Updated: 10/26/06; 11:57:11 PM.
Gil Friend
Strategic Sustainability, and other worthy themes of our time
        

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Reaching for REACH
Did anyone attend NBIS's Preparing for REACH -- The European Union's Global Chemicals Policy Initiative and Chemicals Management System, September 15th at the Seattle Airport Doubletree?

What is REACH: The proposed overhaul of the European chemicals management system -- Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) -- will have important implications for US firms exporting to Europe.

Who is affected: Any company that exports chemicals or chemical mixtures to the EU, that competes globally with products meeting European standards, or that exports finished products to Europe will be affected by REACH.

What is required: REACH will require companies to collect data on most chemicals on the market, assess the risk of these chemicals, and define safe use down the supply chain. REACH will also require companies to justify continued use of chemicals of "very high concern."

These regulations may affect you if: - Your company exports to the European Union - You manage supply chains that include chemicals - Your products compete globally with products meeting European standards

What did you learn?
10:20:11 AM    comment []  trackback []


Deep ice, long story
Posting a few items that got away from me (drafted, never posted during two weeks on the road) that might still be of interest...

BBC News Online

Carbon dioxide levels are substantially higher now than at any time in the last 800,000 years, the latest study of ice drilled out of Antarctica confirms.

The in-depth analysis of air bubbles trapped in a 3.2km-long core of frozen snow shows current greenhouse gas concentrations are unprecedented. The East Antarctic core is the longest, deepest ice column yet extracted.

Project scientists say its contents indicate humans could be bringing about dangerous climate changes. 'My point would be that there's nothing in the ice core that gives us any cause for comfort,' said Dr Eric Wolff from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).


10:16:14 AM    comment []  trackback []

Branson's biofuels billions
[NY Times]: Sir Richard Branson, the British magnate and adventurer, said today that all of his profits from his five airlines and train company, projected to be $3 billion through the next 10 years, would be invested in developing energy sources that do not contribute to global warming.

Talk about tipping points!

For a sense of proportion, consider this:

Should the money flow as pledged, the research effort would far exceed similar efforts by governments. In February, President Bush announced a biofuels initiative for 2007 of $150 million, nearly a 60 percent increase over spending on such fuels in the previous budget. The overall United States budget for research in renewable energy sources like wind, solar, hydrogen and farmed fuels is a bit over $1 billion a year, but that amount is far less than what was spent during the oil shock of the 1970’s.

Interesting. One guy whose biofuels investing is 2x the US government's. What does that tell you?

And for obviously _not_ a sense of urgency:

...while drug and semiconductor companies typically invest 10 percent or more of revenues into research, in the energy industry the typical research budget is about 0.3 percent of revenues, said Daniel Kammen, an energy expert at the University of California, Berkeley.

10:13:46 AM    comment []  trackback []

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