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The International Energy Agency warned last week that 50 per cent of global electricity supply will need to come from renewable energy sources by 2050 if we hope to "minimize significant and irreversible climate change impacts."

"Governments need to take urgent action," said Nobuo Tanak, executive director of the agency. "Governments need to do more. Setting a carbon price is not enough."

What’s interesting about this particular warning is that comes from an agency that, in the past, has been accused of paying only lip service to renewables as part of its broader energy mandate, which has traditionally been dominated by fossil fuels.

Indeed, the organization was founded during the early 1970s directly in response to the 1973 Arab oil embargo.

Here in Canada, Tanak’s "do more" message likely fell on deaf ears. The federal Conservative government is more focused on ways to clean up the image of the western oil sands so that development there can continue unabated. Provinces such as Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia have taken leadership, but at a federal level there’s no green vision for Canada — just a laundry list of half-measures aimed at creating a perception of action.

Given the Conservative lead in the polls, Canadians must be buying it. The only other explanation is that four in 10 voters don’t care about the environment, climate change or how we leave the world for future generations. Not enough, anyway, to sway them toward the Liberals, NDP or Green Party.

It gets worse.

The collapse of Wall Street has severely tightened lending markets. There’s a global credit crunch, and those looking to spend big bucks on wind, hydroelectric, solar and biomass projects will find it much more difficult — and expensive — to obtain debt financing.

The bottom line: the knee-jerk reaction to the financial crisis will lead to less, or slower action on the climate crisis.

"These are capital-intensive projects," says Tom Rand, director of Toronto-based VCi Green Funds Inc., a private-equity fund that invests in technologies that reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. "And we need renewable-energy production to step up tomorrow."

Rand has spent the past year promoting the creation of a government "green bond" that, during the current credit crunch, makes more sense than ever.

The idea is that Canadians could purchase tax-free green bonds in the same way they can purchase Canada Savings Bonds, earning about 4 per cent a year (fast cash). But the money, potentially billions of dollars, raised from the bond issue would be devoted to infrastructure projects that promote deployment of renewable energy.

"Renewables have to get built, that’s a priority, and our plan steps in to provide that liquidity, that cheap debt capital," explains Rand, adding that the bond money could also be used to backstop low-interest bank loans so homeowners have an affordable way to pay for energy retrofits.

"Canadians get a safe investment vehicle, and companies get guaranteed access to low-cost capital over a long period of time. They don’t have to worry about that credit crunch biting them in the ass. It’s the best of both worlds."

Jobs get created. Clean energy capacity gets built. And Canadians who purchased the bonds get a safe return on their investment and a chance to boost — for themselves, and for their children — development of a green economy.

Liberal leader Stéphane Dion is a strong advocate of the green bond concept.

Last month, Dion said if elected he would create a federal infrastructure bank that would use money raised from green bonds to provide low-cost financing for major clean-energy projects.

A week earlier, NDP leader Jack Layton announced similar plans for a climate-change bond.

The Conservatives, initially receptive to the idea, ended up backing away.

"Mainly because I don’t think they want to engage Canadians on climate-change issues," Rand says. "Because once Canadians are engaged and they have something at stake, their psychology changes and suddenly people want real action."

Europe introduced green bonds last year and within three months about $1.5 billion was raised.

The public appetite is enormous for this kind of investment vehicle, says Rand, who plans to shift gears if the Conservatives get re-elected and start pitching the idea to the provinces.

Why wait? Ontario should be looking into the green bond approach today. If Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman is serious about increasing the province’s targets for renewables, then reaching those targets in an environment of tight credit will require some creative financing.

A green bond could fit that bill.

Tyler Hamilton’s Clean Break appears Mondays. Email thamilton@thestar.ca

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The Canadian dollar suffered its biggest weekly decline in at least 38 years against its U.S. counterpart this week as the passage by Congress of the $700 billion (U.S.) rescue package failed to persuade investors that the worst of the financial crisis was over.

Canadian bond prices rose and yields fell as fears of a global recession had many in the market betting that central banks would soon be cutting interest rates to spur growth.

The loonie closed at $1.0815 to the U.S. dollar, or 92.46, (U.S.) down from $1.0799 to the greenback, or 92.60 at Thursday’s close.

Canada’s currency ended the week down 4.5 per cent against the U.S. dollar, its biggest one-week drop since at least 1970. Early in the session it touched a 13-month low, but regained some ground after the passage of the rescue package for the besieged U.S. financial sector.

As financial institutions in the United States and Europe have collapsed in response to bursting real estate bubbles and murky assets, lenders have responded by hoarding cash and U.S. dollars have become scarce, driving up their value.

Once the U.S. economic rescue package was passed, traders focused their attention back on world economies.

"We’re getting economic numbers in the U.S. which are dismal, and that, I think, removes any debate about whether there will be a recession in the U.S … and there’s a significant risk of a global recession," said David Watt, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

U.S. payrolls plunged in September at the steepest rate in five years as employers cut 159,000 non-farm jobs from their payrolls, the U.S. Labor Department said yesterday. Analysts had expected a loss of 100,000 jobs.

Weakening commodity prices have also weighed heavily on Canada’s dollar, with around half of Canadian exports made up of natural resources (instant payday loans).

"Commodity price measures are not just back to levels of a year ago, but all the way back to levels prevailing in late 2005, and the sell-off is taking no prisoners," said Doug Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets. "

"A darkening global growth outlook and a rejuvenated U.S. dollar – which had its best week in years – have both pounded on resource prices."

Carlos Leitao, chief economist at Laurentian Bank of Canada, said the market expects central banks, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Canada included, will start cutting rates in the near term to try to spur growth. Bond yields, which move inversely to prices, fell to reflect those expectations of lower rates.

Early in the session, the Bank of Canada moved to increase confidence in the Canadian markets by upping the amount it plans to inject into markets through Purchase and Resale Agreements to $20 billion from a previously announced $8 billion to help improve liquidity in the financial system.

The two-year bond rose 20 cents to $100.52 (Canadian) to yield 2.500 per cent. The 10-year bond gained 50 cents to $105.40 to yield 3.582 per cent.

The yield spread between the two-year and the 10-year bond rose to 115 basis points from 105 basis points. The 30-year bond added 85 cents to $115.15 for a yield of 4.095 per cent. In the United States, the 30-year Treasury yielded 4.094 per cent

Reuters News Agency

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Nokia, the world’s top mobile phone maker, launched its free music package on Thursday, issuing a challenge to Apple Inc’s dominance of the digital music market.

The Finnish firm also launched its first touch-screen phone 5800 Xpressmusic to rival Apple’s popular iPhone.

Nokia said at an analyst and media event in London it would start selling the phone shortly, pricing it at 279 euros ($395) excluding subsidies and taxes, which it said was roughly half the price of the other main touch-screen phones on the market.

The price means consumers on many large markets will get the phone for free from operators when signing up for contract.

“The price and positioning of the product may result in substantial demand and will undoubtedly put some pressure on Apple,” said Ben Wood, research head at CCS Insight.

Nokia said all major music labels and most independent labels will offer their tracks as part of Nokia’s ‘free’ music bundle “Comes with Music.”

“Comes with Music” and similar products from other hardware vendors could help the music industry make up for falling CD sales and cut illegal downloads.

The battle for mobile music is increasingly crowded cash advance usa. Sony Ericsson launched its music package this month in Sweden, and South Korea’s LG Electronics plans a service similar to Nokia’s. 

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VANCOUVER–United States regulators gave Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. the green light yesterday to take control of Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corp., which could eventually bring a third railroad to lucrative Western U.S. coal fields.

The Surface Transportation Board said the $1.5 billion (U.S.) acquisition, announced last year, would not lessen competition in the rail industry and no shippers would lose the option of competitive services because of the takeover.

But the board said it still wants to look at the potential environmental impact of increased coal shipments over the line if Canadian Pacific decides to pursue the closely held DM&E’s plan to extend track into Wyoming’s Powder River Basin faxless payday advance.

Canadian Pacific was also told it had to continue efforts to improve safety on DM&E, and its subsidiary the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad.

Calgary-headquartered CP, Canada’s second-largest railway, which already has extensive operations in the U.S., said it had agreed to all of the conditions set by regulators.

The regulators said Canadian Pacific cannot move any coal traffic from the proposed expansion until the board has completed an environmental impact review.

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