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International Paper Sells Million Acres, Sustainability Pledged

STAMFORD, Connecticut, November 13, 2004 (ENS) – Sustainable forestry standards will be maintained on International Paper's 1.1 million acres in Maine and New Hampshire forestlands, even after the forestlands are sold to GMO Renewable Resources, LLC, (GMORR) a private forest investment management company. The $250 million sale is expected to be complete by the first quarter 2005. The companies have agreed to a long-term management contract by which International Paper will provide forest management services, including third-party certification to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard [SustainbleBusiness.com editor's note: this is the industry's certification program and is much looser than the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)'s standards]. The forestlands being sold are located in an east-west strip across central Maine, with an additional 24,000 acres in northern New Hampshire. International Paper and GMORR have agreed to a long-term wood fiber supply agreement to continue the flow of fiber to IP's Maine paper mills in Jay and Bucksport. "Our decision to sell these forestlands is based on achieving a superior value for our forestlands while maintaining our ability to provide for the wood fiber needs of our two Maine mills," said George O'Brien, IP's senior vice president for forest products. "We look forward to […]

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Sandia, Stirling to Build Solar Dish Engine Plant

Sandia National Lab and Stirling Energy Systems, Inc. are joining forces to build and test six solar dish-engine systems for electricity generation that will provide enough grid-ready solar electricity to power more than 40 homes. Five new systems will be installed between now and January at Sandias National Solar Thermal Test Facility. A prototype dish-Stirling system that was erected earlier this year. The six-dish mini power plant will produce up to 150kW of grid-ready electrical power during the day. "This will be the largest array of solar dish-Stirling systems to date," says Chuck Andraka, the Sandia project leader. "Ultimately SES envisions 20,000 systems to be placed in one or more solar dish farms and providing electricity to southwest U.S. utility companies." Once the units are installed, Sandia and SES researchers will experiment with the systems to determine how best they can be integrated in a field, as well as improving reliability and performance. "Its one thing to have one system that we can operate, but its a whole other thing to have six that must work in unison," Andraka says. Each unit operates automatically. Without operator intervention or even on-site presence, it starts up each morning at dawn and operates […]

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Eurosif Launches SRI Transparency Guidelines

Eurosif (European Social Investment Forum), has finalized Transparency Guidelines for the retail SRI financial sector to maintain and increase consumer confidence in this dynamic and high growth area. The pan-European effort is the result of a multi-stakeholder consultation that incorporated the views of the financial services community, research groups, NGO's, trade unions and others. Signatories of the Guidelines will have up to six months to implement the guidelines and the option to choose the media they wish in order to publish their responses. Signatories should be open and honest and disclose accurate, adequate and timely information to enable stakeholders, in particular consumers, to understand the SRI policies and practices related to the fund. Verification of the results will be decided by Social Investment Forums at the National level and will range from self-policing to third party verification. Commenting on the Guidelines, Executive Director for Eurosif, Matt Christensen said, "The Eurosif Retail Guidelines are an innovative means for asset managers to show interested investors how they create and manage an SRI fund. The Dutch SIF, VBDO, did an excellent job in starting this effort in 2002 and Eurosif has now broadened it to include all of Europe. The Guidelines should not […]

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