Association for Sustainability in Business Inc
Cleantech Companies
The 2012 Association Conference – Taking Care of Business: Sustainable Transformation will be held on the Gold Coast in May.
The Association for Sustainability in Business Inc. is a Non Government, Not-For-Profit Organisation (IA 38885). The Association is not a lobby group, we aim to educate, and keep our members up to date with the latest trends, information, training and B2B opportunities while encouraging profitability and competitiveness.
The conference program is available on the website and will feature over fifty (50) presenters.
Ian Berry, Sparkenator will open the Conference
A sparkenation is a spark that ignites passion that leads to action that changes what’s normal. The author of Changing What’s Normal, Ian will ignite this conference before, during, and after his presentation.
Online Registration is available on the conference website.
Special Early bird Registration ($675) is available to members of the following organisations;
* Association for Sustainability in Business Inc.
* The International Society of Sustainability Professionals
* The Sustainable Energy Association
* The Australian Association for Environmental Education
* Local Government and Shires Associations
* Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Free wireless internet will be available to all delegates, sponsors, exhibitors and presenters at the conference and free broadband internet access in accommodation rooms. This will assist with B2B information exchange and networking.
Full registration also includes all sessions, morning teas, lunches, afternoon teas, conference materials including handbook and the ‘Welcome’ networking cocktail function.
I hope to meet you in May.
Knd regards
Angrela Green
Association Secretariat
The Association for Sustainability in Business Inc
Phone: (61 7) 5502 2068 | Fax: (61 7) 5527 3298
” Sustainability is the single biggest business opportunity of the 21st century.” – Will Day, chairman of the UK’s Sustainable Development Commission
What the papers say about carbon tax
Source AAP
THE government’s clean energy plan contains some costly compromises, but retains its integrity by respecting fiscal discipline, acknowledging that adjustment must be gradual and recognising that the market should eventually set the carbon price, The Australian says in its editorial today.
The bottom line is that targets can only be met through innovation. We must find cheaper ways to produce energy, and more efficient ways of consuming it.
Providing the incentive to invest in research and development will allow Australia to determine its own destiny in a carbon-constrained world. And the built-in incentives that a price on carbon will deliver will encourage businesses to find smarter ways of doing more with less.
Despite the package’s redeeming qualities, Prime Minister Julia Gillard faces the fight of her political life to convince voters of its benefits. Breaking an election promise to embark on this course has put her political capital into deficit, and seeking parliamentary endorsement before securing a popular mandate is an error of judgment voters will find hard to forgive.
Corporate understanding of ecosystem services
The reliance organizations have on ecosystem services such as clean water, air, climate, timber, fibres, food and genetic resources is fundamentally an element of corporate risk and strategy that is often overlooked.
Where traditional environmental management examines the impact the organization has on the environment, the idea of ecosystem services is novel in the sense that it is also concerned with the impact the environment has on the organization.
We surveyed corporate managers in the Australian resources and infrastructure sectors and found that most are ill-equipped to address ecosystem services as a strategic aspect of long-term organizational sustainability. A high proportion of respondents indicated that their organization has both the awareness and capacity to address ecosystem service issues. However, this contradicts previous research which suggests that it is unlikely that organizations implement strategies to secure access to multiple ecosystem services.
The results of this research indicate that corporate managers’ distinguish ecosystem services as a concern that transcends environment departments. This suggests that organizational culture has a role to play in fostering an environment where the management of ecosystem services is integrated across a range of business activities.
However, we also found that environment and sustainability managers are not empowered to enact the organizational transformation that is required to achieve holistic ecosystem management.
Kristine Dewar, Business Sustainability Analyst, Carbon House
“Taking Care of Business: Sustainable Transformation” The Conference
15th& 16th September – Radisson Resort, Gold Coast, Australia
Cleantech Companies Won 5 of 6 Largest Venture Capital Rounds in 2010
Five of six of the largest Venture Capital fundraising rounds in 2010 went to cleantech companies, based on data from Thomson Reuters:
- Better Place: $350 million for electric car charging infrastructure
- Solyndra: $175 in convertible debt for unique solar PV panels
- BrightSource Energy: $150 million for solar thermal projects
- Abound Solar: $110 million for solar thin-film
- Trilliant: $105 million for smart grid networking
Better Place even beat Twitter’s recently announced $200 million investment.
Worldwide cleantech investments peaked at $11.8 billion in 2008, then dropped off significantly to $6.8 billion in 2009, but thanks to strong growth during the last quarters of in 2010, the year ended with $8.8 billion in total investment (Bloomberg New Energy Finance).
And smaller, earlier stage companies are finding investors again. The average investment size is hovering around $12 million, according to Kachan & Co., a cleantech analysis and consulting firm. That’s still a high figure, beating average round sizes for US biotech ($8.7M), medical devices ($7M) and software ($5M) companies, based on U.S. National Venture Capital Association data.
IPOs and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are also up in recent months.
The drivers of cleantech remain in tact and will be felt more acutely this year: resource scarcity around oil, rare earth elements, water and commodities generally; the need for energy independence, greater efficiency, and climate change.
“We believe continued growth in Asia and the ongoing push for resource efficiency will make 2011 a record year for cleantech innovation financing,” said Sheeraz Haji, CEO of Cleantech Group.
Dozens of venture capital funds have been announced in the past month, including the NER300 Fund in Europe ($12.4 billion, China’s Hony Capital $1.5 billion fund, and another $500 million from the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS).
As in 2010, Efficiency, which includes smart grid, will be the dominant investment sector this year, as investors seek less capital intensive deals. Rising commodity prices will also benefit companies that recover and recycle materials such as steel and precious metals. The other continuing theme is China, the largest, fastest market for cleantech. Companies that seek investments need to have traction in China.
Although efficiency was the most popular sector last year with 151 deals, solar received the highest dollar amounts (24%) on 117 deals, followed by Transportation (17%), and Energy Efficiency (14%).
01/31/2011 Sustainable News.com
