Indonesia, Finland sign agreement to promote renewable energy

Indonesia and Finland signed an agreement to start a bilateral program to promote the utilization of wood-based biomass and agricultural residues as renewable energy sources in Central Kalimantan and Riau province on Monday. via The Jakarta Post.

Golden Agri turns over a green leaf

Any thoughts? Especially skeptical ones? The move – seen as a response to intense pressure and lobbying by green groups such as Greenpeace recently over allegations of illegal forest clearing – will not have a significant impact or cost on its operations, said the firm. GAR is the world’s No.2 palm oil producer and the [...]

‘Avatar’ sequels to help fund green charities

Consider this: The first “Avatar” grossed more than $2.7 billion worldwide. Dedicating even a small “chunk” of final box office numbers to funding environmental initiatives would be a huge donation. We’ve seen similar fundraisers using ticket sales before from Disneynature’s documentary films, but nothing on this scale. It goes even deeper when you realize this applies [...]

Apple Ranks Last for Environmental Response

A report (Chinese only) by the Beijing-based non-profit Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) ranked Apple last among 29 tech companies for their responsiveness to health and environmental concerns in China. The report says that Apple ignored concerns at Wintek, the touch-screen factory where plant workers became ill from n-hexane exposure, and the IPE [...]

Cost of natural disasters $109 billion in 2010: U.N.

Natural disasters caused $109 billion in economic damage last year, three times more than in 2009, with Chile and China bearing most of the cost, the United Nations said Monday. The 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Chile in February cost $30 billion. Landslides and floods last summer in China caused $18 billion in losses, data compiled [...]

Oil Standard: A Fair-Trade Tiger in Your Tank

“Whether we like it or not,” says Poritz, “we’re going to be using fossil fuels well into the future. As we transition away from that dependence, we need equitable production practices and equitable supply chains. Here’s the most ubiquitous product on the planet—something we engage with on a daily basis— yet we don’t have the [...]

CEA Sustainability Report Shows Electronics Firms’ Progress on Green Goals | Business | GreenBiz.com

In the run-up to a moment when all eyes are on the electronics industry, the Consumer Electronics Association, the trade group that puts on CES, released yesterday its second sustainability report, highlighting the progress that IT firms have made in reducing the environmental impacts across the lifecycles of our ubiquitous gadgets. The report follows two [...]