di Carlo Castellano (da La Repubblica del 31 agosto 2008)

Per contrastare i drammatici effetti della “Grande Depressione” che investì l´America alla fine degli anni Venti, prima il presidente Herbert Hoover e poi il grande presidente Franklin D. Roosevelt avviarono un´imponente iniziativa federale finalizzata al sostegno delle piccole imprese americane.

D´altro canto l´attenzione alle “Small Business” è stata la vera costante della “politica industriale” degli Usa nell´arco degli ultimi 70 anni, sotto i governi dei presidenti sia democratici che repubblicani. E si deve al presidente Dwight Eisenhower la proposta della creazione di un´agenzia federale ad hoc, la “Small Business Administration” - Sba - che venne solennemente approvata dal Congresso nel luglio del 1953.

La Sba prevede una serie complessa e articolata di strumenti di intervento. Tra questi, ancora oggi, risulta particolarmente efficace la “Fair Proportion”, cioè una quota dei contratti pubblici riservata alle sole piccole imprese americane. In altre parole, gli Stati Uniti - ovvero la patria delle grandi multinazionali e dei grandi conglomerati - hanno da tempo compreso che sono le piccole imprese la sede principale delle innovazioni soprattutto tecnologiche, tenuto conto delle loro caratteristiche di rapidità nei cambiamenti, flessibilità e audacia nelle scelte imprenditoriali. Continua a leggere questo articolo…

ICELAND - Reykjavik, August 29 – The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs Katharine Fredriksen, Australia’s Ambassador to Iceland Sharyn Minahan, and Iceland’s Minister of Industry Energy and Tourism Ossur Skarphedinsson today signed the charter of the International Partnership for Geothermal Technology (IPGT), signaling the commitment of the three countries to aggressively foster and promote cutting edge geothermal technologies to promote energy security and address global climate change. Continua a leggere questo articolo…

Dal 21 al 28 settembre delegati da 30 Paesi in Umbria in rappresentanza dei laghi appartenenti al Global Nature Fund

Tutti e cinque i continenti saranno rappresentati alla 12° Conferenza internazionale che Living Lakes, la rete mondiale dei laghi, terrà in Umbria, al lago Trasimeno dal 21 al 28 settembre 2008.

Un evento di alto profilo, anche dal punto di vista scientifico; importante occasione per esperti e responsabili della gestione dei più importanti e significativi laghi del pianeta per confrontarsi sulle politiche attuate o da attuare per una loro migliore conservazione.

Secondo le anticipazioni fornite degli organizzatori italiani che ieri sera, a Perugia, hanno incontrato i giornalisti per una presentazione in anteprima dell’evento, a fine settembre a raggiungere le sponde del lago Trasimeno saranno circa 200 delegati in rappresentanza dei laghi di Germania, Western Australia, Sud Africa, Guatemala, Regno Unito, Sri Lanka, Spagna, Turchia, Svizzera, Indonesia, Brasile, Ungheria, Filippine, Cina, Kenya, Estonia, Canada, Giappone, Russia, Perù, Bolivia, Messico, Israele, Giordania e Palestina. Continua a leggere questo articolo…

USA - August 25 - The hunt for renewable energy took a turn beneath the earth’s surface over the past week as Google and the Australian government announced multi-million dollar plans to explore geothermal technology.

Google’s philanthropic arm plans to put $10.25 million toward Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) technology. That includes a $6.25 million investment with AltaRock Energy, a $489,521 grant to the Southern Methodist University Geothermal Laboratory, and a $4 million investment in Potter Drilling. Continua a leggere questo articolo…

The International Soybean Processing and Utilization Conference (ISPUC) has been a platform for all the Soybean researchers’ world over to share their research output and decide the future course of action.

The theme of the Bhopal conference, organized by the Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering is Soybean for Human Health and Happiness. The ISPUC-V will focus on the emerging technologies in soybean processing and utilization as food for nutritional enhancement and health promotion. Also, it will promote sharing / exchange of scientific and technical information on all aspects of research and development of soybean processing and utilization. Continua a leggere questo articolo…

Carbon Markets and Investors Association to represent three quarters of global market at international climate talks

Great Britain - London, Aug 6 - The two leading carbon market trade associations have announced they are to join forces as they attempt to strengthen their lobbying position ahead of critical international negotiations.

The Carbon Markets Association (CMA) and International Carbon Investors and Services (INCIS) are to merge to form the Carbon Markets and Investors Association (CMIA), a trade group incorporating 60 organisations accounting for an estimated three quarters of the transaction value in the $64bn global carbon market. Continua a leggere questo articolo…

USA - Washington D.C., July 31 - Alternative energy, environmental marketing, reusing waste, personal sustainability - these are just a few of the issues affecting business sustainability that will become more important in the coming years.

The Institute for the Future has compiled these issues and more in the Map of Future Forces Affecting Sustainability, prepared for the Global Environmental Management Initiative.

The Map looks at six broad areas and lists what issues in those categories relate to people, regions, built environments, nature, markets, business and energy.

Continua a leggere questo articolo…

AUSTRALIA - Sydney, Aug 4 - Untouched natural forests store three times more carbon dioxide than previously estimated and 60 percent more than plantation forests, said a new Australian study of “green carbon” and its role in climate change. Green carbon occurs in natural forests, brown carbon is found in industrialized forests or plantations, grey carbon in fossil fuels and blue carbon in oceans. Australian National University (ANU) scientists said that the role of untouched forests, and their biomass of green carbon, had been underestimated in the fight against global warming. Continua a leggere questo articolo…

Trash smells sweet to investors as soaring commodities prices result in a boom for the US waste recycling industry.
by Roben Farzad, The Independent

Image by Treehugger

Bob Cappadona, area manager of Casella Waste Systems‘ 65,000sq ft recycling facility in Massachussets, can’t believe the record prices his garbage is commanding. “Aluminium cans, $900 [£450] a bale. Tin cans, $150. No 2 clear plastic, $300. Cardboard, $70. Mixed paper, $40.” He barely conceals his glee as he explains the effects of a spike in metal prices: “We get an extra $100 a ton.” Continua a leggere questo articolo…

A new report reveals previously unpublished information about a young but burgeoning multi-million pound global industry operating at the heart of corporate trust: CSR report assurance.

Assure View - The CSR Assurance Statement Report is the first report to offer an independent, comprehensive overview of the field. The report outlines who uses assurance, who provides assurance and what methods are used. Assure View is a reference point for all stakeholders, from reporting companies and assurance providers to consumers who wish to find out more about companies’ social and environmental impacts.

In 2008 some 3,000 companies are expected to publish a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report to document their policies and performance on key issues, including environmental and social activities. Of these, around 750 will include a third-party assurance statement addressing the report’s credibility and completeness. While CSR reporting has become a basic business expectation, the majority of CSR reports aren’t independently assured.

Illustrated Key Findings

· Popularity of assurance develops steadily each year, with 650 statements produced in 2007.

· European companies are leading the way in assurance.

· Despite being the second largest CSR reporting region, North American companies are much less likely to use assurance.

· Assurance in Asia is a recent and rapid development - now second only to Europe. Continua a leggere questo articolo…

ENEA - Roma (Ita), 31 luglio - Il Presidente dell’ENEA, Prof. Luigi Paganetto, introducendo i lavori per la presentazione del Rapporto Energia e Ambiente 2007 che si è tenuta oggi alla presenza dei Sottosegretari Giuseppe Pizza, Roberto Menia e Ugo Martinat , ha affermato: “L’ENEA, nel suo Rapporto di quest’anno, ha messo in evidenza l’insufficienza a oggi dell’investimento in Ricerca e Sviluppo per il settore energetico-ambientale, soprattutto nel confronto con i principali Paesi europei”. Continua a leggere questo articolo…

Greenpeace - Roma (Ita), 31 luglio - “Se le notizie sul potenziale di efficienza sono buone e confermano nella sostanza le valutazioni da noi presentate, ci sono almeno cinque osservazioni da fare sui ‘miracoli nucleari‘ presenti nel rapporto diffuso oggi da ENEA” commenta Giuseppe Onufrio direttore delle Campagne di Greenpeace Italia. Continua a leggere questo articolo…