Category Archives: News Commentary

Our commentary and views on current events

Are you at Fortune Brainstorm Green?

By | Published: April 17, 2012

One of the most popular conferences in the corporate sustainability space started yesterday: Fortune Brainstorm GREEN. If you are at the event, please introduce yourself to one of our EDF Business experts: Jon Coifman, Marketing and Communications Director Audrey Davenport, Project Manager Andrew Hutson, Project Manager Jasper Jung, Marketing and Communications Manager Emily Reyna, Project [...]

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Moving Away from PR Focused Sustainability

By | Published: April 12, 2012

By Lillias MacIntyre, Program Associate, Corporate Partnerships, EDF Defining “sustainability” in general terms can be difficult, since definitions evolve over time with new ideas or trends.  Sustainability today encompasses contexts of natural resources and the environment, economics and social equity, but generally speaking,  to be sustainable is to use “methods, systems and materials that won’t [...]

Also posted in Behavior, Innovation, Treasure Hunts | Leave a comment

Senior leader buy-in proves key to successful ESG programs in Private Equity

By | Published: April 5, 2012

Lee Coker, Project Manager, Environmental Defense Fund's Corporate Partnerships Program In our past few blog posts about our Green Returns project in the private equity industry, we’ve highlighted several environmental, social and governance (ESG) best practices that are emerging across the sector. One critical element of a successful ESG strategy that we have not yet [...]

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Sustainability Boosts Returns for Private Equity Funds: Part III

By | Published: March 29, 2012

By Andrew Malk, Founder and Managing Partner of Malk Sustainability Partners (MSP) Part III: The Fine Print of ESG Underwriting In the second installment of this series, we highlighted how private equity fund managers can drive value creation across their portfolios by integrating efficient resource management expertise into operational teams and broader corporate strategy, as [...]

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Putting Mother Jones Walmart Article in Perspective

By | Bio | Published: March 26, 2012

In an article posted online this week, Mother Jones magazine makes a sweeping critique of Walmart’s efforts to reduce the environmental impacts created by its Chinese supply chain. Having been closely involved with Walmart on these and other sustainability initiatives since 2005, we’d like to offer EDF’s perspective on the story, and on what’s at [...]

Also posted in Energy Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Innovation, Partnerships, Supply Chain Management, Walmart | Leave a comment

Sustainability Boosts Returns for Private Equity Funds

By | Published: February 3, 2012

By Andrew Malk, Founder and Managing Partner of Malk Sustainability Partners (MSP) Part I: Introduction to Environmentally-Driven Value Creation for General Partners With the recent presidential campaign attention paid to Bain Capital, it seems likely that 2012 will be the year that Americans become better acquainted with the private equity sector. Despite managing hundreds of [...]

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On Last Night's State of the Union Address

By | Published: January 25, 2012

By Fred Krupp, President of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) President Obama delivered his State of the Union Address last night, and energy issues played a starring role in the speech. Here are some of the comments that caught my attention: The President drew some firm lines in the sand. The address was a strong defense [...]

Also posted in Energy Efficiency, Innovation, Safe Products, Water | Leave a comment

Private Equity: Breaking down the barriers of climate-related investment

By | Published: December 15, 2011

By Euan Marshall, Program Manager, Environmental and Social Development, IFC Addressing the climate finance gap will require investment across many asset classes. There is a particular need to fund small and growing businesses that are developing innovative low carbon products and services. According to a recent IFC report [PDF], Private Equity (PE) is particularly well [...]

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Trucks continue to be VIP

By | Published: December 9, 2011

Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post discussing the Hybrid Voucher Incentive Program (HVIP) by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The program, with a little over $11 million in funding, is still going strong into next year albeit with a few minor changes. Vouchers still range between $10,000-30,000 on a first-come, first serve [...]

Also posted in Fleet Vehicles, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Innovation | Leave a comment

$4 Billion Of Private Investment In Energy Efficiency Projects Announced Today

By | Published: December 2, 2011

By Brad Copithorne In an era of fiscal austerity, government’s options to create change are frequently limited. The Obama administration did not let this roadblock slow them down today when they announced $4 billion of private sector investment in energy efficiency projects as part of their Better Buildings Challenge. This builds on a $500 million [...]

Also posted in Energy Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Innovation | Leave a comment