Mark Nicholls

Latest articles from Mark

• WestLB is the First Bank to Refuse Finance to Offshore Oil Rigs in the Arctic

  Published 20 April 2012 | viewed 11,857 times

  WestLB will not provide finance to any offshore oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, according to a new environmental policy that is understood to…

• Wind Power to be Competitive with Natural Gas by 2016

  Published 14 November 2011 | viewed 11,133 times

  Falling costs mean that the average onshore wind farm will be competitive with natural gas-fired power generation by 2016, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance…

• The Blue-Green Economy and the Role of the Ocean in Sustainable Development

  Published 04 November 2011 | viewed 8,819 times

  A global market in carbon captured within the world’s oceans – ‘blue carbon’ – should be established to help protect the marine environment, according to…

• Finance for Climate Related Projects Drying Up

  Published 13 October 2011 | viewed 6,672 times

  The availability of finance to help developing countries tackle climate change is drying up, imperiling the international climate talks, the head of the World Bank’s…

• Novozymes Looking to Displace Charcoal with Biofuel in Mozambique

  Published 27 September 2011 | viewed 9,694 times

  Novozymes is to help finance a novel integrated food and energy venture in Mozambique which aims to displace charcoal with biofuel – offering a more…

• The Green Climate Fund is Destined for Failure

  Published 02 September 2011 | viewed 4,994 times

  The Green Climate Fund (GCF), designed to channel $100 billion a year in climate-related investment to the developing world by 2020, is destined for failure,…

• Positive Environment for Climate Related Investments

  Published 06 July 2011 | viewed 5,094 times

  The outlook for climate change-related investments is brightening after a few years when “it’s been a pretty depressing place to work”, according to a leading…

• UK Pension Funds Unhealthy Overweighting of Fossil Fuel Stocks

  Published 18 April 2011 | viewed 6,228 times

  The overweighting of the UK stock market towards fossil fuel companies means that UK pension funds are at particular risk of any sudden reassessment of…

• A Pragmatic View of the Anticipated Development of Renewable Energy Technologies by 2020

  Published 08 March 2011 | viewed 7,906 times

  The investment required to meet the UK’s 2020 renewable energy targets is likely to be below £40 billion ($65 billion), not the “intimidatingly large” £200…

• Blackrock's Foray into the Renewable Energy Sector

  Published 04 March 2011 | viewed 8,069 times

  Investment management giant BlackRock has launched a new renewable power investment group, led by the CEO of Irish utility NTR – marking its first foray…

• Conoco, GE and NRG Invest $300m in Game Changing Energy Technologies

  Published 07 February 2011 | viewed 7,994 times

  Three US corporate giants have committed $300 million to an energy technology investment company to fund “potentially game-changing technologies”. GE Capital, the investment arm of…

• EU Carbon Market Slows to a Crawl Following Security Breaches

  Published 22 January 2011 | viewed 5,461 times

  Trading in the EU carbon market has slowed to a crawl following the decision yesterday afternoon by the European Commission to suspend transactions in all…

• SunPower Closes First Publicly Rated Bond Issue for a Solar Project

  Published 20 December 2010 | viewed 9,500 times

  US solar power firm SunPower Corporation has sold €195.2 million ($258.4 million) of bonds linked to a solar farm in Italy, which are understood to…

• US Government Pushing Renewable Energy

  Published 13 December 2010 | viewed 6,261 times

  Eight US government departments have come together in a major push to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency exports, which includes promises of new financing…

• Investors Turn to Renewables

  Published 10 December 2010 | viewed 5,059 times

  Around half of investors in BNP Paribas’ Clean Energy Fund – which closed this week at €427 million ($568 million) – are making their first…

• Improving Outlook for Environmental Investing

  Published 15 November 2010 | viewed 4,365 times

  Institutional investors are risk averse, time-poor and “carbon and climate fatigued”, making it difficult to generate interest in environmentally-orientated investing, according to a leading investment…

• Rare Earths ETF Launched by Money Manager Van Eck

  Published 03 November 2010 | viewed 6,884 times

  Money manager Van Eck Global has launched an exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering investors exposure to a possible bull-run in the value of ‘rare earth’ metals.…

• Cash Floods Into Offshore Wind Projects

  Published 17 October 2010 | viewed 7,334 times

  Investment in clean energy hit $37.9 billion in the third quarter, as a flood of cash into offshore wind infrastructure in the North Sea helped…

• UK Climate Minister Calls for Massive Energy Efficiency Push, Warms to Nuclear

  Published 28 September 2010 | viewed 6,082 times

  The UK’s forthcoming ‘Green Deal’ will create a quarter of a million jobs insulating homes, paid for by utilities in exchange for a share of…