A Victory Bond for the war against climate change
A group of five young professionals from a Vancouver-based organization called Action Canada wants the Canadian government to back the creation of a Green Bond that would guarantee a modest return on investment and assure a steady flow of money into green technologies and projects. You can read a 41-page summary of their ambitious proposal here. The group describes it as a “modern-day Victory Bond for the environment — purchased by Canadians, backed by government, managed by the private sector, and designed to accelerate the rollout of sustainable energy.” They think Canadians will jump at it. “It’s simple, politically sexy, and we have every reason to believe it will be wildly popular.” Apparently the federal government is taking a serious look, and so they should. It has been successful in the European Union, which launched a “climate awareness bond” in 2007 that has so far raised $1.5 billion for renewable energy projects. It seems like a perfect way for people who feel powerless against a global climate menace to help fund some positive change while getting a little in return for their investment. With one caveat: it has to be managed responsibly and have enough checks and balances to make sure money doesn’t flow to a select groups of companies and projects — some of them suspect — who benefit from the right political connections.
Tyler Hamilton is associate publisher and editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and former business columnist for the Toronto Star. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005.
May 28th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Tyler
A blogger had an interview with Dick Weir’s, thought you be interested you can tell it’s the real deal… He is writing it in a series of blogs.
http://bariumtitanate.blogspot.com/
May 30th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Green Bonds???? I would rather spend my money on buying/investing in green power. My choice directly impacts the market and does not have some lame government administration cost associated with the bonds.
Darklamp
May 31st, 2008 at 8:07 am
Investing in green power how? Through individual stock investments? Through direct private-equity investments? Not everyone has this kind of access or knowledge about investing. There’s a reason why government have existed for decades, so there’s no reason to believe they wouldn’t play a role as a green bond. The average person may want to throw a chunk of their savings into a safe bond, and at the same time feel it’s going toward a good cause.
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:00 am
How about putting solar panels on your roof and signing up for a Standard Offer Program contract? That’s one way to help the energy crisis. And when electric cars become a reality here, you will be all set.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:51 am
You’re assuming all the population owns a home that is south facing and isn’t blocked by trees or tall buildings. There are many people who rent, who live in apartment buildings, or who don’t have the appropriate homes, who would like another way to participate in the green economy and do what’s right. I think a green bond offers them this avenue.
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:36 pm
The Interphone study is substantially funded by the cellphone industry. In an examination of 9 Interphone studies on the risk of brain tumors from cellphone use, the are 60 finding showing the use of a cellphone protects the user from brain tumors (never discussed by any author in any paper). Unless cellphones really do protect the user from brain tumors, this is an indication of serious design flaws in the Interphone Protocol. Next week at the Bioelectromagnetics Society’s (BEMS) meeting in San Diego, CA (http://bioelectromagnetics.org/bems2008/?PHPSESSID=4899f833c17191dd22ec0942e094ba70) I will be giving a presentation, “Interphone Studies to Date, An Examination of Poor Study Design Resulting in an Underestimation of the Risk of Brain Tumors.”
Lloyd Morgan 510 528-3659