Mexico has become the first developing nation to formally promise to cut its global-warming pollution, a potential milestone in efforts to reach a worldwide agreement on tackling climate change.

Japan anticipates that by 2030 clean energy such as solar and hydro will generate slightly more of the nation’s electricity than nuclear power plants.

The secretary general of the United Nations is frustrated with the pace of negotiations for what’s intended to be a crucial agreement limiting global warming.

Climate change pledges submitted so far from the world’s leading economies won’t be enough to keep the planet from warming dangerously, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday in New York.

Proposals to reduce heat-trapping emissions need to be “a floor, not a ceiling,” he said.

The global increase in temperatures will exceed 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) under the national pledges already submitted to UN, Ban said. That’s the goal scientists and the UN have set to avoid the worst effects due to global warming.

The proposals submitted to date “will not be enough to place us on a 2-degree pathway,” Ban said.

Without any changes to global emissions, the world is on track to warm by 4 degrees Celsius or more, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Change Janos Pasztor said earlier this month.

World leaders have five months to go before a meeting of almost 200 nations in Paris that’s intended to seal a new global pact to cut planet-warming carbon emissions. If successful, the agreement would be the first ever to require both developed nations like the US and growing economies like China to address climate change.

“The pace of UN negotiations are far too slow,” Ban said. “It’s like a snail’s pace.”

The U.S., the world’s biggest historic source of greenhouse gases, pledged earlier this year to cut its emissions by as much as 28 percent by 2025. The European Union has promised a 40 percent cut by 2030. Several other major economies, including Australia and Japan, have yet to submit climate plans to the UN.

Executives from 13 major U.S. corporations are announcing at least $140 billion in new investments to decrease their carbon footprints as part of a White House initiative to recruit private commitments ahead of a United Nations climate-change summit later this year in Paris.

Companies including Apple Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will join Secretary of State John Kerry and top administration officials at the White House for the announcement. In addition to pledges to cut emissions, provide financing to environmentally-focused companies, and reduce water consumption, the companies have said they will procure at least 1,600 MW of new, renewable energy. The White House said in a statement that it expects to announce a second round of similar pledges later this fall from additional companies.

The commitments are being announced as President Barack Obama is looking to build momentum toward a legacy-defining global climate accord in Paris. In addition to company-specific commitments, the corporate leaders on Monday will signal their support for a strong climate agreement out of the United Nations talks. They administration is using the pledges to set an example for companies to find ways to eliminate their carbon emissions.

Climate Talks

“As the world looks toward global climate negotiations in Paris this December, American leadership at all levels will be essential,” the White House said in a fact sheet detailing the announcement.

The administration’s actions are pushing the issue into the 2016 presidential debate. Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, released an energy strategy saying she would both defend and go beyond Obama’s efforts. Republican candidates have criticized the administration’s initiatives as costly to the economy and unnecessary.

Among the pledges, aluminum manufacturer Alcoa Inc. has agreed to reduce emissions by 50 percent from its 2005 levels, while agricultural giant Cargill Inc. says 18 percent of its total energy use will come from renewable sources.

Coca-Cola Co. said it would drive down the carbon footprint of its beverage production by 25 percent over the next five years, while Google says it plans to triple its purchases of renewable energy over the next decade. Berkshire Hathaway says it plans to invest up to an additional $15 billion in the construction and operation of renewable energy generators, while Bank of America Corp says it will increase its environmental business initiative by $75 billion over the next decade, according to the White House

Other participating firms include Wal-Mart, United Parcel Service Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Microsoft Corp., General Motors Inc.

The corporate commitments won’t be the administration’s only major climate announcement in the next few weeks. The Environmental Protection Agency is set to present final regulations that aim to reduce carbon emissions from power plants by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 later this week.

While visiting Kenya over the weekend, Obama repeatedly praised the country for its efforts to address climate change, saying its efforts tor educe emissions “has put it in the position of being a leader on the continent.” And next month, the president will travel to Alaska for an international summit on Arctic climate issues.

©2015 Bloomberg News

For more, see Big Companies, Big Renewable Investments.

Trump's proposed budget severely cuts the EPA and DOE's efficiency and renewables offices, but allocates funding for R&D, clean coal and advanced nuclear.

Several smart money managers I know are excited by the heads-I-win, tails-I-win big opportunity offered by Power REIT’s (NYSE:PW) attempt to foreclose on its railroad lease with Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) and Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway (WLE). I know this because I’m one of them, and I’ve talked to others about it. Others aren’t quite so sure.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government plans to spend 15 billion rupees ($250 million) on programs to boost solar power and reform electricity supply to farmers to end blackouts in India.

President Barack Obama will pledge $3 billion to a United Nations climate-change fund that’s intended to help poor nations boost renewable energy and counter the ill effects of global warming.

Mexico has become the first developing nation to formally promise to cut its global-warming pollution, a potential milestone in efforts to reach a worldwide agreement on tackling climate change.

Investment manager Nephila Holdings Ltd. and insurance giant Allianz SE have banded together to offer an insurance policy of sorts to wind farm developers known as a “proxy revenue swap.” It’s a technical way of saying they’re guaranteeing that revenue from a farm will fall within a certain range.

If the North-South divide is bridged by a significantly increased EU-budget for the next seven years, anti-democratic governments should not continue to benefit.

MEPs said the Czech PM should fully resolve the possible conflict of interest in a company that receives EU funds - or resign.

When the world’s largest working advanced digestion plant opened last month, it showed the power- hungry process of treating waste in the $360 billion water industry can be self-sufficient in terms of energy use.

President Barack Obama will pledge $3 billion to a United Nations climate-change fund that’s intended to help poor nations boost renewable energy and counter the ill effects of global warming.

Mexico has become the first developing nation to formally promise to cut its global-warming pollution, a potential milestone in efforts to reach a worldwide agreement on tackling climate change.

Japan anticipates that by 2030 clean energy such as solar and hydro will generate slightly more of the nation’s electricity than nuclear power plants.

The secretary general of the United Nations is frustrated with the pace of negotiations for what’s intended to be a crucial agreement limiting global warming.

Climate change pledges submitted so far from the world’s leading economies won’t be enough to keep the planet from warming dangerously, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday in New York.

Proposals to reduce heat-trapping emissions need to be “a floor, not a ceiling,” he said.

The global increase in temperatures will exceed 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) under the national pledges already submitted to UN, Ban said. That’s the goal scientists and the UN have set to avoid the worst effects due to global warming.

The proposals submitted to date “will not be enough to place us on a 2-degree pathway,” Ban said.

Without any changes to global emissions, the world is on track to warm by 4 degrees Celsius or more, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Change Janos Pasztor said earlier this month.

World leaders have five months to go before a meeting of almost 200 nations in Paris that’s intended to seal a new global pact to cut planet-warming carbon emissions. If successful, the agreement would be the first ever to require both developed nations like the US and growing economies like China to address climate change.

“The pace of UN negotiations are far too slow,” Ban said. “It’s like a snail’s pace.”

The U.S., the world’s biggest historic source of greenhouse gases, pledged earlier this year to cut its emissions by as much as 28 percent by 2025. The European Union has promised a 40 percent cut by 2030. Several other major economies, including Australia and Japan, have yet to submit climate plans to the UN.

Executives from 13 major U.S. corporations are announcing at least $140 billion in new investments to decrease their carbon footprints as part of a White House initiative to recruit private commitments ahead of a United Nations climate-change summit later this year in Paris.

Companies including Apple Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will join Secretary of State John Kerry and top administration officials at the White House for the announcement. In addition to pledges to cut emissions, provide financing to environmentally-focused companies, and reduce water consumption, the companies have said they will procure at least 1,600 MW of new, renewable energy. The White House said in a statement that it expects to announce a second round of similar pledges later this fall from additional companies.

The commitments are being announced as President Barack Obama is looking to build momentum toward a legacy-defining global climate accord in Paris. In addition to company-specific commitments, the corporate leaders on Monday will signal their support for a strong climate agreement out of the United Nations talks. They administration is using the pledges to set an example for companies to find ways to eliminate their carbon emissions.

Climate Talks

“As the world looks toward global climate negotiations in Paris this December, American leadership at all levels will be essential,” the White House said in a fact sheet detailing the announcement.

The administration’s actions are pushing the issue into the 2016 presidential debate. Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, released an energy strategy saying she would both defend and go beyond Obama’s efforts. Republican candidates have criticized the administration’s initiatives as costly to the economy and unnecessary.

Among the pledges, aluminum manufacturer Alcoa Inc. has agreed to reduce emissions by 50 percent from its 2005 levels, while agricultural giant Cargill Inc. says 18 percent of its total energy use will come from renewable sources.

Coca-Cola Co. said it would drive down the carbon footprint of its beverage production by 25 percent over the next five years, while Google says it plans to triple its purchases of renewable energy over the next decade. Berkshire Hathaway says it plans to invest up to an additional $15 billion in the construction and operation of renewable energy generators, while Bank of America Corp says it will increase its environmental business initiative by $75 billion over the next decade, according to the White House

Other participating firms include Wal-Mart, United Parcel Service Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Microsoft Corp., General Motors Inc.

The corporate commitments won’t be the administration’s only major climate announcement in the next few weeks. The Environmental Protection Agency is set to present final regulations that aim to reduce carbon emissions from power plants by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 later this week.

While visiting Kenya over the weekend, Obama repeatedly praised the country for its efforts to address climate change, saying its efforts tor educe emissions “has put it in the position of being a leader on the continent.” And next month, the president will travel to Alaska for an international summit on Arctic climate issues.

©2015 Bloomberg News

For more, see Big Companies, Big Renewable Investments.

NVIDIA is expanding its long-standing collaboration with IBM to accelerate the deployment of edge networks. Businesses are deploying these networks around the world as they switch on IoT sensors and extract real-time insights from the masses of data they generate. Today, IBM announced new solutions for edge computing including the IBM Edge Application Manager on Read article >

The post Taking Point: IBM, NVIDIA Collaborate at the Network’s Edge appeared first on The Official NVIDIA Blog.

NVIDIA is expanding its long-standing collaboration with IBM to accelerate the deployment of edge networks. Businesses are deploying these networks around the world as they switch on IoT sensors and extract real-time insights from the masses of data they generate. Today, IBM announced new solutions for edge computing including the IBM Edge Application Manager on Read article >

The post Taking Point: IBM, NVIDIA Collaborate at the Network’s Edge appeared first on The Official NVIDIA Blog.

  When it comes to hedge strategies, onshore FCA-authorised fund vehicles may offer some unique advantages with fewer drawbacks than you might think. When it comes to authorised funds - as in a fund authorised as a product, by a regulator &ndas...

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  When delivering the UK’s Budget on 16 March 2016, the Chancellor of the Exchequer warned that we face a “cocktail of risks”. Undoubtedly, this is not likely to be anyone’s first choice from the cocktail menu, however d...

The Supreme Court has ruled on what has been acknowledged as an issue of critical importance to the application of national planning policy, namely the proper interpretation of paragraph 49 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). This requ...

In September 2016 Communities secretary Sajid Javid decided not to confirm a compulsory purchase order (CPO) which underpinned regeneration proposals for the Aylesbury Estate in the London Borough of Southwark (Southwark). The CPO sought to acquire ...

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1.       What is the Enforcement of Judgments Office? The Enforcement of Judgments Office (the “EJO”) is a public body responsible for enforcing judgments in Northern Ireland. This contrasts to the system in...

A document seen by SaharaReporters has exposed how serving and retired Nigerian judges are illegally preparing ways for their children and relatives to take over the country’s judicial system in future.

According to the document put together by Open Bar Initiative, out of the 33 names recently recommended to President Muhammadu Buhari by the National Judiciary Council for appointment as judges in the Federal Capital Territory High Court, only 11 met the criteria set out in the employment guideline of the council.

The NJC had on April 26, 2020 approved the appointment of 33 judges for the FCT High Court.

SaharaReporters gathered that 22 out of the 33 candidates presented to President Buhari made the list only because they were related to serving senior members of the judiciary or close aides and members of the NJC. 

Also, states that already have judges in the FCT High Court were reconsidered and given slots while no one was considered qualified for appointment in Ebonyi, a state that has no existing judge.

Section 255 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), pegged qualification for becoming a judge in the High Court of the FCT to a minimum of 10 years qualification as a legal practitioner. 

Also Rule 4 of the NJC appointment of judges’ procedure, indicated only four classes of lawyers, who are qualified to apply and be recommended to be appointed as judges of a high court.

These are legal practitioners in private practice, legal practitioners in public service, who are legal officers, chief registrar of a court, and chief magistrates.

Those listed in the document seen by SaharaReporters among the 33 nominees to be considered as judges by President Buhari but, who are not qualified include Njideka K. Nwosu-Iheme, a Grade 1 Magistrate, who is the daughter of Justice Mary Odili of the Supreme Court and daughter-in-law to Justice Nwosu-Iheme of the Court of Appeal, Agashieze Cyprian Odinaka, a Deputy Director at FCTA whose sister is the Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal in Akure, Ondo State, Fatima Abubakar Aliyu, a judiciary worker, who is the daughter of immediate-past President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Bulkachuwa, Kanyip Rosemary Indinya, a senior magistrate at FCT and wife of the President of the National Industrial Court and sister of a member of the National Judicial Council.

Others are Mimi Anne Katsina Alu-Apena, a senior magistrate and daughter of late Kastina Alu, former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Enenche Eleojo, Assistant Director at FCT High Court and Personal Assistant to the Chief Judge, FCT High Court, Madugu Mohammed Alhaji, Josephine Obanor Enobie, Kayode Agunloye, Nwabulu Ngozika Chineze and Abubakar Babashani, who are senior staff of the FCT High Court but have not attained the rank of chief registrar as stipulated by the constitution.

The list also includes one one Aliyu Halilu Ahmed, a Deputy Chief Registrar from Adamawa State judiciary, who has not attained the rank of a chief registrar.

The rest are Aminu Muhammad Abdullahi, Nwecheonwu Chinyere Elewe, Ibrahim Mohammed, Sadia Mu’azu Mayana, Aliyu Yunusa Shafa, Mohammed Zubairu, Binta Dogonyaro, Christopher Opeyemi Oba and Hafsat Lawan Abba-Aliyu, all magistrates from the FCT judiciary, who are not up to the rank of a chief magistrate as stipulated in Rule 4 of the NJC appointment of judges procedure.

SaharaReporters also gathered that one Olufola Olufolashade Oshin did not participate in the processes leading up to selection, interview or obtaining recommendation from a Chief Judge of a state but her name was inserted into the final list transmitted to President Buhari at the instigation of some senior judicial officers believed to be top members of the Supreme Court.

Reacting to the development, Open Bar Initiative said, “The suggestion that judicial service in Nigeria is an inheritance transmitted from parents to children is not supported by the constitution or any other instrument under Nigerian law. 

“This is an abuse of the constitution by those who must nominate judges for appointment.”

Co-convener of Open Bar Initiative and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission in Nigeria, Prof Chidi Odinkalu, while reacting to the situation, said, “These are not just unqualified nominees, they are bad nominees because only bad people will want to become judges through smuggling. They will make bad judges, we should resist them and their sponsors.”

Voicing his displeasure on Twitter, a user with the handle @AbdulMahmud01, said, “Have you seen the list of newly appointed FCT judges approved by NJC? It is a parade of children of former CJN, retired Supreme Court justices and judges. NJC is simply put: a corrupt council of corrupt interests.”

Another user, @KennyAdazie, while sharing her thoughts on the issue, said, “The only people that can take back Nigeria are the youth. 

“If we don’t come out to stop this madness, the charade will continue. When they strategically place their own, they pave way for #impunities and come 2023, there is nothing you can do! The reason our legal system is in ruins.”

Whilst each case will ultimately need to be assessed on its merits, we have set out below what we consider to be the key factors for all UAE creditors to take into account when deciding whether to start the enforcement process in India. These factor...

Eversheds Sutherland advises Glennmont on the sale of a minority stake in 211MW Finnish wind project Eversheds Sutherland has advised Glennmont Partners on its agreed sale of a 15% minority stake in Project Piiparinmäki, a 211.4MW wind farm, to...

On 28 April 2020, the Russian President issued Decree No. 294 On Prolonging Measures To Ensure Sanitary and Epidemiological Wellbeing of the Population in the Russian Federation due to the Spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The following da...

In Brief: According to the 2020 budget draft law n°7500, published on 14 October 2019 (the “Bill”), the validity of advance tax agreements (“ATAs”) granted prior to 1 January 2015 should now be limited to five years. Sinc...

In a difficult economic climate, Minister Tito Mboweni delivered a budget speech, which on the face of it appears to provide a number of positive outcomes, including the provision of personal income tax relief through an above inflation increase in ...

Given the development of the COVID-19 situation, it was anticipated that the UK government Budget would have a very different focus than originally expected. Trailed as the showcase fiscal policy event of the new Conservative government, it was alw...

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has lamented that Kogi State never accepted the assistance rendered by its official in trying to trace COVID-19 patients in the State. NCDC DG, Director-General, Chikwe Ihekweazu was reacting to the misunderstanding between the body’s official and the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello. Bello had asked officials of […]

NCDC officials not wanted in Kogi – DG, Ihekweazu

The EFF says it has contributed R6 million towards the Solidarity Fund and has challenged others who had pledged towards the fund to produce proof of their promised contributions.

The volume of welfare budget set aside by local governments has surpassed the 50-trillion-won level for the first time in history to 53 trillion won (US$46.9 billion). This is 59 percent higher than what it was five years ago. According to the 2017 Statistical Yearbook published by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on September 4, the aggregate welfare budget of local government for the first six months of the year was 52,601.4 billion won, up 6.2 percent (3,081.7 billion won) from the ...

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The continued impact of the coronavirus pandemic is undoubtedly increasing uncertainty around asset valuations. With the need to bridge valuation gaps in order for parties to strike deals, this article looks at two key tools to navigate this te...

The Facebook “Like” button and similar social media plugin technologies (Plugin) are now so commonplace that we perhaps don’t give them a second thought. Plugins provide an easy way for consumers to connect instantly with a preferr...

Court of appeal overturns High Court judgment in Lloyd v Google LLC [2019] EWCA Civ 1599 Court of Appeal judgment The Court of Appeal has given the go-ahead for a representative claim to be served on Google LLC in the U.S. for alleged data breaches,...