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U.S. Senate Finance Committee Reports Energy Tax Package with 30% Solar Tax Credit

This week, the Senate Finance Committee approved a tax package that includes the strongest incentives for solar energy in over 20 years. The bill expands the existing 10% commercial tax credit to 30% for all property placed in service after December 31, 2005 and before January 1, 2010. The tax credit returns to 10% in 2010. This tax credit is available for all solar technologies, including PV, concentrating solar power, solar water heating, and solar hybrid lighting. The bill also creates the first residential tax credits for solar energy in the last 23 years! Residential consumers will enjoy a 30% tax credit for the installation of PV and solar water heating systems, capped at $2000. These provisions were passed with strong, bipartisan support. Having passed the Senate Finance Committee, the tax package will now be considered by the full Senate as an amendment to the energy bill. The Senate will continue markup of the Energy Bill next week and have scheduled a final vote on the bill for June 24th. In early July, the House and the Senate will work through Conference Committee to resolve differences between their respective energy bills. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the solar […]

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GTZ and Chiquita Form Biodiversity Partnership in Costa Rica

The German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and Chiquita Brands International are launching a new public-private partnership (PPP) initiative — the Nogal Nature and Community Project — in Costa Rica. The aim of this initiative is to preserve biodiversity, promote nature conservation awareness among the local population and create new sources of income for the people. On a Chiquita farm on the banks of the Ro Sucio in northeastern Costa Rica, not far from the border with Nicaragua, the 100 hectares of rainforest in the Nogal reserve adjacent to the farm will be placed under a conservation order and connected to forestland on neighboring farms by newly planted biological corridors. “This is a practical, sustainable approach to conserving the natural environment and species for the benefit of humankind,” said George Jaksch, Chiquita’s senior director of corporate responsibility and public affairs in Europe. “However, it cannot succeed without the support of the people who live there.” “Only people who appreciate the value of their natural environment are willing to conserve it,” said Johannes Spita, who is responsible for the PPP initiative at GTZ. To that end, the local population will be offered environmental education opportunities and training courses that are intended to provide […]

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Novozymes Honored With Presidential Green Chemistry Award 2005

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will present the Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM)/Novozymes team with a 2005 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for employing enzymes to develop healthier fats and oils for use in applications like margarine, baking and confectionery. This is the second Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award presented directly to Novozymes in the past four years. According to Hans Christian Holm of the Novozymes Oils and Fats team, Danish legislation banning trans fatty acids from food products and impending changes to the Nutritional Labeling Education Act that will require the labeling of trans fats on all nutritional fact panels by January 1, 2006, in the U.S. have food manufacturers looking for solutions to reduce the amount of trans fats in their products. “Novozymes sees a huge global interest for our enzymatic interesterification process for production of margarines and shortenings free of trans fatty acids,” added Holmes. To that end, the ADM/Novozymes award-winning innovation uses an enzyme – Lipozyme TL IM – as an alternative to the conventional chemical hydrogenation, which produces large amounts of trans fats. The bio-based method reduces the environmental impact of margarine production while delivering a healthier oil for human consumption free of trans […]

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Starbucks Invests Additional $2.5 Million in EcoLogic Finance

Starbucks Coffee Company (Nasdaq:SBUX) has provided an additional $2.5 million in loan funds to EcoLogic Finance, a nonprofit organization offering innovative low-interest loans to coffee and cocoa farmers in environmentally sensitive areas of Latin America and Africa. This additional funding increases Starbucks loans to EcoLogic Finance to a total of $5 million since 2002, offering critical financial resources and a source of hope for struggling farm communities. While loans Starbucks previously made to EcoLogic Finance provided funds entirely for coffee farmers, $500,000 of the additional funding is earmarked for cocoa farmers, as they experience many of the same economic, environmental and social issues faced by coffee growers. In 2004, Starbucks also contributed $50,000 to EcoLogic Finance for financial literacy and capacity training projects for smallholder farmers in Latin America. Starbucks believes it is the single largest private lender of loans to smallholder farmers in coffee growing regions with a total commitment of $8.5 million in loan capital to date, including loans to EcoLogic Finance, Conservation International’s Verde Ventures and the Calvert Foundation. As the loans are not restricted to only Starbucks suppliers, the funds have provided much-needed credit to a broad range of coffee farmers throughout Latin America and Africa. […]

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