by Dino

The dominant theme at the GAIM International 2010 hedge fund conference in Monaco was, according to FT Alphaville, Monaco and its bars (blog post equipped  with picture of a stormy-looking Monaco). / The conference is always an indicator of the mood of the hedge fund industry: it was more upbeat than last year, according to [...]

by Markus

Abu Dhabi leads the race of building the world´s first CO2 neutral city: Construction began in 2008, and just two years later, the first buildings are scheduled to open in the third quarter of 2010. The city will be home to international corporations and leading minds in the field of sustainability and renewable energy. A [...]

by Jürgen

With Gazprom postponing some of its investments and old talks about a gas cartel being (briefly) back on the table, Russian energy has been quite present in the news this week. Less talked about, however, was the restatement of Russia’s intentions of putting itself back on the map of international climate discussions. Running for the green global throne brings Russia’s controversial announcement of pushing coal to a new high even more in the spotlights than it already was. Besides for its unusual nature, it is thus worth to have a quick external look on this move, its drivers and the other dimensions of an at first sight counterproductive impact.

by Jürgen

The last two weeks, the international gas markets have been blessed with a radical change in Russian behaviour. ‘All Russian long term contract changed into short term contracts!’. ‘A new era has begun for the spot markets!’. Is this really true? No. Market disinformation? Neither. Right now, no clear picture exists yet, which increases the importance to focus on the factual silver lining.

by Markus

Is the serious situation in Greece mainly homemade? Yes. Was Greece ready to enter the currency union? No. Did the other Eurozone members contribute to the situation with their laissez-faire policy regarding Greece´s cooked books? Yes, absolutely!  Is the country able to fight the crisis alone? No. Does it mean Greece will need a bail-out [...]

by Jürgen

The Economist launched this week the debate themed ‘This house believes that China is showing more leadership than America in the fight against climate change’. After a couple of days, it already triggered a lot of reactions, vividly reflecting the variety of reasons involved in a position for or against a country. Do absolute numbers matter or per capita data? Do you need to look at the effort done or to the still remaining foot print? And what about extrapolation? A debate worth following, a discussion worth spicing up, especially now.

by Jürgen

During the last weeks, we have tackled a variety of issues and answered a series of questions relating to energy and finance. In parallel, international press and day to day events confirmed that ‘Energy’ has become extremely hot. Statements from China and India have shown that it will be even more the case during the coming months. This brings forward another aspect with potentially even more vehemence: will energy in general, and clean energy in specific, save the world in times of financial turmoil, or is this only a temporary myth, dignified by political cheer talk ? Time for a review with a strong grain of salt.

by Jürgen

This week, the new Japanese government took office. The debate held earlier this month by CSIS contains useful trains of thought to sense Japan’s moves on internal policy levels, efficiency issues and international levels.