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Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: whitepine who wrote (126288)	12/8/2009 2:53:37 AM
From: whitepine	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206089

Green data all the rage Investors anxious to identify winning sectors Julie Desjardins, Special To The Financial Post Published: Saturday, December 05, 2009</b Investors are displaying a growing appetite for climate-change-related information from business, driven by recognition that, while climate change will have varying impact on companies in the near future, it will eventually affect every company to some degree. All companies will have to adapt to climate-change disruption and impact and they will need to factor this into their risk management and strategic processes. Companies also will need to respond to a new business reality in which governments progressively put a price on carbon, driving companies to seek alternative ways to produce goods and services while curtailing greenhouse gases. The result will be bottom-line exposure for some companies, while creating new opportunities, investments and revenue sources for others. Investors want to be able to identify the winning sectors and companies, but they need reliable, relevant information to guide their investment decisions. The United Nations Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with 10 universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. A May 2009 publication by the UN Global Compact Office noted: "For many institutional investors, including many large pension funds and asset managers, climate change is rapidly becoming as relevant a factor in an investment decision as more traditional financial elements such as liquidity or competition." Large institutional investors in Canada appear to agree. Both the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (with assets under management of about $120-billion) and British Columbia Investment Management Corp. (assets under management of about $75-billion) have identified climate change as one of their three priority areas for shareholder engagement with companies. Dissatisfied with existing disclosures, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) was launched in 2000 to seek voluntary disclosure from companies through responses to its survey. The 2009 request for information was sent on behalf of 475 global investors with assets under management of US$55-trillion, including 47 of Canada's largest investment organizations (which collectively had assets of more than US$2-trillion under management). The survey sought such information such as climate-change risks and opportunities, energy use and costs, participation in emissions trading and purchasing offsets, corporate practices and engagement in public policy discussions on climate change. The CDP has been successful in providing investors with much needed information about climate change related issues. There is an increasing push, however, to have material climate-change disclosures included in mandatory securities filings, not just in voluntary survey responses. On Nov. 23, a coalition of investors, including British Columbia Investment Management Corp., asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to provide interpretive guidance on the material climate-related risks that companies should be disclosing. Under new SEC chairwoman Mary Schapiro, there appears to be a willingness to examine the issue. In Ontario, Laurel Broten, former Ontario environment minister, initiated a private-member's resolution earlier this year that won all-party support. Among other things, it called on the Ontario Securities Commission to review current environmental, social and governance disclosures to see if existing requirements are resulting in the disclosure of all material information. In mid-October, a coalition of Canadian investors and environmental groups requested that the OSC mandate disclosure of climate-change-related risks. To support their request, they reviewed 35 companies across nine sectors and found that existing climate-change disclosures were poor. This finding was consistent with a similar study published in June 2009 of climate-risk disclosures in SEC filings. More recently, New York State Attorney-General Andrew Cuomo said he had reached an agreement with AES Corp., a global energy company operating in 29 countries with annual revenue exceeding US$16-billion to disclose timely and relevant information about financial risks associated with climate change. This follows similar agreements reached with two other energy companies, Dynegy Inc. and Xcel Energy Inc., to protect investors by ensuring appropriate disclosure of financial risks related to climate change. Not only do companies need to recognize that climate change has bottom-line financial impact, they need to realize that investors' concern about climate change is here to stay. As Doug Pearce, chief investment officer and chief executive of BC Investment Management Corp., recently stated: "Over the past 18 months, we have learned that undisclosed risk can have devastating results. The global financial crisis has prompted companies to heighten their focus on risk management plans, including climate change." Read more: financialpost.com

To: whitepine who wrote (126288)	12/8/2009 3:05:57 AM
From: JimisJim	8 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 206089

OT: People just can't seem to keep themselves from getting in their little pro or con digs wrt to GW and that is what makes the topic so toxic on almost any board that is not expressly set up to discuss such issues. Rather than lighten up, let's try just plain refraining from even attempted humor on the topic -- the sooner everyone drops it completely, the sooner we will all be free from the temptation to get our little digs in, knowing that no matter how clever one is in one's own mind in making the little digs it won't change anyone's opinion while imagining they score pts. with the people they just KNOW agree with them and take glee in also knowing how it ticks off those who disagree possibly provoking them to cross the line in their response/reply and "get in trouble" -- oh how clever these posts are walking an imaginary fine line... not.. IMO, breaking the spirit of a clearly state rule is the same as actually breaking it, but that's just me and I'm sure I'm in the minority. I wish I hadn't forgot to turn the ignore function on before reading the board tonight... in my defense, I am a new subscriber and am still learning my way around some of the features unavailable to me before... back to ignore... goodbye... Jim