Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, tells Clean Skies News that government policies and the use of new technologies are actively changing the big picture in the energy sector, but they need to be accelerated.

The U.S. has debated for decades the issue of offshore drilling, with the backlash largely sparked in 1969 by a major spill off the coast of Santa Barbara.  Journalist and science writer Eric Roston and Kenneth Medlock, fellow at the Baker Institute, provide insight.

• – UN chief Ban Ki-moon sets up a high-level advisory panel to jump start financing for developing nations to battle climate change.
• – President Obama releases his Economic Report… Inside: a plan for a clean energy future.
• – State energy regulators will soon tell the feds what they want from Washington.  The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ hold their annual winter meeting.
• – Oil prices fall after an EIA  report shows rising inventories. Clean Skies News talks with Michael Roberts, lead energy analyst at energy management firm Prenova.

1) Carbon Efficient Investing in Emerging Marketsas a Tool to Combat Global Warming S&P

2) Investing in Climate Change 2009: Necessity and opportunity in turbulent times
DB Advisors – Deutsche Bank Group

An examination into why climate change is well-suited for public equity markets and particularly private markets such as venture capital, private equity, infrastructure and timberland. The publication also looks at some of the technical aspects of how regulation interacts with the underlying dynamics of technology costs and energy prices. This compendium provides an analytical framework that investors can use to understand the climate change opportunity.

3) Gathering momentum: Climate-change investing moves into the next phase
HSBC Global Research
Climate-related investment potential is broader and deeper than expected even a year ago. The positive scientific, business and policy momentum of 2007, however, is now exposed to the realpolitik of negotiations and macroeconomic shocks. This report examines the drivers of and prospects for the underlying themes of the HSBC Climate Change family of indices.

4) Philanthropy’s New Passing Gear: Mission-Related Investing, A Policy and Implementation Guide for Foundation Trustees
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors
A comprehensive, practical guide that translates the concepts, ideas and philosophy of Mission-Related Investing (MRI) into useable policies and practices for foundation trustees. The publication includes 12 case studies that reflect the diversity of approaches used by organizations currently practicing MRI and contains tools and templates for creating and executing strategies.

5) Guide To Climate Change Investment
Holden & Partners
This guide shows you how to participate in, and benefit from, investment flows into environmental markets. It demonstrates how being part of this market contributes to being part of solution to climate change.

6) Regulation, Markets, and Investments: The Emergence of Carbon Finance
Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
A Pot of Gold for Renewable Energy? Funding Renewable Energy with Carbon Finance

7) Climate Change & the Financial Sector: An Agenda for Action
Allianz Group and WWF, June 2005
Climates have always been changing. But this time there is one big difference: the changes are principally man-made. The issue has become urgent because the pace of change is accelerating. This report identifies actions for advisers, clients, co-financiers and policymakers.

8) Change is coming: A framework for climate change – a defining issue of the 21st century.
Goldman Sachs, August 2009    GS SUSTAIN presentation

Recent World Bank/UN  Publications:

1) “Revenue management” effects related to financial flows generated by climate policy Selected low-income countries are likely to benefit from increased access to “carbon finance” but as control mechanisms expand, the consequences may strain the capacity of many countries to adjust.

2) Low-Carbon Growth: How to Make the Most of Public Finance. This background report highlights examples of how MDAs have been successfully leveraging climate finance in the development context by innovating, demonstrating and catalyzing transformation.

3) A Changing Climate for Development Climate change complicates efforts to reduce poverty in developing countries, but a “climate smart” world is possible if we act now, act together, and act differently, says new World Development Report .    More:  “Climate Thinkers” vignettes |    WDR slideshow |  More Video Clips

4) The Wrath of God: Macroeconomic Costs of Natural Disasters. A new World Bank study estimating the macroeconomic costs of the increased incidence of natural disasters finds that one of these events can reduce real GDP per capita by at least 0.6 percent.

5) Podcast:   What is Carbon Finance? On the eve of the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December, delegates from 120 countries gathered recently at Carbon Expo in Barcelona to discuss potential growth of the carbon market as an effective measure to combat climate change by reducing emissions. We hear a lot about Carbon market and carbon finance. But most of us do not quite understand what this is all about. Joëlle Chassard, manager of the carbon finance unit of the World Bank sheds some light on the subject.

6)Fiduciary Duty

Sustainable Investing: The Art of Long-Term Importance
A redefinition of fiduciary duty for the era of climate change, and a discussion of the role of sustainable investing in meeting the challenge.

7) World Bank’s Climate Change Website