{"id":141102,"date":"2010-01-05T14:23:59","date_gmt":"2010-01-05T19:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greenenergyreporter.com\/?p=5345"},"modified":"2010-01-05T14:23:59","modified_gmt":"2010-01-05T19:23:59","slug":"december-top-ten-players-in-green-energy-nos-5-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/141102","title":{"rendered":"December Top Ten Players in Green Energy: Nos 5-1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Green Energy Reporter\u2019s ranking of the top ten players in green energy for the month of December is out! Not surprisingly this month’s ranking focuses on Copenhagen and the disappointing outcome of the much-anticipated <\/em>UN Climate Change Conference.<\/em><\/p>\n

New inductees include the dead-on-arrival French carbon tax and the promising but challenging quest to develop utility-scale geothermal power. Not returning this month, after two showings, each justified by his company\u2019s substantial green investments and his controversial pro-carbon tax position, is <\/em>Exxon Mobil CEO <\/em>Rex Tillerson– (number five in the November<\/a> ranking and number four in October<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n

As you know<\/em> this<\/em> GER ranking is based on the players\u2019 influence over green energy policy and their ability to move the debate. <\/em>Other factors that we take into account in making our monthly selection include industry and popular support for their positions, access to capital to fund innovation and the success of their ventures.<\/em><\/p>\n

5: EnvironmentGuardian.com, the Guardian newspaper<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/a><\/p>\n

From the start, the Guardian’s environment beat reporters, led by editors John Vidal and James Randerson, got the pulse of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, providing readers coverage that went way beyond the bureaucratic UN press releases. A case in point<\/a> was the paper’s scoop during the first week of the conference, when it got its hand on a controversial draft binding agreement whose content angered developing nations because it walked away from key Kyoto principles, including the notion that rich nations bear the primary responsibility for cutting emissions. At a time when the newspaper industry is going through a deep existential crisis, the Guardian’s environmental pages<\/a> and its combination of opinionated features and traditional, hard-boiled reporting from Copenhagen demonstrated that good [environmental] journalism remains a necessity.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n4: U.S. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.)<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"inhofe-150x150\"<\/a>The Oklahoma Republican has never once, in his whole entire life<\/a>, said anything correct about climate change. His opposition to science, reason and the country\u2019s best interest when it comes to green energy is infuriating. But\u2026<\/p>\n

His views represent a large number (though by no means a majority) of Americans, who are distrustful of government-created carbon markets and, well, science. If nothing else, his obstructionist tactics, such as going to Copenhagen with a \u201ctruth squad\u201d<\/a> to protest the U.N. climate summit, provide an excellent foil for the more reasonable voices out there. And as long as he\u2019s out there making noise and getting on Fox News, he\u2019s a player.
\n
\n3: General Electric<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Large cap companies are scrambling to get ready for the green energy future, whether by making sure they don\u2019t take a hit from a cap and trade program or trying to get a piece of the green pie. General Electric, on the other hand, is already firmly ensconced in the green energy business and is doing quite well.<\/p>\n

The prototypical industrial giant flexed its muscles in December with the $2 billion megadeal at the Shepherd\u2019s Flat wind farm<\/a>, for which it will provide 338, 2.5-megawatt wind turbines. The company\u2019s presence in China<\/a> is also growing by the day.<\/p>\n

But GE\u2019s isn\u2019t just a story of industrial might. The company\u2019s Energy Financial Services division is also investing in the wind farm<\/a> and stands to have a staggering $6 billion invested in the sector<\/a> by the end of 2010. No wonder Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt is pushing<\/a> for a climate change law.<\/p>\n

2: Ed Miliband, UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photograph:<\/a>He called<\/a> the Copenhagen climate change conference “a farce” and blamed the G77 developing nations, in particular China, Brazil and India, of “hijacking the conference.” Throughout the UN climate change summit, which concluded last month, the young British minister called a spade a spade, providing reporters spin-free commentary, all in an effort to get developing nations to back a binding agreement to fight climate change. On the Guardian Website, Miliband noted<\/a> that despite the disappointment, Copenhangen was a first step that could lead to an eventual binding and effective global climate change agreement. He wrote: “Today many people will be feeling gloomy about the results of their efforts. But no campaign ever wholly succeeds at the first time of asking. We should take heart from the achievements and step up our efforts.” In Miliband, the climate change movement has found a young, fiery, articulate spokesman who’ll hopefully continue to push for a comprehensive climate change agreement well after his tenure at the energy and environment ministry ends.<\/p>\n

1: China’s climate change negotiators
\n<\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

President Barack Obama meets with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Copenhagen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Copenhagen climate change summit became China’s coming-out party as one of the world’s new power brokers. In Copenhagen, China and its team of negotiators became the defacto voices <\/a>of the world’s developing nations. The fact that its economy is many times larger than some of the countries it spoke for was a fact overlooked by most. If there is a winner left standing after the disappointment<\/a> that was Copenhagen, it’s China. It came to Denmark not wanting a global binding agreement and left with exactly that. In reaching that goal, it even played hard ball with U.S. President Obama as it met behind his back with South Africa and India to craft their own agreement. Moving forward, China has anchored itself as THE unavoidable hurdle — ahead of other BRIC countries like India and Brazil — standing in the way of a comprehensive climate change agreement.<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: The White House via Wikimedia<\/span><\/pre>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Green Energy Reporter\u2019s ranking of the top ten players in green energy for the month of December is out! Not surprisingly this month’s ranking focuses on Copenhagen and the disappointing outcome of the much-anticipated UN Climate Change Conference. New inductees include the dead-on-arrival French carbon tax and the promising but challenging quest to develop utility-scale […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}