Suchergebnisse

CONTENTS -- Foreward, Preface and Introduction -- 1. Green Trading: Convergence of the Capital Markets and the Environment -- 2. Carbon/Greenhouse Gas Transparency and Socially Responsible Investing -- 3. The U.S. Political Landscape and Its Impact on Environmental Trading -- 4. Global Greenhouse Gas Markets: Where Do We Go from Here? -- 5. Initial Observations from the First Year of the Chicago Climate Exchange -- 6. White, Green, and Black Certificate Trading: The Italian Experience -- 7. Expanding Markets for Renewable Energy Certificates: Progress and Challenges -- 8. Wind Energy: Promoting a Cleaner Energy Future -- 9. Of Crystal Balls and Market Fundamentals: Anticipating GHG Prices -- 10. Integrating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Management into Capital Projects Planning -- 11. Developing an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Investment Fund -- 12. C-LockA Method to Maximize Carbon Sequestration Value to Agro-forestry Producers and Purchasers -- 13. Attracting Institutional Investment into the Australian Forestry Sector -- 14. Terrestrial Carbon Offsets for Industry Portfolios -- 15. Information Technology: Enabling and Accelerating Environmental Markets -- 16. Green Trading Markets: Where Are We Now? -- Resources on Green Trading -- About the Contributors -- Index

Emerging markets for environmental financial investment and trading continue to attract significant global investment interest but little investment capital as yet. According to Cleantech Venture Network, $5.18 billion was deployed for clean-tech investment in global markets for 2007. For research and development in the same year, U.S. energy companies committed only $4 billion and the U.S. federal government spent $7.5 billion. It is now estimated that underinvestment in U.S. energy and water infrastructure is over $2 trillion. This underinvestment has been held up by regulatory uncertainty of the United States on federal climate change legislation as well as the lack of attention by politicians. That will now change with the next U.S. administration. As markets change, so do investment models. The new business model that has emerged for investment in alternative energy and clean technology is a hybrid business model of venture capital, hedge funds, and private equity. Investment is locked up for shorter periods of time, from one to four years, rather than with traditional venture capital time spans of up to 10 years. Coupled with the project orientation of the investment, there also is a dimension of credit trading for emissions, carbon, and renewable energy included in this investment strategy. The blurring of the lines among hedge funds, private equity funds, and venture capital is being exacerbated by significant private equity participation in environmental finance. This new hybrid financial green investment model will be discussed and analyzed in this paper.