Harsh Reality
The news comes on the heels of much more dire, depressing forecasts from the United Nations Environment Program. An analysis of the latest, peer-reviewed science concludes our planet could warm by the dreaded 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century unless the world takes immediate, decisive, extremely aggressive action.
Recent research shows exponential change is happening much faster than forecasters anticipated just two years ago. On July 9, the world's top emitting countries - responsible for 75% of global emissions - agreed to limit increases in global warming to 2ºC - the upper limit of warming possible to avoid catastrophe. The commitments made thus far will not be enough.
Some progress was made at the G20 summit which recently concluded in Pittsburgh, but most of the attention was on the economy and Iran's nuclear facility. They agreed to phase out subsidies for oil and gas, which would cut worldwide emissions 10%.
Serious commitment about reaching a deal in Copenhagen was in the air, but there's been little headway at the G20 meeting in Bangkok this week. Talks have stalled over the same old speed bumps: emissions targets for advanced nations and adaptation funding for developing nations.
"Progress toward high industrialized world emissions cuts remains disappointing during these talks. We're not seeing real advances there," Yvo de Boer, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told reporters. "Movement on the ways and means and institutions to raise, manage and deploy financing support for the developing world climate action also remains slow."
Next week the talks move to Barcelona. The Copenhagen conference is December 7-18.
Good News: Renewable Energy Rising Rapidly in US
Over the past couple of years, the "Monthly Energy Review" by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has shown renewable energy sources growing steadily (i.e., biofuels, biomass, geothermal, hydroelectric, solar, wind).
For June, renewables supplied 11.37% of domestic energy production, up from 9.89% in 2007. They provided 11.18% of net U.S. electrical generation for the first six months of 2009. Renewable energy is almost on par with nuclear, which provided 11.38% of the mix for the first half of 2009. Electricity from coal dropped 13.76%.
Wind energy and hydro is responsible for much of the increase, growing 24.54% and 7.14% respectively during the first half of 2009.
As a footnote, the European Environmental Agency says the EU's GHG emissions declined for the fourth consecutive year, primarily due to the recession and tightening the cap of its cap-and-trade program, the Emissions Trading Scheme. The EU is on track to meet its Kyoto target and will publish figures later this year.
A123 Systems Goes Public
Back to present reality and our stock markets. In our green investing newsletter, Progressive Investor, we said the significance of A123 Systems' IPO was a test of confidence in the markets, the economy and in cleantech. A successful IPO could open the door to other strong cleantech candidates waiting in the wings like Silver Spring Networks, Tesla Motors, Nanosolar and Solyndra.
A123's IPO was indeed successful, demonstrating strong investor interest in batteries for hybrids and electric vehicles. It's the biggest cleantech IPO since First Solar (FSLR) soared onto the public markets in 2006, quickly rising from about $20 to $375. That year was the year for solar stocks - now advanced batteries are in the spotlight.
