Mouli Cohen» Soros to Bolster Clean Energy Investment | Mouli Cohen

Soros to Bolster Clean Energy Investment

natelithgow — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:28:45 +0000

Spurred on by last week’s ambivalence at the climate summit in Thailand, mega-billionaire George Soros took it upon himself to invest $1 billion towards clean energy research. Soros, most known through his powerhouse hedge fund, Soros Fund Management L.L.C., said he was attempting to address the political problem of climate change by making this investment.

He also promised $100 million towards the creation of an environmental advisory group called the Climate Policy Initiative, which “will be part advisory service, part policy developer and part watchdog” over the funds, according to Bloomberg business news.

Clearly these are large pools of investment, and they could not have come at a better time. Because of last year’s calamitous economic output, “new investments this year including research funded by governments and companies will total about $110 billion, 29 percent below 2008 and 26 percent off the 2007 total.” With a name like Soros behind the cause, however, I think it will only be a matter of time before those numbers pick way up again.

New Study on Climate Change in U.S.

natelithgow — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:02:02 +0000

In a new analysis conducted by The Nature Conservancy, scientists predict that the states that will experience the greatest impacts of rising temperatures are not entirely coastal, as most generally assume. Instead, states like Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska will apparently see the biggest increase in overall temperatures, an unexpected consequence that could be potentially disastrous to these state economies that rely heavily on agriculture.

With an average increase around 10 degrees by the end of the decade, the “soil will be significantly less productive” according to an article in the Huffington Post. Ironically, these are states whose senators have opposed climate change regulation like the Waxman-Markey bill passed this year on the grounds that the legislation could damage their home states’ economies.

With Republicans saying no to most of the initiatives being introduced, my hopes are that the Democratic majority will still be able to get enough done during Obama’s first term to ensure some steadfast measures to effect a transition into a more climate friendly economy.

[image via smiles are free]