1 February 2012 – MWH sustainable engineering company has donated $US50,000 to The Energy and Resources Institute to bring solar lighting to rural India. The institute supports the Lighting a Billion Lives program which sets up a solar charging station... 
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24 January 2012 – More than half of the 12 superannuation funds surveyed in a report by actuarial firm Mercer have included climate change risks into investment decisions. The funds surveyed including AustralianSuper and VicSuper had combined assets... 
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20 January 2012 – Australia’s energy, transport and telecommunications infrastructure could well do with a new national body to co-ordinate greater resilience to climate change, a new government report has found. The report, The Role of Regulation... 
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18 January 2012 ­– Private developers in Japan may qualify for 50 per cent subsidies to build shared use buildings under a program to foster more sustainable cities. And buyers of energy efficient homes may soon qualify for tax breaks. The move is... 
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by Lynne Blundell FAVOURITES: 22 November 2011 –At the Colonial First State Global Asset Management Responsible Investment Forum earlier this year chief executive officer Mark Lazberger expressed frustration over the investment industry’s short... 
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By Tina Perinotto 21 December 2011 – Forget the feel good factors in energy efficiency or climate change. At the end of the day, according to green enthusiast Harry Chua, it’s the beautiful set of numbers on the bottom line that make the recent... 
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By Tina Perinotto 19 December 2011 – National Australia Bank and Low Carbon Australia on Monday announced they had signed the first privately funded environmental upgrade agreement through the Melbourne 1200 buildings program. In a second announcement... 
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22 December 2011 – Melbourne property investor Will Deague says that when his family investment company Asia Pacific Property Group decided to embark on a major energy efficiency upgrade of a major asset in South Melbourne, it hadn’t heard about... 
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14 December 2011 – Sustainable Melbourne Fund has launched a web-based animation and case study video to explain how to source loans of up to $500,000 through its $6.4 million sustainable investment program. Read More > >  
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12 December 2011 –The Durban climate talks agreement leaves gaps in emissions, finance and legal issues warns the Australian Greens, and the Australian Conservation Foundation agrees countries need to be more ambitious in cutting emissions. Read... 
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6 December 2011 – New Zealand’s first industrial five Star Green Star building is a Royal New Zealand Air Force. The New Zealand Green Building Council made the award to the 11,000 square metre maintenance support squadron building at RNZAF Base Ohakea,... 
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By Lynne Blundell 2 November 2011 – There are signs that some in the property sector may be outgrowing current sustainability ratings schemes, with several organisations signing up for certification programs that are pushing the sustainability boundaries... 
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6 December 2011 – The United States Obama administration has announced a US$4 billion energy upgrade finance commitment program, similar to Australia’s environmental upgrade agreements. Read More > >  
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7  December 2011  – It’s got Richard Branson’s attention, the Empire State Building and now Melbourne’s 1200 Buildings program is becoming the latest poster child in energy efficiency for buildings. And we haven’t even mentioned President... 
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By Tina Perinotto 1 December 2011  – The Property Council of Australia has raised the bar on quality office buildings. Sustainably. Its latest review of the quality office matrix, released today (Thursday) has made it official that a prime rated building... 
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By Tina Perinotto 30 November 2011 ­­– The PCA/IPD Green Property Investment Index released today shows again that green buildings are better for the bottom line. The latest figures focus on capital values. Read More > >  
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28 November 2011 – US presidential contender Newt Gingrich was paid $1.8 million for a few hours’ “consulting” to special interests. There are  inflated fees to lawmakers who turn lobbyists.  And congressmen and women legislate... 
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28 November 2011 – China’s plan for seven pilot carbon market schemes across the country has been welcomed by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet. The pilots are expected to start in 2013, across Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing... 
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By Lyn Drummond 28 November 2011 – Buying nutritious produce grown on your supermarket’s roof could be the order soon if Australia adopts similar concepts to New York based companies Bright Farms and Gotham Greens. Read More > >  
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22 November 2011 – AXA Investment Managers has added to its carbon footprint metric with a series of other metrics such as corporate governance, social and water, as it prepares for what it says will be major growth in responsible investment, especially... 
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By Elena Bondareva 22 November 2011 –What can the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol do for our sector? Read More > >  
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17 November 2011  – The Economist has jumped in to show that despite the massive failure of a co-ordinated climate policy approach by leading world governments, the leading private sector is doing its own thing, surging ahead in some cases with major... 
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16 November 2011 – The built environment has scored poorly in an inner Melbourne study of neighbourhood access for disabled people. The Universal Mobility Index, initiated by Visionary Design Development, included the strip shopping area of Kensington... 
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14 November 2011 – General Electric and global banking group UBS has tipped US$200 million into Shai Agassi’s Better Place, the electric car charge company on the verge of gaining a significant foothold in Australia. Read More > >  
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By Tina Perinotto 9 November 2011 – The Metcash NSW Distribution Centre at Eastern Creek being developed by Goodman Group is  aiming for a four star Green Star Industrial Design & Build v1. That ambition puts both tenant and developer way out... 
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9 November 2011 – Westfield’s Sydney development in Pitt Street Mall was last night awarded a five star Green Star Retail Centre v1 rating, making it the largest Green Star certified retail project in Australia, and paving the way for a raft of green... 
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3 November 2011 – Sydney based EP&T Global, chaired by former Sydney 2000 Olympic Games chief executive Sandy Holloway, has been appointed to a major energy savings project in a major new development in Dubai. Mr Holloway said the Dubai contract... 
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By Lynne Blundell 2 November 2011 ­ – The Australian Green Infrastructure Council is to launch its sustainable infrastructure ratings tool in early 2012, delegates at the AGIC’s recent annual conference in Melbourne were told. The ratings scheme,... 
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By Tina Perinotto 2 November 2011 – According to Queensland based AECOM managing director for water and infrastructure services Andrew Macleod there is a “desperate” need for skilled people across the entire engineering sector. Some of this... 
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By Suzette Jackson, HASSELL 2 November 2011 – The aim of the World Sustainable Building Conferences is to share leading knowledge, and find new solutions which enhance sustainable ways of living and working within built environments,... 
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