Video - Solar Schools Crowdsourcing Community Initiative

The Solar Schools project is putting clean energy in classrooms all over the country. This project gets students and the wider community involved in an effort to support renewable energy and reduce school utility bills. Solar Schools is run by 10:10, a charity that brings people together to help tackle climate change.

For more information on the Solar Schools initiative click here.

Make sure to see the article titled, "Comprehensive Green School Information and Resources." It contains links to over 200 articles covering everything you need to know about sustainable academics, student's eco-initiatives, green school buildings, and college rankings as well as a wide range of related information and resources.

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Amplifyd: A Unique Crowdsourced Lobbying Platform

The Amplifyd crowdsourced lobbying platform was launched on June 10th. It supports several campaigns including those focused on environmental themes. Amplifyd is a social activism startup based in Berkeley, California that allows people to influence public policy. Their platform is the world's first technology-driven lobbying solution.

Amplfyd works by giving supporters the opportunity to purchase lobbying calls to elected officials while financially supporting the nonprofit at the same time. People can also generate income by becoming a caller.

While corporations spend more than $3 billion a year to influence politicians once they are elected, people have no voice. Amplifyd claims that signing online petitions is not an effective tool to influence your elected officials because these petitions are not restricted to those that matter to politicians (ie their voting constituency). Amplifyd solves this problem by verifying your identity through your billing address, so your representative knows that you are in fact a voting constituent.

As a crowdsourced social activism platform, people can purchase calls from campaigns listed on the site. Campaign organizers can add their own contact for their campaigns or simply choose from federal and state databases.

For every call made, the organization managing the campaign will make a base rate of $1.00. This means they could generate passive income for simply creating and managing the campaign. If the call was made by the campaigner or someone from their team, they will make an additional $2.00, resulting in a total earning potential of $3 dollars per call for the campaigner. Independent callers will earn from $1 per call with the chance to double their rate by inviting people to join the platform - 10 cents increase per person invited.

For more information click here.

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New Social Activism Crowdsourcing Platform

Social activism can change the world and a new concept is being launched shortly that will help give people more power and influence over their governments. This new social activism is called Amplifyd, it is a crowdsourced lobbying platform where people can support causes in their community and in return get a personal representative that will call and lobby their elected officials on their behalf.

Each campaign is managed by non-profits fighting for important causes, giving these organizations an additional way to mobilize their communities and generate active and passive incomes.

Anyone can sign up to become a crowdsourced caller, getting paid to lobby elected officials for others.* According to Scott Blankenship the founder & CEO of Amplifyd, this is especially great for college students, post-grads, activists, hourly or part-time employees needing an additional source of income and avid travelers, since people can make calls through our platform from anywhere.

Blankenship believes that Amplifyd will change the political status quo in the US. Stay tuned to The Green Market Oracle for more information and the formal launch details.

Click here to signup at the Amplifyd website.

*The Green Market Oracle has not vetted the legitimacy of the site nor the service it purports to offer.

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Report - Sustainability and the Finance Sector's Views on Opportunities in Extractives

Ethical Corporation has recently published a complimentary analysis on ‘How sustainability affects the way the finance sector views opportunities in extractives’. This report analyzes the financial pressures that oil, gas and mining companies face from three key perspectives: the commercial and multilateral lenders, with J.P. Morgan and the IFC, and the investor perspective with asset manager F&C.

The report gives a great insight into the evolving expectations and priorities of different financial stakeholders to the extractive industry and how this will affect extractive companies’ social performance and communication practices.

With increasing demand from vital financial communities being one of the leading drivers for making the sustainability case, this report gives you an excellent insight to the main concerns, social expectations and risk management innovations of key financial stakeholders to the oil, gas and mining industries

The featured analysis gives you an understanding of:

•Why are investors and lenders looking at ESG? •What aspects of ESG is the financial community mostly concerned about? •How does the extractive company respond to these different stakeholder expectations in their communication and wider business practices? •What areas of sustainability matter to investors and lenders? Furthermore, I will not rent, sell, or share your personal information with 3rd parties or non-affiliated companies.

Click here to access the complimentary analysis.

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Video - Unleashing Public & Private Financing for a Low-Carbon Economy: Legislative Hearing in Silicon Valley Provides Policy Direction

Focused on the question of how to best leverage limited public dollars and maximize reductions in energy consumption and reduce greenhouse gases (GHG), Senator Kevin de Leόn, Chair of the Select Committee on Energy Efficiency, convened a hearing in Silicon Valley with local Senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose). Experts from private capital and clean energy companies explored California's opportunities to more effectively attain our goals to reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. We will need several strategies toward a low-carbon economy with the demands for electricity and fuel increasing every year. California's growing population, now 38 million, is expected to top 50 million by 2050.

In his opening remarks, Senator Beall said, “Silicon Valley is the home for the world’s brightest minds for technology and clean energy innovation. I am fortunate to be their elected representative and as the chairman of a budget committee that is crafting recommendations on clean energy strategies, I will take their ideas to the Senate.’’

Senator De León remarked, “We need to harness market forces to effectively reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and grow our economy.”

To learn from the success of states pursing Green Banks, Bryan T. Garcia, President and CEO of the Connecticut Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority, and Greg Hale, Senior Advisor in the Office of the Governor in New York, testified via Google Hangout and discussed tackling the challenge of high upfront costs for clean energy and efficiency upgrades.

Ken Berlin at Coalition for Green Capital testified as an expert on clean energy financing, "By using innovative financial tools, a California Green Bank will leverage private investment, so that each public dollar supports multiple dollars of private investment. Ultimately, this will create cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable energy at scale, and help the state achieve its ambitious greenhouse-gas reduction goals."

Tom Vanderheiden, Senior Vice President of One Pacific Coast Bank and Lisa Hagerman, Ph.D., Director of Programs at DBL Investors, spoke of financial tools such as long-term and low interest rate loans, revolving loan funds, insurance products (such as loan guarantees or loan-loss reserves), and low-cost public investments, a Green Bank could use to catalyze private financing for low-carbon technologies to help bring energy retrofits, clean energy and transportation to scale.

Senator De León has introduced Senate Bill 1121 to help drive private investment into energy efficiency retrofit activity in California. The testimony of this hearing and the continued input from stakeholders will craft this legislation to multiply our limited public dollars and existing programs. This bill will be heard by the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications later this spring.

At the hearing Tiffany Roberts representing the Legislative Analyst Office presented an overview of California's existing clean energy programs.

Also there to testify from the clean energy finance sector were Dan Scripps, Senior Advisor, Energy Finance, Advanced Energy Economy; Brad Copithorne, Director, Clean Energy Financing Solutions, Environmental Defense Fund; Tim McRae, Energy Director, Silicon Valley Leadership Group; and Dan Adler, Managing Director, California Clean Energy Fund. Representing clean energy companies were Pat Romano, CEO, ChargePoint; Tom Bowen, Regional Director, Energy & Facility Services, McKinstry; and Tom Stepien, CEO, BoD, Primus Power.

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Climate Adaptation and Finance Report (World Economic Forum)

A report on adaptation was released at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos. The 40 page report is titled, Climate Adaptation: Seizing the Challenge. The report offers the most up-to-date thinking in the field of climate adaptation and financing. The primary goal of this report is to assist decision-makers in the public and private sectors so that they can gain a better understanding of climate adaptation.

The report is premised on the understanding that reductions in greenhouse gases (GHGs) are not occurring at a quick enough rate to stave off the worst impacts of climate change. This implies that alongside ongoing efforts to mitigate climate impacts, societies also need to develop adaptation strategies.

The report indicates that decision makers need to look at “total climate risk” when considering adaptation investment and finance. This implies taking into account existing risk, future risk due to development and additional risk due to climate change.

The report suggests that with cost effective adaptation strategies up to 65 percent of projected losses can be averted. It further suggests that due to the financial constraints impinging upon government budgets, much of the money will need to come from the private sector. The public sector must work to ensure that this is an attractive private sector opportunity.

To access the report click here.

© 2014, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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A World Bank Action Plan to Combat Climate Change

The World Bank has been an advocate of environmental action for many years now. Recently the Bank's president Jim Yong Kim called for a plan to address climate change. Rachel Kyte, vice-president for sustainable development, explained that fighting climate change has become a guiding principle for the bank.

The World Bank has introduced a wide array of projects to mitigate and adapt to climate change: from promoting partnerships for climate action in urban areas across the globe to funding clean technology in developing countries.

With historic commitments of more than $12 billion, India has been the main beneficiary of World Bank funding for climate-related projects. The vast majority of projects are directed at renewable energy, while a much smaller number concern forestry, water, sanitation and flood protection.

Underscoring the Bank's efforts to assist developing countries, Ms Kyte said that “climate change is absolutely central to our understanding of how we can help...countries grow and prosper.”

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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The World Bank: Declining Climate Change Funding

The World Bank is a strong supporter of efforts to counter climate change. However, funding for climate-related projects has been declining sharply since peaking in 2010. The World Bank acknowledges that climate change represents a fundamental threat to economic development and the fight against poverty. The Turn Down the Heat reports explained the consequences of 4°C warming by 2100. The costs of a 4°C temperature increase will have adverse global impacts including reduced crop yields and flooding.

In its latest research the World Bank cites the example of Thailand, where flooding in 2011 resulted in losses of $45 billion or about 13 percent of GDP. Previous studies have estimated the cost of a 2°C warming in the region of 1-3 percent of global GDP.

The bank’s climate funding almost doubled between 2009 and 2010, but commitments for 2013 are likely to be the lowest since 2007. At the Copenhagen summit donor countries pledged fast-start finance of $30 billion between 2010 and 2012. This may explain a sudden decline in commitments from $5 billion in 2012 to $1.6 billion in 2013.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Conservative Confusion about the Role of Government in Support of Green Jobs

According to traditional conservative doctrine, governments do not create jobs only free markets can do that. However, economists around the world contradict that facile and dated logic. Investment in green job creation is a short term strategy that helps green industries to grow. Helping green industries to achieve economies of scale reduces costs, enhances competitiveness and provides jobs. Government investments also drive innovation.

The jobs creation potential of the green economy is unparallelled and governments all around the world see the wisdom of helping to grow their tax base by supporting green industry. Green-collar jobs are high paying positions that benefit the environment while cutting pollution and reducing waste.

According to Shari Shapiro, associate with Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP, the numbers show that government green stimulus investments are the most cost-effective ways to create jobs.

We are in an era of unprecedented growth in the green market, and this growth will supply millions of jobs. The emergence of green industries will also have a ripple effect that will create countless employment opportunities. These include teaching positions required to train people for their new roles in the emerging green economy.

Governments see green investments as a way of putting people to work and preparing for the future. Governments that fail to support the green economy will fall behind, while those that support green industries will produce jobs and grow their economy.

In the final analysis government support for cleaner more efficient business is a matter of gaining a competitive advantage. Failure to provide such support is a recipe for economic decline.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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