I was able to catch today’s morning sessions at the Global Private Equity Conference and will link to the presentation when they go online next week. Comments on the event below the fold for those that are interested.
Rural Kenyan farmers have joined the global carbon trade:
They are being urged to plant trees, not for firewood, timber or electricity poles, but for absorbing excess carbon from the environment - and they are being paid for it. Through this new concept, 45 members of Rongai Development Programme have each received Sh700 as motivation to join the trade by establishing carbon sinks (forests and tree planting projects)
In the midst of reports that the carbon market might be facing a potential slump, Carbon Expo, the Global Carbon Market Fair and Conference, is opening this week in Cologne. What are the prospects for the carbon market, and what role can international organizations play in supporting the introduction of clean technologies? Can and should the private sector go beyond the requirements posed by regulators?
Despite the collapse of the European Carbon market at the end of last month (something to keep the corridors buzzing, we hope not moaning, at the Carbon Expo), investors minds are being concentrated on the real possibilities of abrupt climate change, and the potential of the clean tech market. What’s concentrating those minds: oil prices, the stirring of the body politic and some big players leading the way?
I was saving for later, but Greg Mankiw beat me to it. Gary Becker on the left's resurgence in Latin America:
A new securities law could help dramatically raise Mexico’s corporate governance standards, which ranked a dismal 125th in the world in Doing Business’ most recent index of investor protection and corporate governance standards.
Several Latin American companies have seen big boosts to their stock prices, and/or to their bottom lines, after improving their corporate governance practices in the past few years.
A new class of "southern multinationals" [are] reshaping the geography of global investment. These companies are emerging from unlikely latitudes to grab sales from more-famous brands, often using their homegrown experience with Third World obstacles—from corruption to red tape and bad roads—to succeed in foreign emerging markets.
The Heritage Foundation’s 2006 Index of Economic Freedom is out. Hong Kong and Singapore lead the way. Estonia comes in at seven, Chile at fourteen. These are the top 10 ‘worsened'.
In the Wall Street Journal Mary Anastasia O’Grady, one of the reports' editors, uses the contrasts between Estonia and Chile to claim that:
Came across a new blog: Governance Focus. If you're interested in corporate governance, click over. Good content and lots of it each day. The left-hand side links alone are impressive. Know of other governance blogs?
