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I know this will never happen, I know they are in talks with TNA for a new contract, and I know they still are doing matches for TNA. Now that that is out of the way let's get on with it.
If the Dudley Boys were to be back in WWE what do you think would happen to the tag-team division?
They could not do half the stuff they did back in the day but I believe they could drastically improve the failing tag-team division.
Here are my five reasons why they could help out the WWE.

subset: commoncrawl


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[ Movie Page: Unfriended (2014) ]
Cybernatural (2014)
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Mystery
Type: Trailers
Duration: 1M14S
Cast: Darell M. Davie, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Renee Olstead, Shelley Hennig, Anthony Eftimeo, Denis Lyons, Michael Herbig, Cal Barnes, Matthew Bohrer, Courtney Halverson, Will Peltz, Mickey River, Heather Sossaman, Moses Jacob Storm, Jacob Wysocki
Director(s): Levan Gabriadze
Director Levan Gabriadze"s Cybernatural (2014) has a new type of horror movie that promises demon possession and cyber-bullying. I immediately get a V/H/S feeling when I see the trailer. I thought it was very cheesey at first but after watching the trailer I thought it was mildly cheesey. Anyway, I will check out this movie just to see what it is all about when i does release even though I have some really mixed feelings about the film. Starring is Cybernatural are Shelley Hennig, Renee Olstead and William Peltz.
Synopsis: While video chatting one night, six high school friends receive a Skype message from a classmate who killed herself exactly one year ago. A first they think it"s a prank, but when the girl starts revealing the friends" darkest secrets, they realize they are dealing with something out of this world, something that wants them dead. Told entirely from a young girl"s computer desktop, CYBERNATURAL redefines "found footage" for a new generation of teens.
You May Also Like...


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This was actually a very small 6" cake, done for a 40th birthday. Something pretty for over the hill!
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I love it.
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CakeCentral.com is the world's largest cake community for cake decorating professionals and enthusiasts.
(if this is a private computer)
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Virgos are in for quite a week with promises of increased income and resources available. The Sun enters this sector of your chart on Friday, followed by Mercury on Sunday. Add to this Venus, Saturn and Juno, and you are power-packed with cosmic connections. Everything from social invitations, gifts, to spiritual development are yours to command and enjoy. A relationship supports your dreams.
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From: Out of the Furnace
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From: Wholesome Holiday
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From: Eikaiwa's Calm Center
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From: Carry All
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From: Crafts


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About This Slideshow:
The youth praise band "Seventh Day" performs during the Captives for a Cause fundraising event at Grace United Methodist Church on Friday. The church's fundraising goal of $10,000 would support two summer mission trips. In June, 33 people will volunteer at Give Kids the World in Kissimmee, Fla., and 13 volunteers will travel to Bolivia to build a church in July. "We're very close," said Marianne Harlan, director of worship arts, of the church's goal. JON-MICHAEL SULLIVAN/STAFF


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Homogenizer Maintenance
Maintenance & Service of Homogenizer Motor Unit:
- The homogenizer should be given the care normally required for any electrical appliance.
- Avoid wetting or unnecessary exposure to fumes.
- The finish can be washed with water and soap or detergents, using a cloth or sponge.
- Do not allow water to get inside the unit.
- Allow drying before using.
- When necessary to replace motor unit brushes please contact a PRO Scientific Service technician (P#203-267-4600, email@example.com) or an authorized distributor.
Click here to request return paperwork for your homogenizer and/or generator.
- Never attempt to hold the lower end of the generator while the generator is attached to the motor.
- Over tightening the rotor knife onto the rotor shaft can result in breaking the shaft and/or distortion of the rotor knife.
- Any servicing of the homogenizer motor unit, except brush replacement, should be performed by the PRO Scientific Service Department.
- Use of any accessories or attachments other than those supplied by the manufacturer may be hazardous and voids all warranties.
- The motor unit is supplied with sealed ball bearings and requires no additional lubrication. Any additional lubrication to the motor can result in bearing and/or motor failure.
- Running a generator or chamber assembly without liquid media can cause damage to the bearings and consequently damage the generator.
Attaching the PRO Quick Connect Generator to the Homogenizer Motor Unit:
- All generators are fitted to the motor unit by inserting the upper end of the generator into the collar end of the motor.
- Align the vertical slots in the generator with the locating pins in the motor collar by rotating the generator.
- Once aligned, push the generator inward as far as possible and turn the generator left. The collar is spring loaded so you will feel some resistance as you push the generator inward and turn it.
- Once you have turned the generator ¼ turn, release the generator and you will hear a distinct click which is the generator dropping into its locked position.
- To prevent the generator from disengaging while being used, insert the safety clip between the upper collar of the generator and the bottom of the motor collar.
- To disconnect the generator from the motor unit, remove the safety clip, push the generator up into the motor collar as far as possible and turn the generator clockwise ¼ turn. The generator will be pushed out of the motor collar by the force of the internal spring.
PRO Quick Connect Generator Operating Procedures:
- The generator may be used with either an open chamber or within a sealed chamber assembly.
- The ideal situation is when the diameter of the generator is as large as the container will allow.
- Insert the generator into the medium that is to be homogenized. The depth to which the generator is inserted should be 1/3 of the liquid's height measured from the bottom of the container. According to the properties of the material, it may not be necessary to insert the generator to this depth. In case of heavy sediments, the generator may have to be positioned lower, but the generator must never come in contact with the bottom of the vessel.
- MID-BEARING NOTE: All generators that are 120mm in length and longer contain a mid-bearing, which is located inside the generator approximately half way up the shaft. The mid-bearing must be lubricated by the sample/liquid during processing, therefore the sample volume should cover about half the length of the generator.
- Start the drive unit at the lowest possible speed and then slowly increase the speed to the desired level.
- It is advisable that the generator be immersed within the container off-center. This off-center location will help minimize vortexing.
- The generators have two (2) sets of venting holes. One set is located approximately 1" from the bottom of the generator and the second set is approximately 1" below the bottom of the generator collar. The lower hole aids in keeping the lower bearing lubricated, while the top hole allows venting of any liquid that might be forced up into the tube. There is no need to avoid liquid from entering the lower set of holes.
- Once you have reached the level of processing that is required, reduce the motor speed and start to slowly remove the generator from the container while the motor is still running. It is important that this be done slowly as you want to spin all medium from the generator back into the container and not outside of the container.
- After spinning the medium off the generator, the motor can be turned off and the generator totally removed from the container.
Attaching the PRO Multi-Gen Adapter and Multi-Gen 7 and 7XL Generators to the Homogenizer Motor Unit:
- Align the grooves in the side of the adapter's upper collar with the two (2) pins in the bottom of the motor collar.
- Push the adapter into the motor collar.
- Once inserted as far as it will go, turn the adapter left until you feel the adapter lock into place. This should be approximately ¼ turn. The collar is spring loaded so you will feel some light resistance as you push the generator inward and turn.
- Once the adapter is attached to the motor collar, it is important that the safety clip supplied with the adapter be inserted between the bottom of the motor collar and the shoulder of the adapter. Proper insertion of the safety clip will prevent the adapter from disengaging from the motor collar when ejecting the used generator.
For additional PRO Generator Probe Maintenance Including Dismantling and Assembly Instructions Click Here
Click here to request return paperwork for your homogenizer and/or generator.
View all of our PRO Generators and Accessories.


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Take a break to renew your energy and mental focus with some mindful relaxation exercises. The sessions will be facilitated by Yolanda Chetwynd, a teacher at the Delaware Valley Zen Center in Newark. You'll learn different types of easy breathing meditations, practice with the group and have a chance to ask questions about making your personal times of relaxation or meditation more enjoyable and effective.
Participants are encouraged to wear loose fitting pants and bring their own cushion to sit on. Floor mats will be provided, as well as other props to make you as comfortable as possible while sitting.
15 Wellness Dollars
Wed. 12:10-12:50pm
9/25 - 12/18 (no class 11/20 and 11/27)
Room 260 Carpenter Sports Bldg.
Register online or call 831-8388
Yolanda Chetwynd has practiced Zen Meditation for most of her life. Brought up in London England, she was introduced to Zen Buddhism as a child because of her father's meditation practice. She has had various Zen teachers from the Japanese Rinzai tradition. Yolanda moved to Newark DE in 1987 with her husband who is a professor of Mechanical Engineering and has been part of the Newark and University Community since then. Yolanda became a member of the Delaware Valley Zen Center here in Newark in 2007


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The refinishing process is necessary to either change the color of the flooring or to remove old finish, dirt, scratches and surface stains. If you wish to darken or lighten your floors, we will sand the old finish from the floors and stain them a custom color of your choice. If your floors are worn, heavily scratched or damaged but you would like to keep the same color, we can do that too. We will sand off the old finish and apply your favorite stain color and then top coat the floors with polyurethane; they should look as good as new. We can handle your wood and hardwood fllor refinishing in Huntington Beach, CA.
These photos show a good example of sanding off traffic patterns and wear from an older oak floor bringing it back to its original, natural finish:
Maple flooring with old, yellowed oil finish can be sanded and refinished back to its original color:
Severe sun bleaching around an accent rug is removed by sanding a mahogany wood floor:
This is a good example of how we assist you in choosing a stain color:
Oak strip floors from the 1950's that have been covered by carpeting for many years can be refinished to their natural beauty:
This beech wood floor and staircase got an update with a popular grey stain:
This natural oak was sanded and stained with a rich English chestnut stain:
Handscraped, prefinished floors can also be refinished. This walnut floor looks amazing with the hand rubbed finish:
Adding new wood flooring up to existing flooring calls for a process called "lacing-in." After sanding, staining and finishing your guests will believe it was always there:
Quite often when floors sustain water damage they can be patched and refinished with beautiful results:
Sanding and refinishing of parquet flooring takes a skillled hand.
Herringbone parquet:
Teak Parquet:
Oak Fingerblock Parquet:
Many flooring installers use plank flooring as stair treads. At Cooper Floors, we custom make solid stair treads and custom finish them to match the flooring. See more examples of staircase installation on our Installation page.
Staircase installation and finishing:
Stair treads can be stained a different color than the floor for a nice compliment:
Or, taken from unmatched to matching:
From Natural Beech to a medium Grey stain:
From a prefinished cinnamon color to a warm custom rubbed stain:
If we haven't shown photos representing your specific situation, give us a call; I bet we've done it!
Contact us for more information about our restorative process for hardwood flooring.
Cooper Floors ~~ 714-979-7888


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Leading Pennsylvania businesses are backing the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan, however. They recognize that the transition to a cleaner, less carbon-intensive electricity system is underway and that states that move more quickly in this direction will benefit the most.
Last week, major companies, including Philadelphia-based IKEA North America, the Adidas Group, Eileen Fisher, JLL, and Nestlé USA, sent letters to state lawmakers urging Pennsylvania to submit a timely strategy outlining how it will implement the Clean Power Plan.
The letter outlined wide-ranging economic benefits for businesses and ratepayers, concluding that "planning now ensures the best outcome for Pennsylvania in the future."
They also described how Pennsylvania could get a jump-start on developing clean energy by taking advantage of early compliance credits offered by the Clean Energy Incentive Program.
Last spring, after various attempts to derail implementation of the Clean Power Plan, the Pennsylvania General Assembly settled on—and ultimately passed—a bill that empowers the legislature to review, and accept or reject, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's compliance plan. Under this agreement, the General Assembly could, if it wanted to, postpone implementation of the Clean Power Plan in Pennsylvania by up to a year. However, Gov. Wolf has made it clear that he intends to keep moving forward in developing a compliance strategy.
"We are encouraged by the [Wolf] Administration's intent to keep planning and hope the Assembly will, in a timely fashion, allow the Department of Environmental Protection to do its job to protect the state's economy and avail of the opportunity for Pennsylvania to transition to a low-carbon economy that is beneficial for all," the companies concluded.
The Pennsylvania General Assembly should heed the call of these businesses and tap the enormous potential of the Clean Power Plan to attract new clean energy investments and create additional economic development opportunities – as well as good paying jobs – for Pennsylvania. Diverse states such as Minnesota, California, Colorado and Massachusetts are already reaping such benefits by embracing the clean energy future and the Clean Power Plan. Pennsylvania should follow their lead.]]>
Campbell Soup Company, Clif Bar & Company, Gap Inc., JLL, Nestlé, Owens Corning, Schneider Electric, United Technologies and Whirlpool Corporation are calling on lawmakers to reinstate Ohio's clean energy standards. The request comes as lawmakers are currently debating the future of Ohio's energy standards, which shape everything from where Ohio's electricity comes from to how much that energy will cost and what services utility companies will offer to customers. Lawmakers are expected to vote on proposals in the days following the election.
"Now is the time for lawmakers to strengthen Ohio's energy efficiency and renewable energy standards," said Alli Gold Roberts, policy manager at Ceres and one of the organizers of the business group. "These standards are good for business, and failing to reinstate them will send the wrong signal to companies and investors throughout the state."
Two years ago, Ohio launched an experiment on energy policy, becoming the first state to freeze its energy efficiency and renewable energy standards. The freeze has been in place ever since. State lawmakers, with Senate Bill 320 and other proposals, are debating what to do once the freeze expires at the end of the year.
Supporters of the freeze, which began in 2014, said Ohio needed a chance to reevaluate whether the standards were working. Since then, a wealth of new data has become available—almost all of it showing the standards' effectiveness.
While the energy standards were in place:
During the freeze on the energy standards:
All of the businesses in the coalition released their own statements about the standards. Those statements can be read below.
"We urge Ohio's leaders to lift the state's freeze on the renewable energy and energy efficiency standards. Continuing to undo smart clean energy policies won't help us build a stronger Ohio for tomorrow. Campbell remains supportive of removing barriers and promoting incentives for low carbon energy options. We believe renewable energy and energy efficiency are good for the environment and good for business. The solar project on Campbell's Napoleon, OH site is expected to save $4 million and eliminate 250,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas over the purchase agreement's 20-year period."
— Dave Stangis, Vice President Corporate Social Responsibility, Campbell Soup Company
Ohio Locations: Cincinnati – Office, Columbus – Retail Store, Jeffersonville – Retail Store, Napoleon – Food Processing Plant, Westlake – Retail Store, Willard – Manufacturing Plant
"Clif Bar opposes Ohio's current freeze on renewable energy and energy efficiency standards. As a company that loves the outdoors, we understand that clean, renewable energy is good for people and the planet. We also know that it's good business to run a green business. We use 100% green power in our Clif Bar bakeries and headquarters, and are committed to 50% or more green power within our supply chain by 2020. With facilities in Ohio, we hope to see legislators reinstate the state's renewable energy and energy efficiency standards."
— Elysa Hammond, Director of Environmental Stewardship, Clif Bar & Company
Ohio Locations: Cincinnati – Office
"The time to act is now. We urge leaders in Ohio to lift the freeze on the state's renewable energy and energy efficiency standards. Clean energy policies are smart and will build a stronger and more resilient Ohio. As a company with a large presence in the state, energy efficiency and renewable energy is important to our business and our future. We've set an ambitious goal to reduce our GHG emissions by 50% by 2020, and we encourage Ohio's leaders to help us all move toward a clean energy future."
— Christina Nicholson, Director Environmental Impact, Gap Inc.
Ohio Locations: Grove City – Office, Groveport – Distribution Center and Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Athleta Retail Stores across the state
"At JLL we are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions because it helps our bottom line and our planet. That's why we call on Ohio lawmakers to pass common sense legislation that will reinstate Ohio's renewable energy and energy efficiency standards. We want to see a future where the built environment has a positive impact on the places and cities in which we live and work. To help get us there, we continuously embed sustainability and energy efficiency into our business, and support clean energy policies that send a strong market signal to the private sector." Bob Best, Head of JLL Energy and Sustainability Services."
— Bob Best, Head of JLL Energy and Sustainability Services, JLL
Ohio Locations: Offices in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus (x2)
"As a major manufacturing company in Ohio, we rely on clean energy to reduce costs and lower our carbon emissions. We've set ourselves clear targets to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions in all of our manufacturing operations. We're making good progress and our support of policies that encourage the transition toward a low carbon economy helps us, and other companies, to continually improve our environmental performance. We know this is also important to many of our consumers and we strongly believe that lifting the freeze on Ohio's renewable energy and energy efficiency standards is good for the environment and good for business, as well as the state's economy and the people who call it home."
— Paul Bakus, President, Corporate Affairs, Nestlé
Ohio Locations: Solon– Prepared Foods HQ, Manufacturing & Product Technology Center; Cleveland– Manufacturing; Marysville – Product Technology Center; Zanesville – Nestlé Purina Manufacturing; Hilliard - Nestlé Waters Bottling Plant; Dublin – Food Quality Scientific Center
"As a large local and global electricity consumer, continuously seeking more sustainable energy supplies, we support immediately lifting the freeze on Ohio's energy efficiency and renewable energy standards. Additionally, Owens Corning is a market leader in manufacturing energy saving products and materials that enhance wind energy performance. This uniquely positions us to speak to the energy savings, environmental impact and job-creating value of expanding the penetration of energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions. Our recognition of renewable energy's diverse value is also reflected in our actions. In 2015, Owens Corning announced that it had executed power supply agreements of newly installed capacity that represented, at the time, the largest wind power agreements reported by an industrial company in the world. That same day, Owens Corning dedicated a 2.4-megawatt solar parking lot canopy at the company's headquarters in Toledo, the largest system of its kind in the Midwest. We support lifting the freeze."
— Frank O'Brien-Bernini, VP and Chief Sustainability Officer, Owens Corning
Ohio Locations: Owens Corning operates eight facilities in the state of Ohio, including our global business headquarters in Toledo, our global R&D headquarters in Granville, and six manufacturing operations around the state (Newark, Mt. Vernon, Medina, Tallmadge, Tiffin, Columbus).
"Energy efficiency proved to be an effective cost saving program for both residential and commercial customers in Ohio. Great progress has been made in growing Ohio's economy and creating local jobs, and yet the program had not come close to realizing its full potential before it was halted. Lifting Ohio's freeze on the Energy Efficiency Resource Standard will bring future benefits and cost reductions to Ohio consumers."
— Trisha Knych, Vice President Government Relations & North America Communications, Schneider Electric
Ohio Locations: Oxford - Manufacturing; West Chester - Field Service; West Chester - Field Office; Kettering - Manufacturing; Broadview Heights - Field Service; Westerville - Field Office
"When we use energy more efficiently, we reduce costs, increase productivity and become more competitive. Annual electricity bills can be a significant cost to many businesses. Energy efficiency helps reduce those costs, and the benefits of efficiency compound across the supply chain. Ending the freeze on energy efficiency will allow Ohio to be more competitive in the global economy."
— John Mandyck, Chief Sustainability Officer, United Technologies
Ohio Locations: Akron, Columbus, Dayton, Heath, Independence, Sharonville, Troy, Uniontown
"Whirlpool Corporation urges Ohio's leaders to restore the state's Energy Efficiency Resource Standard and be proactive in supporting energy policies that promote affordability, reliability and protection of the environment. These priorities are a foundation for Ohio's continued economic growth. As the number one major appliance manufacturer in the world, Whirlpool Corporation will continue to do its part by developing innovative resource-efficient appliances and by improving the environmental performance of our facilities."
— Jeff Noel, Corporate Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs, Whirlpool Corporation
Ohio Locations: Clyde (clothes washer manufacturing), Marion (clothes dryer manufacturing), Findlay (dishwasher manufacturing), Ottawa (freezer and ice maker manufacturing), Greenville (KitchenAid small appliance manufacturing), and Columbus (regional distribution center)]]>
The seven companies – Diageo, General Mills, Hain Celestial, Hormel Foods, Kellogg, PepsiCo, and WhiteWave Foods – are participants in the AgWater Challenge, a collaborative initiative organized by Ceres and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Participants submitted detailed sustainable sourcing and water stewardship plans and the companies meeting specific criteria were recognized by WWF and Ceres as AgWater Stewards. A progress report on their commitments will be issued in one year.
"Major food brands can be a powerful and constructive force for scaling water stewardship, especially at the farm level where the biggest footprint is by far," said Brooke Barton, Senior Director of the Water and Food Program at the nonprofit sustainability group Ceres. "These brands recognize the material financial impact that water risks pose to their business, from supply disruptions, to higher operating costs, to growth constraints. More than ever, companies are responding to these supply risks through farmer incentives, local partnerships and bottom line reductions."
One-third of the world's food is grown in areas of high water stress or competition, and agriculture is a leading cause of water pollution worldwide. The food sector, which uses 70 percent of global freshwater supplies, primarily for growing crops, can play a critical role at protecting limited freshwater resources by working with farmers to become more water smart.
"Mismanagement of our increasingly stressed freshwater resources presents a serious risk to life on Earth—wildlife and humans," said Lindsay Bass, Manager of Corporate Water Stewardship, WWF. "The purpose of the Challenge is to encourage these companies to understand and address agricultural water risks, and share the knowledge picked up along the way. We all have a mutual interest in protecting the world's most stressed water resources."
Commitments by Challenge participants include:
Click here for a full summary of the AgWater Steward commitments.
"We are proud of our decades-long water stewardship efforts as part of our sustainable business agenda called Performance with Purpose," said Roberta Barbieri, Vice President, Global Environmental and Water Solutions, PepsiCo. "Expanding our water goals to include PepsiCo's agricultural supply chain is a key part of our Positive Water Impact strategy, designed to enable long-term sustainable water security for our food and beverage business and others who depend on water availability."
In addition to new commitments, the AgWater Challenge recognizes companies with far-reaching, ongoing commitments. Diageo, General Mills, and Kellogg were recognized as AgWater Stewards for showing action across all five categories of the groups' AgWater Challenge checklist – from water risk assessments and setting reduction goals, to reducing water risk in agricultural supply chains and supporting producers in addressing these issues.
"The footprint of our extended value chain goes well beyond our offices and facilities. A very large portion of that footprint is in agriculture," said Jerry Lynch, chief sustainability officer at General Mills. "The challenges facing our company and our planet are more pressing than ever, so we have to build resiliency in our supply chains to ensure that we can continue to serve the world by making food people love. Our ambition through the AgWater Challenge and all of our water initiatives is to lead by example and we hope to encourage others to do the same."
Among these companies' commitments:
"Diageo makes over a third of our products in water stressed areas globally and over 70% of our water use is in agriculture, said John O'Keeffe, President, Diageo Africa. This means working with small holder farmers in Africa to help them manage water risk is absolutely essential to achieving our growth ambitions across Africa, and more importantly to the future of the farmers and their communities."
The AgWater Challenge aims to spur companies to make time-bound and measurable commitments to reduce the water impacts associated with key agricultural commodities, implement locally-relevant strategies to mitigate risk in agricultural areas where water is scarce or polluted and support and incentivize farmers to strengthen water stewardship practices.
WWF and Ceres employed criteria to evaluate companies' water management plans. See summary here.
To be named an AgWater Steward, companies had to complete minimal criteria, including setting a time-bound goal for completing a water risk assessment across their supply chains and setting sustainable sourcing goals. While all companies went beyond the minimum criteria, the AgWater Challenge recognizes that all companies' efforts are a work in progress.
WWF and Ceres will complete a more in-depth analysis of the companies' water stewardship efforts and report on their progress in one year.
In 2017, Ceres will evaluate the companies' adherence to their commitments through the release its second "Feeding Ourselves Thirsty" report, which benchmarks global food and beverage companies on their water management practices. All of the AgWater Stewards will be benchmarked in the report, along with several dozen additional companies.
About Ceres
Ceres is a non-profit organization that is mobilizing many of the world's largest companies and investors to take stronger action on climate change, water scarcity and other global sustainability challenges. Ceres directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a group of 120 institutional investors managing about $14 trillion assets focused on the business risks and opportunities of climate change and water scarcity. Ceres also engages with 100-plus companies, many of them Fortune 500 businesses, committed to sustainable business practices and the urgency for strong climate and clean energy policies. For more information, visit www.ceres.org or follow on Twitter @CeresNews.
The report, Insurer Climate Risk Disclosure Survey Report and Scorecard: 2016 Findings & Recommendations, ranks property & casualty, life & annuity, and health insurers that represent over two thirds of the total U.S. insurance market by direct premiums written. The companies were evaluated on five core themes, including governance, climate risk management, the use of catastrophe modeling or other modeling to evaluate and manage risk, greenhouse gas management and stakeholder engagement. The report is based on company disclosures in response to a climate risk survey developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).
"As devastating, deadly events like Hurricane Matthew remind us, insurance companies are on the front lines of extreme weather events and other climate-related risks, yet in too many cases, they're still giving the issue short shrift," said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres, a nonprofit sustainability group that works with businesses and investors on climate change and other sustainability challenges. "Since our last report in 2014, the number of insurers receiving high scores has more than doubled – from 9 companies to 22 – and that is welcome news. But too many insurance companies are still ignoring the issue, especially when it comes to engaging on climate policies that would reduce the pollution causing climate change in the first place."
"I'm encouraged by the results of this survey, particularly by the quadrupling of improvement by U.S.-based companies," said Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. "That said, I am concerned that the vast majority of health insurers are largely unprepared to address the risks posed by climate change. With rising health care costs, health insurers would be well-served to look at the risk climate change poses to their business lines and investments."
"This thorough analysis of insurance company survey responses continues to be a valuable tool in the discussion about climate change and its impact on the insurance industry," added California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. "I am particularly encouraged by Ceres' identification of notable improvements in disclosure quality from both property and casualty insurers as well as life insurance companies. Insurers and regulators need to consider climate risk and climate change and their potential impact on reserving, underwriting, investments, and business operations. "
The companies' survey responses were ranked based on a four-tier scoring system: "High Quality," "Medium Quality," "Low Quality" and "Minimal." The 22 companies earning the High Quality designation included 13 U.S. insurers, up from only two U.S. insurers in 2014.
Insurers earning high marks for climate risk reporting included:
Most of the top-ranked companies – 16 of the 22 – are property & casualty insurers, which are directly exposed to climate risks through policies they write for homeowners, vehicles and businesses. The other six top-ranked companies are life & annuity insurers. Life & annuity insurers hold roughly two-thirds of the U.S. insurance sector's total cash and invested assets. These trillions of dollars in holdings could be affected by changes in policy, technology and physical risks during the transition to a lower-carbon economy.
Sixty-four percent of the insurance companies evaluated overall scored in the Low Quality or Minimal disclosure categories. Health insurers, in particular, were especially weak in their understanding of climate risks, despite growing scientific evidence on the health impacts of climate change. No health insurers earned a High Quality disclosure rating, and only four earned Medium Quality ratings, while 89 percent of the health insurers offered Low Quality or Minimal disclosure.
Ceres' report includes recommendations for insurance companies. It urges all insurance firms to:
The report recommends that insurance regulators, for their part, enhance the climate risk disclosure survey and continue to expand mandatory climate risk reporting for all insurers.
Here's what insurance companies are saying about climate change:
"As a company in business for more than 200 years, we understand what it takes to be sustainable," said David Robinson, general counsel and head of the environment committee for The Hartford. "We are committed to mitigating climate change and decreasing our carbon footprint. Between 2007 and last year, The Hartford reduced energy-related greenhouse gases by 57 percent, and the company is working to continue that trend going forward."
"MetLife is dedicated to creating a sustainable future, and support this commitment by addressing climate change issues throughout our organization," said Joseph Sprouls, MetLife's executive vice president and head of global corporate services. "We are committed to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency across our global operations, investing in renewable energy, and collaborating with our business partners to reduce our environmental impact," Sprouls added. "We recognize the importance of reporting on our progress, and are proud to be recognized by Ceres for being the most improved insurer on the 2014 NAIC Climate Risk Disclosure Survey."
"We include environmental, social and governance considerations in our investment analysis to ensure we manage these risks appropriately," said Warren Thomson, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, Manulife Financial, parent company to John Hancock. "Insurers are playing an important role in financing the transition to a lower carbon economy."
"Prudential's commitment to strong corporate governance, transparency and long-term value creation drives our engagement with our stakeholders on important issues like climate risk." Mary O'Malley, VP of Corporate Governance at Prudential Financial.]]>
Access to safe drinking water is a colossal challenge globally and no place more than in Sub-Saharan Africa. Among the many problem areas is northern Ghana, a remote savannah dotted with small villages, tin-roofed mud huts and 800,000 people who drink bacteria-laden water. Most of the villages get their water from murky-brown surface water sources known as dugouts.
Here in the village of Yepala, nobody likes dugout water. "Terrible," said Awabu Mageed, standing outside her small hut, with goats and young children scampering around her. "Even when you boil it for tea, it isn't good." It's also contaminated with fecal matter, which is why 15 to 20 percent of the children under 5 in this region suffer from diarrheal disease that can kill.
When Kate Cincotta visited northern Ghana as an MIT engineering student, she saw a big opportunity for improving the drinking water. And it wouldn't require more costly engineering solutions like deepwater wells.
Cincotta came up with a solution that is far simpler - provide local women with low-cost equipment and train them to use locally available products - chlorine and potassium alum powder - to treat the contaminated water and make it safe to drink.
Eight years ago, Cincotta launched Saha Global a Boston-based nonprofit empowering local women in extremely poor villages like Yepala to treat the contaminated water - and make a little money in doing so.
Here's how it works: each of the participating women receives three free water drums, a bunch of smaller blue buckets and basic training on treating and selling the water. They also receive regular monitoring support from five local Saha Global staffers who travel from village to village every day on small motorcycles.
Cincotta has been painstakingly careful in thinking through the concept, beginning with her choice of women - not men - to run the businesses. "Women are the water experts because they're the ones who collect the water every day. They've been doing since they were 4 years old," she said.
She also recognized the importance of locating the water treatment centers near the dugouts, which women were visiting up to six times a day to get their water. This way, it wouldn't require a big behavior change then to switch from dirty water to clean water.
Today, 93 water businesses are up and running, serving 46,500 people. "Every operation we started is still running," says Cincotta, who is providing about $800-$1500 of materials per village, which less than half the cost of drilling a well, which also requires maintenance.
To be sure, nobody is getting rich. The women work about five hours a week, netting about $1 to $2 a week, nothing to sneeze at in an area where subsistence agriculture is about the only type of employment.
Emboldened by her success in this region that has no electricity at all, Saha Global has more recently ventured into the household solar business. More than two-dozen businesses are now running small solar charging centers, which use small solar panels to provide green power that the villagers can use for a small fee. At one of the charging stations I visited, a half-dozen villagers were re-charging their cell phones and a few more were re-charging batteries for their solar lanterns.
But clean water continues to be Cincotta's primary focus. Just two weeks ago, in fact, her group received a $100,000 grant from the Mulago Foundation to expand the clean water project and ensure that the existing 93 businesses can be self-sustaining.
Cincotta says a key priority right now is understanding her existing customers. "I'm really focused on behavior change, what it will take to make sure people drink our clean water all the time," she said. The challenge was made clear during my visit to Yepala. It had rained the past couple of days, so rather than walking 10 minutes to get their clean water, several families had opted to save 10 pesetas by using the rainwater they captured from their tin roofs.
I also asked Cincotta if she's considered changing her business model, which is premised on donating materials to the villages up front. Even as more NGOs are shifting to micro-financing models, she says she has no plans to change her strategy.
"People cannot afford to purchase water at a price where the women would be able to pay back the cost of the tanks," she said. "We want to provide clean water to the poorest of the poor and, unfortunately, there is a huge market failure when it comes to water for this population."
All images courtesy of Saha Global
Sustainability is a broad term, and not every environmental or social issue belongs on the board agenda. But when an environmental or social issue has the potential to affect corporate revenue and earnings in the short and long term, sustainability absolutely should be on the table.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to materiality, and this is where corporate directors have a critical role to play.
Materiality is about determining a company's priorities. As fiduciaries responsible for overseeing a company so that it not only survives but also thrives in the long term, directors have a responsibility to assess whether a company is making the right choices.
But the much harder question is: When does an environmental or social issue rise to the level of being material?
Here are some steps directors can take to drive discussions about whether sustainability issues are material to the companies that they oversee.
1) Understand how sustainability is being integrated into your company's efforts as a way to identify material issues.
There are a few ways to do this. Directors could point management towards the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board's Company Implementation Guide, which provides a great starting point for companies to assess whether certain sustainability factors could be considered material for the purposes of the company's financial filings. Directors could also integrate themselves more meaningfully into corporate efforts aimed at identifying material sustainability issues. They could provide perspectives on the connections between sustainability factors, corporate strategy, risk, and revenue.
2) Include key issues being raised by critical stakeholders in the materiality exercise.
While a broader range of stakeholders is raising a variety of issues these days, the financial community is a particularly critical constituency to direct attention towards. As we discussed in our panel, the U.S. investor community is starting to make the connections between sustainability and the financial value of companies in their portfolios. During the 2016 proxy season, close to 400 shareholder resolutions on climate change and other sustainability issues were filed. Large investors including CalPERS, CalSTRS and State Street Global Advisors are asking their portfolio companies to put directors with climate expertise on their boards.
In addition to tracking broad sustainability trends that investors are paying attention to, prudent directors could consider opportunities to engage directly with key shareholders to get a sense of issues specific to the company and the industry. Directors could also track and engage with the broader activist and advocacy community as a risk management exercise.
3) Weigh in on the time frame over which issues are considered to be material.
Since the board in particular is responsible for long-term corporate performance, directors play an important role in examining whether their company's materiality process focuses on considering issues over the long or short term.
Overall, momentum is building to adopt a more long-term view to encourage companies and boards to think more broadly about sustainability and materiality. The recently released Commonsense Corporate Governance Principles, which are backed by major U.S. companies including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Berkshire Hathaway, and Blackrock, support the move to long-term thinking. And more companies including Unilever, Coca Cola, and National Grid are moving away from the practice of issuing quarterly guidance specifically to encourage investors and other stakeholders to adopt long-term thinking.
4) Disclose details on what you consider to be your company's material priorities.
Noting that determinations of materiality depend on whom the company considers to be its most significant stakeholders, governance experts are starting to call on corporate boards to release a statement noting critical audiences that the company is oriented towards and issues that the corporation is prioritizing. Companies like the Dutch insurance company Aegon have started to issue such statements.
The process of helping to identify the right issues is just a first step in a director's responsibility on materiality. Directors have an important role to play in ensuring that material issues, when identified are integrated into board deliberations on strategy, risk, revenue and accountability systems. However, getting to the right issues lays an important foundation for the company and its key stakeholders to build on.
Veena Ramani is a senior director at Ceres. She runs our program on corporate governance. She recently authored the report View From the Top: How Corporate Boards Engage on Sustainability Performance.]]>
While the Clean Trillion has focused primarily on clean energy investing, there is also a pressing need for bigger investment in climate resilient water infrastructure.
Ceres: First, can you tell us what is a water-related green bond?
Monika Freyman: Green bonds generally are a tool for raising capital for projects that deliver environmental benefits. A water-related green bond specifically could finance sustainable water infrastructure projects that are resilient to climate change. For example a water-related bond could help water utilities build infrastructure (i.e. catchment and delivery systems) to cope with more extreme and unpredictable weather patterns, or help companies implement water efficiency measures.
Currently, there is an enormous supply and demand gap for financing water-related projects and infrastructure in the U.S.: $1 trillion dollars over the next 25 years, according to the American Water Works Association. So there is a big need to invest in water projects, but also ensure that these investments are sustainable and climate ready. Hundreds of water infrastructure projects and billions of dollars are at risk of being stranded or impaired due to water and climate related risks. Keith Schneider has an excellent article in Circle of Blue summarizing what's at stake.
The key here is that water-related green bonds are used to finance projects that are adaptable and resilient to growing climate impacts we're seeing, such as last week's deadly flooding from Hurricane Matthew in North Carolina.
C: Why a certification standard for green bond water projects?
F: Nearly 10 percent of the green bonds issued to date are focused on water projects. So a standard that ensures these water projects are indeed credibly 'green,' using science-based criteria, is essential to promote the growth of this market. In addition to helping investors deploy capital more rapidly towards water infrastructure, it also raises awareness with issuers, whether corporations or municipalities, that this type of financing is available. I'd like to think the standard connects these various parties in a more a credible and scalable way.
In other words, certified green bonds for water provide assurance to investors that projects have undergone rigorous climate resilience planning and could potentially attract new financial flows to help fill the trillion dollar supply and demand gap.
C: Who created the standard?
F: The standard was created through a rigorous science based process led by the Climate Bonds Initiative in conjunction with the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation, (AGWA) CDP, Ceres and the World Resources Institute (WRI). The process involved dozens of global water experts working together for over a year and ultimately the standard had to be approved by CBI's board.
C: Have you any seen any examples where a certified green bond has been issued successfully for water projects and can serve as a model for more activity?
F: The San Francisco Public Utility Commission is a noteworthy example of what we hope to see in the future. Proceeds from the $240 million Wastewater Revenue bond will fund sustainable stormwater management and wastewater projects. The research and analysis firm Sustainalytics provided third-party verification. The certification reassured investors that their money would go toward climate ready and resilient projects. That meant making sure that mechanisms such as climate readiness, planning and good water stewardship were in place.
Ceres and its consortium partners developed a Verifiers and Issuers Guide using the SF PUC's bond as an example of how green bonds can be certified. We hope this guide will help smooth the way for other water utilities follow San Francisco's lead.
C: What are the next steps?
We will be encouraging cities, utilities and companies to use the standard when they issue green bonds for water-related projects. Ceres and consortium partners will be educating potential issuers and investors on the benefits and ease of verification. In addition we are contributing to the development of a certification standard related to nature-based water projects, which will eventually be layered onto the existing standard.
We'd like to see more companies use the standard for water projects within their operations. We just saw Apple use a green bond recently to raise $1.5 billion to finance renewable energy. Corporations could also be using green bonds for water efficiency. That would be really great.
C: Are green bonds gaining momentum?
F: There is strong momentum and interest in green bond issuances generally. The market is growing rapidly, albeit from a nascent low base. About $100 billion of green bonds are expected to be issued this year, up from $40-odd billion last year. It's still a fledgling market. It's not out of the nest, yet. But it has the ability to scale very rapidly, once there's more assurance and credibility in the market. I am optimistic that this market will continue to evolve quickly.]]>
The new standard, or "Water Climate Bonds Criteria," are a key segment of the Climate Bonds Standard, and will certify water investments that have:
Water-related infrastructure needs are enormous, with the American Water Works Association (AWWA) estimating that the cost of repairing and expanding U.S. drinking water infrastructure will top $1 trillion in the next 25 years.
Projects as diverse as energy or industrial water efficiency, reuse, catchment or watershed restoration and/or large-scale water supply infrastructure development could be included.
The Criteria will provide assistance to corporate, municipal, city based and other bond issuers seeking to ensure their bond offerings for water-related infrastructure, or water systems within industrial and manufacturing processes, maximise sustainability and environmental factors.
Development has been led and supported by a Consortium convened by the Climate Bonds Initiative that includes Ceres, the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), CDP, and the World Resources Institute (WRI) together with a Technical Working Group (TWG) that includes additional water expertise through representation from other NGO's, industry experts and water authorities.
Co-ordinating the development of the criteria through the TWG is Lead Specialist Dr John Matthews, of the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), which is supported by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).
Development Stages
Phase I of the Climate Bonds Water Criteria has focussed primarily on screening grey (built) water infrastructure projects and assets.
Phase II development is now underway, beginning the process of extending the scope of the Criteria to include ecosystem-based adaptation and mitigation for investments in green (nature based) water projects and assets.
Consortium Representative Statements
John Matthews – Water TWG Lead Specialist, AGWA Consortium Representative:
"The Technical Working Group's work concentrated on the resilience and greenhouse gas impacts of water investments as expressions in concrete and stone, embedded in a matrix of economic and ecological systems. I am exceptionally proud of how the TWG tackled this issue with sophistication and an eye to practicality and implementation.
"These goals mark an abrupt shift in how many issuers and investors have seen climate change as a distant, abstract issue, to something that influences their investment and sustainability strategy."
Monika Freyman – Director, Ceres Water Program:
"Water infrastructure is vastly underfunded and this is especially true for sustainable water infrastructure, which is critical for helping us adapt to the extremes of climate change - whether drought, violent downpours or flooding. Approval of the Water Climate Bonds Criteria will be extremely helpful in catalyzing credible growth in this hugely important market."
Cate Lamb – Head of CDP Water Program:
"CDP is delighted at today's announcement, which represents another step on the road from Paris. Delivering a low carbon, water secure future may be one of the defining challenges of the 21st Century. The Climate Bonds Water Standard represents a significant contribution to overcoming this challenge and enhancing resiliency."
Sean Kidney – CEO Climate Bonds Initiative
"The need for all water usage systems and infrastructure, both small and large to be designed in anticipation of a climate impacted future is undeniable. Today's water investments must be built upon anticipation of the changing conditions to be faced in forthcoming decades.
"The Water Criteria is a sound basis to assist investors to evaluate and assess resilience and adaptation and sustainability characteristics of water projects and infrastructure. "]]>
Launching Investor Expectations of Automotive Companies - Shifting gears to accelerate the transition to low carbon vehicles Stephanie Pfeifer, CEO for European investor network IIGCC said, "This guide signals a new area of concerted engagement between big investors and one of the most significant sectors when it comes to tackling the climate challenge. As a consequence of the Paris Agreement, investors expect regulatory frameworks affecting the automotive sector to become far more stringent, not least those governing vehicle fuel performance standards in the EU and elsewhere. Several automotive companies have already recognised they must increase capital expenditure in sustainable driving technology and product pipelines if they are to develop a climate resilient business model. Likewise, that they must engage with policy makers to ensure sustainability is placed at the heart of the industry's future."
Commenting on the guide, Dr Hans-Christoph Hirt, Co-Head of Hermes EOS, the stewardship team of Hermes Investment Management which led the drafting of the guide said, "Long-term investors want to ensure that automotive companies are prepared for the challenges stemming from climate change, new technologies, changing policies and shifts in demand caused by global trends. Investors expect the industry to embark upon a smoother route to future prosperity by developing and implementing long-term business strategies which are resilient to climate change and resulting regulatory shifts. Investors expect that such a strategy will feature board-level responsibility for climate change and sustainability, and emission reduction targets with challenging goals. Automotive companies should work together with policy makers to manage the shift to lower emissions vehicles and develop the new infrastructure required to deliver a sustainable low-carbon transport system."
Chris Davis, senior program director of the Ceres Investor Network on Climate Risk said, "Strong fuel efficiency regulations are in the economic interest of the auto industry; acting as an insurance policy for automakers in the event of future fuel price spikes, and providing significant benefits to suppliers of fuel saving technologies. A growing number of institutional investors recognise that climate change will impact their holdings, portfolios, and asset values in the short and long-term. To achieve sustainable returns for clients and beneficiaries, investors in the automotive sector must engage to ensure companies are prepared to thrive in a carbon constrained environment and support robust policy action sufficient to drive the transition to clean vehicles."
Emma Herd, CEO at Investor Group on Climate Change and representing the Asia Investor Group on Climate Change said, "Established automotive companies are highly exposed to competition from new entrants responding to growing consumer demand for cleaner vehicles and smart transport services. Consumer demand, combined with targeted government support, is already driving a shift to lower emission fleets in Japan, India, China and South Korea. Auto makers in all regions have significant challenges beyond simply producing cleaner cars, trucks or buses. To show they can act in the long-term interest of investors and beneficiaries they must drive wholesale change across their manufacturing base and through every part of their global supply chains to shrink the carbon footprint of the entire industry."
About the guide
Investor Expectations of Automotive Companies - Shifting gears to accelerate the transition to low carbon vehicles was developed by the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) with support from other investor networks in North America (Ceres' INCR), Asia (AIGCC) and Australasia (IGCC) in the Global Investor Coalition ( http://globalinvestorcoalition.org/ ). It is intended to be used in tandem with Institutional Investors' Expectations of Corporate Climate Risk Management (http://www.iigcc.org/publications/publication/institutional-investors-expectations-of-corporate-climate-risk-management ) and is the latest in a series of sector focused guides produced to support investor engagement with key sectors to curb carbon asset and climate risk. It joins existing guides addressing engagement with oil& gas, mining, and utilities companies.
This guide is intended to enable investors to engage with the boards of automotive (and component supply) companies about their efforts to re-think their business models and contribute directly to the development of more sustainable driving technologies in order to mitigate long term climate change related risks. The expectations in the guide go further than suggesting automotive companies should support compliance with 2°C regulatory regime. They call on auto companies to:
The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change is a forum for collaboration on climate change for investors. IIGCC's network includes 128 members, with some of the largest pension funds and asset managers in Europe, representing over €14 trillion in assets. IIGCC's mission is to provide investors a common voice to encourage public policies, investment practices and corporate behaviour which address long-term risks and opportunities associated with climate change. See www.iigcc.org and @iigccnews
Ceres is a non-profit organisation mobilising many of the world's largest investors and companies to take stronger action on climate change, water scarcity and other global sustainability challenges. Ceres coordinates the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a group of over 120 institutional investors managing over $14 trillion assets focused on the business risks and opportunities of climate change. Ceres also engages with 100-plus companies, many of them fortune 500 firms, committed to sustainable business practices and the urgency for strong climate and clean energy policies. For more information, visit www.ceres.org and @incrnews
The Investor Group on Climate Change is a collaboration of over 65 Australian and New Zealand institutional investors and advisors, managing over $1 trillion in assets under management and focusing on the impact that climate change has on the financial value of investments. IGCC aims to encourage government policies and investment practices that address the risks and opportunities of climate change. For further information, visit www.igcc.org.au and @igcc_update
The Asia Investor Group on Climate Change is an initiative to create awareness among Asia's asset owners and financial institutions about the risks and opportunities associated with climate change and low carbon investing. AIGCC provides capacity for investors to share best practice and to collaborate on investment activity, credit analysis, risk management, engagement and policy. AIGCC represents the Asian perspective in the evolving global discussions on climate change and the transition to a greener economy. See www.aigcc.net and @aigcc_update]]>
"Even with the slowdown in oil and gas production, hydraulic fracturing is potentially heightening the competition for water resources in many of the country's most water-stressed regions," said Monika Freyman, director, Investor Initiative, Water Program at the nonprofit sustainability group Ceres, who led the water use research effort. "Oil and gas companies face increasing water risks in key basins, and investors and banks financing this activity should be pressing harder on their strategies for managing these water risks."
Note: Water stress is a measure of competition for water. See WRI indicator and maps for more information.
Chesapeake, EOG Resources and Anadarko Petroleum were the biggest water users overall, while Pioneer Natural Resources and Encana were especially active in regions with extremely high water stress.
The top three plays by water use were the Eagle Ford, Marcellus and Midland Plays, with the Eagle Ford and Midland Plays being of particular concern given both their high water use and exposure to high water stress, drought and declining groundwater supplies. Weld County, Colorado saw the highest number of wells drilled (almost 7,000 wells) and water used for fracking (more than 16 billion gallons) of any county in the United States.
The analysis, which aggregates data by shale play and by operator, is based on water use data from 109,665 oil and gas wells reported to FracFocus.org from January 2011 through January 2016 and water stress indicator maps developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI). (Extreme high water stress regions, as defined by WRI, are areas where 80 percent of available surface and groundwater are already allocated to municipal, industrial and agricultural users.)
"Hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas extraction, which used to be "unconventional", is now a part of most conventional energy company portfolios in the U.S. and Canada. This has made water management a critical liability or competitive advantage for companies and their investors," said Steven Heim, managing director for Boston Common Asset Management. "Ceres's update provides investors useful data to reassess companies on their water risk exposure."
The large volumes of wastewater produced by hydraulic fracturing that must be managed at the surface and ultimately disposed of in underground deep well injection sites are a significant and growing issue at the local level. These wastewater injections have been linked to surface and groundwater contamination events, as well as to earthquakes with Oklahoma limiting access to some disposal wells.
Other Key Findings:
This update to Ceres' 2014 report "Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Stress: Water Demand by the Numbers," is designed to help investors analyze key trends on water use and water risk exposure by region and operator. It also provides recommendations for companies to improve their water management and reduce their overall exposure to water sourcing risks.]]>
"The Paris Agreement's entry into force is a crystal-clear market signal that the transition to a low-carbon global economy is underway and accelerating. I applaud the European Parliament and other governments that have formally joined the accord. The process to formally ratify this Agreement was one of the fastest in history and, as such, points to both the seriousness of this issue and the urgency with which the global community is working to tackle climate change.
"Now governments, businesses, investors and civil society must act boldly to implement the Paris Agreement with ambitious policies and strategies—there is an urgent need for scale and speed.
"The world must ratchet up global investment in clean energy by an additional $1 trillion a year to achieve the Paris Agreement goals. Global investments in clean energy are currently tracking at about $300 to $350 billion a year, which is far short of the Clean Trillion target we need to hit every year to avoid catastrophic climate warming."]]>
Regardless of where the legal debate lands, however, a few points are becoming increasingly clear:
First, the Paris Climate Agreement will soon be entered into force, bringing more heft to its ambitious goal of limiting global warming to well below 2°C. That means that the U.S. power sector will need to achieve greenhouse gas reductions beyond the expectations of the Clean Power Plan, which calls for a 30 percent cutback in carbon pollution by 2030.
The credit rating agency Moody's made exactly this point when it announced in June that it would begin analyzing carbon transition risk based on scenarios consistent with the Paris Agreement, and noted the especially high carbon risk exposure of the power sector.
On the positive side, the US power sector is already decarbonizing and the actual goals included in the Clean Power Plan are becoming much more feasible and cost-effective due to plummeting solar and wind production costs, as well as improved energy efficiency.
Second, it's not just the electric power sector that should be paying attention. For the first time since 1979, GHG emissions from cars and other modes of transportation recently surpassed those from the power sector, increasing the likelihood that the power sector will have a key role to play in reducing transport emissions, via electric vehicles.
While power companies should absolutely be paying close attention to the court deliberations, they also need to think holistically and long range about the role they play in the global push toward carbon neutrality by mid-century. That's why it's encouraging to see major power companies – even ones that have expressed concerns about elements of the Clean Power Plan – making meaningful long-range commitments to lower their carbon footprints. For example:
While these are all encouraging signs, other major players are taking a less helpful, wait-and-see approach. The nation's three biggest carbon emitters, AEP, Duke Energy, and Southern Company, have all been reducing their carbon footprints, but should take the next step and perform some robust 2°C scenario analyses, align their business plans with the low risk scenario and set ambitious long-term greenhouse gas goals.
The bottom line: all of our nation's electric utilities need to be onboard to make the Paris Climate Agreement an achievable reality, and they should recognize the important role that the Clean Power Plan can play in setting us on the proper path.]]>
From General Motors to Bank of America to Apple, dozens of iconic companies are now fully committed to running their companies with 100 percent renewable energy. The writing is on the wall: clean energy has arrived and fossil fuel power generation is fading. And a favorable Clean Power Plan ruling will hasten this transition, benefitting both our global climate, which is over-heating due to carbon pollution, and businesses that want policy certainty in dealing with this threat. By enacting this rule, all 50 states will be on the path to lowering the carbon footprint of their electric power plants.
Even with today's patchwork quilt of energy policies, wind and solar power are becoming mainstream. More than 10,000 megawatts of new capacity was added in 2015 alone, more than two-thirds of the total renewable energy generating capacity installed last year in the United States.
The green power boom is being fueled by a combination of factors, the biggest being plummeting renewable energy costs that have made wind and solar energy cost-competitive with fossil fuel power plants in many states. A multi-year extension of federal tax creditsfor wind and solar power has helped, too.
States and regions that have enacted their own carbon-reducing policies are seeing the biggest benefits.
Nine states in the Northeast, for example, have saved billions of dollars in their energy bills by encouraging more aggressive energy efficiency programs through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, a cap-and-trade effort that has helped reduce power plant emissions by 30 percent since the program began in 2008. The nine Northeast governors are discussing plans to extend and strengthen RGGI's goals beyond 2020, and 90-plus companies and investors are encouraging them to do so.
Another shining success is California, which will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of its seminal climate law, Assembly Bill 32, next Tuesday. Since enacting the law, the state has added 500,000 new clean energy jobs, all while growing the economy at a healthy 3 to 4 percent a year.
Last month California lawmakers, with strong support from the business community, passed a new climate law, Senate Bill 32, that will extend and strengthen the state's carbon-reduction goals well beyond 2020, to 2030. And, more than anywhere, California is targeting both the power sector and the transportation sector for massive carbon reductions. In addition to getting a quarter of its electricity from renewables, the state is pushing forward on low-carbon fuels and electric vehicles. Earlier this year, the state's largest utility, PG&E, submitted plans to install 7,600 electric vehicle charging stations in California, which would provide a major bump to Gov. Jerry Brown's bold vision to have 1.5 million zero-emissions vehicles on California roads by 2030.
So why are businesses like PG&E and General Motors so enthusiastic about electric vehicles and green power?
First, they see climate change as a direct threat to many businesses that we must deal with by lowering carbon pollution. Second, they strongly prefer broad, consistent national policies over patchwork state policies. And third, they prefer the energy cost certainty of sourcing renewable energy over natural gas and other fossil fuels, which are prone to volatile price swings.
General Motors cited many of these reasons when it announced its 100 percent green energy goal last week. "This pursuit of renewable energy benefits our customers and communities through cleaner air while strengthening our business through lower and more stable energy costs," CEO Mary Barra said.
About a half-dozen companies, including IKEA and Mars Inc., echoed the sentiment in a legal brief they filed last spring in support of the Clean Power Plan. "Swift and full implementation of the Clean Power Plan will directly benefit [our] operations," wrote the companies in their 30-page filing.
The evidence is clear: the business community is already moving forward with clean energy, and by getting the Clean Power Plan back on track, their efforts will advance even faster. And that will be good news for both the global environment and our national economy.]]>
The HFC phase down amendment is one of the most important ways that the world can deliver on the vital goals of the Paris [Climate] Agreement, therefore helping to avoid up to 0.5 C of warming by the end of the century. By taking a comprehensive approach that includes appropriate financing for Article 5 countries, as well as the provision of technical support, the U.S. and other leading countries are investing in a sustainable future.
We also applaud Ceres' BICEP partners who have offered support for the amendment, in addition to their own pollution-reducing commitments.
As we approach COP22 in Morocco, Ceres is committed to supporting the full implementation of the Paris Agreement and looks forward to working with our business and investor partners and the White House to continually strengthen the leadership of the United States."]]>
Ken Locklin, director of Impax Asset Management and Stu Dalheim, vice president of Calvert Investments are members of the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), a project of Ceres that represents over $14 trillion in assets.
Ken Locklin, Impax Asset Management:
"The health of the auto industry has a significant impact on the economy as a whole. Strong fuel efficiency standards have enhanced American competitiveness and innovation, creating opportunities for investment. Retaining or increasing these mileage standards represents a critical opportunity to continue this trend by reducing risk for the Detroit Three automakers and benefiting suppliers."
Stu Dalheim, Calvert Investments:
"The automotive industry has a lot to lose if fuel efficiency standards are weakened. If we stay the course toward more efficient cars and trucks, we can continue to strengthen our economy, spur innovation, reduce our dependence on oil, save consumers money and create jobs – no matter what happens with gas prices."
Carol Lee Rawn, Director of Ceres Transportation Program:
"Strengthening fuel economy standards has provided global opportunity for the auto industry and job growth for America. That's why members of the Investor Network on Climate Risk and Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy called for strong fuel economy standards in 2010. There is no reason to slow down now."
Ceres produced an analyst brief examining how automakers and suppliers would benefit under different gas price and fuel economy stringency scenarios:
Citing the analyst brief, Ceres' BICEP, a coalition of businesses representing over $400 billion in annual revenue, submitted a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation supporting the standards.


text:
Huge dip = easy $ in the next 3 - 7 days! Why would anyone look at this except as AAPL on sale? Buy some cheap calls and ride em all the way back to $500+ before earnings. Just. Like. Last. Time.
Sentiment: Strong Buy
I will ;-) ... takes some balls tough


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Architectural Design: Great Spaces Home Interiors
Jacobo Krauel
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Format: Book
Pages: 192
Publisher: Links International
Date Published: Feb 2010
Stock Code: 69265
Binding: Paperback
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In this volume, the works of architects such as Takao Shiotsuka, Gracia Studio, Jay Kammenand Simone Micheli are examined. Including floor plans, technical specifications, details of materials used and commentary on each project, this book uncovers stimulating answers, ingenious solutions, unexpected points of view and proposals which influence the concept of architectural interiors.
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