Social Funds | Responsible Investing
By Anne Moore Odell. The SRI community has a new way to share information about what companies are or aren't doing on social, environmental, and governance issues.By . Even during the current uneasy economic period, clean energy companies are still finding investorsBy . Survey finds the majority of the public expects charities to invest ethically.By Francesca Rheannon. Newly public wind development company is bringing energy ownership and economic improvement to communities.By . More leading US companies are publishing their sustainability work and embracing the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines.
WBCSD | Climate + Energy
Rich nations will come under pressure at climate talks in Africa this week to get specific about how quickly and by how much they intend to cut their carbon footprints, said the UN climate chief.Luc Gnacadja, who took over as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) last October, is a man with a mission -- a mission that goes beyond explaining that his job is not to battle deserts.Google Inc.'s philanthropic arm said today it is investing more than $10 million in emerging geothermal energy mapping and production technologies.The concentrated solar power (CSP) sector may not have had the momentum behind it that has driven the development of its flashier counterpart, photovoltaic solar energy (PV), in recent years, but high oil prices and a more favourable regulatory environment is starting to change this picture.German opposition to nuclear energy is starting to ease but the debate is still too emotional, the chief executive of Swedish power company Vattenfall said in an interview published on Monday.
WBCSD | Corporate Responsibility
IBM is ramping up its consulting services targeting businesses seeking a softer environmental footprint. Dubbed Green Sigma, the service can study water and energy use wherever these resources are used, such as in transportation, data centers, IT systems, manufacturing and distribution or retail facilities. The tech giant launched a consulting service based on the Lean Six Sigma strategy at a time when companies are facing growing pressure from stakeholders to lighten their environmental impacts.Globalisation has created a legion of border-hopping executives who jet around the world seeking new markets and deals. It has also created increasingly complex tax regimes that seek to govern the border-hoppers' activities. A new approach to taxation being adopted by OECD countries is creating a big headache for both peripatetic businesspeople and the firms that employ them.Luc Gnacadja, who took over as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) last October, is a man with a mission -- a mission that goes beyond explaining that his job is not to battle deserts.The world's poorest nations are making halting progress in water, but little or no tangible improvement in sanitation -- two of the basic necessities of life.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to launch Web portal to information and resources about environmental compliance, pollution prevention and other green issues specific to retailers, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) said.
Next Billion | Bottom of the Pyramid
 Things are generally slower in August, as many folks take vacation and less gets done by those who are at the office. (For a refreshing and innovative take on this phenomenon, you might consider Seth Godin's advice to work like your hair is on fire while the competition sleeps.)
For the rest of us, this means there's less content than normal floating around the base of the pyramid blogosphere. Despite this, here's a quick roundup of worthy reports and posts:
The GSM Association commissioned a report summarizing the findings of 20 top research papers. It might sound like a glorified literature review, but it's worth your time. This is really the first report to put together, in one place, research on the economic and social impact of mobile phones in developing countries. Jack Ewing of BusinessWeek gives the quick analysis, while Dave Tait at the Emerging Futures Lab provides a handy link to download the 36-page PDF file. From Ewing's blog post:
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