Green Options

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Last month was a busy time for the voluntary carbon standard (VCS). Admittedly, it’s not a phrase that rolls smoothly off the tongue.

Like corporate social responsibility (CSR), you find yourself semi-exhausted before the next sentence.

You sense inherent good in each of these phrases – sure – but just want them to make sense in a realer world.

And so to the VCS.

Voluntary carbon offsetting is big business. In 2006, there was a huge surge in this market resulting in a 200% growth.

Big brands were, and are, getting into carbon offsetting in a big way. Google, Nike, Coca Cola, Yahoo! – all are now part of this market.

I don’t think it at all beneficial at this stage to analyse their reasons for announcing green credentials. Whether it really is genuine CSR or in each case a PR exercise is redundant. Don’t muddy the waters. They’re doing it.

So, yes, multinationals are offsetting their carbon within the voluntary sector. Good.

But what’s drawing them to the market? Two reasons.

On Friday, Apple fans across the US were queuing up to get their hands on the new iPhone. In SOHO, the first through the doors wasn’t just any disciple of the Cult of Mac. It was indy film director Spike Lee followed by supporters of Keep a Child Alive, a charity devoted to providing anti-retroviral drugs to children in Africa.

The perfectly orchestrated act of PR was not the work of the masterminds [...]

Texas AG Greg Abbot: he may be wrong, but he may be right.In a rush to push through well-intentioned and headline-grabbing divestment legislation targeting the multinationals that aid the genocidal regime in Sudan, politicians may be doing more damage to the movement than good.

Evidence of this backlash surfaced last week. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued a statement that requiring divestment on

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Green Giants: Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia; recycling computer parts at H-PThe current issue of Fortune is a treasure trove of stories of companies that got the green religion. Some did it from the standpoint of a moral imperative. Others did it for the other type of green — money. The cover issue is about the so-called "coolest company" on earth,

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Photo: AFP/Jim WatsonState legislatures all across the country, including my home state of Texas, are considering bills that would force state-sponsored investment funds to divest from companies profiting from business with the genocidal regime in Darfur.

If successful, pension funds representing teachers, police, firefighters, and other government employees would have to dump billions of dollars in equity in the offending companies. Presumably, the tidal wave of supply in unwanted stock

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Market meltdowns, like the one we saw last week, and the one that may be forthcoming this week (as of this morning, the Asian markets took another nosedive), are no reason to panic.

In fact, unless you are on the cusp of retirement (or currently retired), market corrections are mostly positive news. Corporate profits are at multi-year highs. U.S. corporations have as more cash on hand than at any time

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GE Shareholders: Stop Lobbying for Greenhouse Gas RegulationOne of the cornerstones of activist investors is lobbying for better carbon disclosure. As the thinking goes, putting it down on paper will make executives think about improving their carbon impact.

Yesterday, General Electric (NYSE:GE) lost a shareholder bid to quash GE's lobbying efforts to better regulate carbon emissions. GE has a large "Ecomagination" business selling all manner of

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Ethanol Affecting Tortilla MakersInvestors who got on the ethanol bandwagon after LAST year's State of the Union address had a wild ride indeed. The frothiest (no pun intended) of them all was Pacific Ethanol (NASDAQ:PEIX). The Fresno, CA-based marketer and refiner started 2006 in the 11 range. After Bush's State of the Union, it nearly quadrupled to 42 by May. As of Friday, it closed

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Whether with a social slant or not, the 401(k) is the most popular vehicle for investing. And it should be. For most people, I advise that before you contribute to any other savings account, you should max out your 401(k) contributions. No other vehicle offers you tax deduction, tax deferral, and a possible match.

However, if you wish to invest responsibly, your plan may not have any SRI (socially responsible investing)

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Regular readers of this column might conclude that I am obsessed with the Gates Foundation (see previous posts, More On Gates Foundation and Social Investing and An Open Letter to Bill Gates). The controversy has raised the level of dialogue about socially responsible investing such that it is still worthwhile. Nonetheless, this will be my last post on the topic.

Last week in this forum, I wrote an open letter to Bill Gates, exhorting him to reassess his foundation's investment methodology so that the investment profits from the foundation do not work against the stated mission of the foundation.