newark, Delaware, factory that Chrysler said last week will shut by Dec. 31. The plant also makes gasoline-only versions of those models. Todd Goyer, a Chrysler spokesman, confirmed the hybrid decision today. Read more

Source: Bloomberg

California published a radical climate change plan this week, outlining its intention to have its wide-ranging policy proposals formally approved by the end of the year and up and running by 2012.

Under the personal stewardship of Governor Schwarzenegger, the state has consulted 42,000 members of the public on the so-called AB32 scoping plan.

This sets out the policy measures required to ensure the state meets its high-profile 2006 commitment to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Read more

Source: Business Green

There was little chance that the release of a new book sharing our name — “Green Inc.” — would escape our attention, but the attending charges in Christine MacDonald’s new tome, titled “Green, Inc.: An Environmental Insider Reveals How a Good Cause Has Gone Bad,” were likely to pique our interest regardless.

Ms. MacDonald, a freelance journalist who left the field in 2006 to work in the communications division of Conservation International, one of the largest conservation organizations on the planet, was, by her own description, quickly disillusioned by wanton nepotism, executive salary bloat, and an all-too-cozy relationship with corporate donors. Read more

Source: New York TImes

BEIJING, CN — Companies operating in China are to face tough new green legislation after the country’s top legislature passed a package of laws designed to underpin the government’s climate change strategy.

Over the past year, the Chinese government has set out a range of targets designed to shrug off its tag as the world’s largest polluter, including goals to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent, double renewable energy capacity and cut pollution levels 10 percent by 2010 compared to a 2005 baseline.

To support the targets, the Standing Committee of the 11th National People’s Congress (NPC) approved a raft of new regulations on Friday that are designed to curb carbon emissions and promote adoption of clean technologies. Read more

Source: GreenBiz

The U.K. manufacturing sector has an overall positive view of environmental issues, with a majority of companies taking action, but smaller companies are having a tougher times, according to a recent survey.

Envirowise and EEF talk to 562 companies for the report “Measuring performance – Environment survey 2008.” The manufacturing companies represent more than 122,000 employees. Read more

Source: GreenBiz

Fresh from announcing that up to 30 US cities have agreed to report on their greenhouse gas emissions, the Carbon Disclosure Project has revealed it is seeking to expand the initiative and is in talks with a number of city authorities in the UK.

The corporate reporting lobby group announced late last week that 21 US cities, including New York, Las Vegas and New Orleans, have agreed to report on their carbon emissions with a further nine city governments soon to announce their participation in the pilot scheme.

Under the scheme, city authorities will report on the carbon emissions arising from areas over which they have budgetary control, such as transport, waste, emergency services and public sector buildings, in line with standards set out by the ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability advisory body.

The first wave of cities are expected to provide CDP with the relevant data by the end of October ahead of a full public report early next year. Read more

Source: Business Green

The perception of electric cars as small city runabouts with dubious safety credentials is about to be challenged following the launch in the UK of an all-electric Range Rover.

The idea of providing a zero emission 4×4 is the brainchild of UK start up Liberty Electric Cars, which is investing £30m in a business model that will initially see it re-engineer Range Rovers and Minis, replacing the engine with a battery, electric motor and drivetrain.

“People are interested in electric cars, but they don’t want quadricycles, they want cars that look like cars,” said Barry Shrier, chief executive at the company and a former managing director at Deutsche Bank. “They want vehicles that look and drive like standard cars, which is why we have selected the Range Rover as our flagship vehicle.” Read more

Source: Business Green

Almost half of UK consumers are unwilling to pay the price premium associated with many green and ethical products, a situation that is likely to worsen as the credit crunch continues to affect consumer spending.

According to a major survey of 4,000 UK consumers from consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers, demand for green and ethical products has grown significantly, with the proportion of shoppers buying Fairtrade products having risen from 20 per cent three years ago to 50 per cent now, and organic food purchasing having increased from 22 per cent to 43 per cent over the same period.

However, this £300bn sector still accounts for just four per cent of the UK retail market and the survey found that the high prices associated with fair-trade and organic products remained the main inhibitor to further growth. Read more

Source: Business Green

The nation’s airlines are scrutinizing every step of their operations, from the tarmac to the sky, and from the nose to the tail of their planes, searching for new ways to cut their soaring fuel bills.

They are power-washing jet engines more often to get rid of grime, carrying less water for the bathroom faucets and toilets, and replacing passenger seats with lighter models.

The financial pain of higher fuel prices is particularly acute for airlines because it is their single biggest expense. Eight years ago, 15 percent of the price of an airplane ticket went to pay for jet fuel; now, it is 40 percent, according to the Air Transport Association, the industry’s trade group.

If prices stay where they are, the nation’s airlines will collectively spend $61.2 billion this year on jet fuel — more than five times what they spent in 2002, when travel fell sharply after the September 2001 terrorist attacks.

Every increase in the price of fuel, already up 84 percent compared with last year, increases the pressure on the carriers, which pump about 7,000 gallons into a Boeing 737 and as much as 60,000 gallons into bigger 747s.

Airlines are raising fares and adding surcharges and fees as fast as they can, but at a certain point, passengers stay home. That’s why the carriers are looking for any new savings they can find.

“Our fleet is over 500 airplanes,” said Beth Harbin, a Southwest spokeswoman. “If you can make a difference on one airplane on one flight, and multiply that by 500, in this day and age that is significant.”

Although airlines have tried fuel-saving measures for years, they attacked the problem with renewed urgency when oil passed $100 a barrel this year. Now, all airlines are urging employees to suggest ways, large and small, to cut fuel use.

Carriers save the most by parking aging aircraft, of course, and many are already doing so. Northwest is retiring DC-9 jets it has used for decades; American is grounding some of its MD-80s, while United is parking six 747s.

Each generation of aircraft is more efficient. At Northwest, the Airbus A330 long-range jets use 38 percent less fuel than the DC-10s they replaced, while the Airbus A319 medium-range planes are 27 percent more efficient than DC-9s, said Tim McGraw, Northwest’s director of corporate environmental and safety programs.

But even specks of dirt are considered culprits. American and Southwest are washing a handful of jet engines each night, a process that used to happen only during thorough maintenance overhauls. Southwest figures it has already saved $1.6 million in fuel costs since April by reducing the drag caused by dirt and debris.

American, for one, expects to save roughly $330.7 million this year, or about 3.5 percent on a total fuel bill that will approach $9.26 billion.

A number of airlines are flying their planes somewhat slower in order to save fuel — 480 miles an hour, for example, instead of the usual cruising speed of 500 m.p.h.

Five years ago, Delta estimated the flying time from Los Angeles to Atlanta at 4 hours, 12 minutes; now it is 4 hours and 18 minutes at a lower speed. (The airline has not changed its timetable, which sets aside about four and a half hours for the trip, including taxiing time.)

Up in the cockpit, Delta is studying whether it is feasible to divide the heavy pilot manuals required on each flight between the captain and first officer, so pilots are not toting duplicate sets of five or six books that each weigh about a pound and a half.

Eventually, the airline wants to eliminate printed manuals and display the information on computer screens, a step the government would have to approve.

“That’s very much where we want to go,” said Gary Edwards, Delta’s director of flight control. “That’s the wave of the future.”

Passengers may notice other changes. Airlines including Delta are swapping heavier seats for models weighing about 5 pounds less. American is replacing its bulky drink carts with ones that are 17 pounds lighter. The airline said that move will help save 1.9 million gallons of fuel a year, on top of the 96 million gallons it is saving through other means.

Water is another target. Northwest is putting 25 percent less water for bathroom faucets and toilets on its international flights, Mr. McGraw said. Most planes had been returning from long flights with their tanks half full, an unneeded expense given that water weighs 8.3 pounds a gallon and a gallon of jet fuel is 6.8 pounds.

“Every 25 pounds we remove, we save $440,000 a year,” Mr. McGraw said.

Airlines also are trying to cut fuel consumption at the airport. Most now run their planes’ electrical systems at the gate by plugging them into outlets, rather than running the engines.

“We’re really fine-tuning to get to that sweet spot of efficiency,” said Mr. Edwards of Delta.

Northwest has studied everything from providing customers with packing tips to serving soda from two-liter plastic bottles rather than individual cans. But it decided that customers would balk at that idea.

“They like the can,” Mr. McGraw said. “They want the can.”

Source: New York TImes