WIND ENERGY PROJECTS WITH €800m INVESTED AT RISK FROM LATE CONNECTIONS - A total of 16 wind energy projects - with full planning permission and grid connection offers - "are at medium or high risk of not being built", the Irish Wind Energy Association has warned.
It represents some €800 million in investment due for completion by 2020 - €200 million of which is already spent. The problem is arising because connection dates project developers have been offered are all for late 2019, according to IWEA chief executive Dr David Connolly, writes the Irish Times. To qualify for renewable energy feed-in tariff (REFIT) schemes, they need to be built, connected and exporting electricity by March 31st, 2020. "Unfortunately, due to the amount of asks on them and their own capacity, ESB Networks are running five and six months behind in connecting projects," he said. Banks co-funding these projects are worried that if they go ahead and build these wind farms and the March deadline is missed, then they do not qualify for REFIT and the financing of the projects no longer makes sense. "As a result, they're actively considering whether to go ahead or not," Dr Connolly said. In recent weeks one project lost its funding and had to find another backer, while a second project has reduced the size of the wind farm, he confirmed. Some 300MW of capacity is at serious risk, and 100MW at medium risk - representing 10 per cent of the overall Irish wind fleet.
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WORLD'S FIRST VEGAN ETF SETS OUT TO TARGET ETHICALLY MINDED INVESTORS - The world's first Vegan Climate Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) will open to investors in January after it registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in September.
Investment opportunities for committed vegans are limited. Anything that involves eating or testing on animals, along with sectors such as arms and tobacco, are all off the menu. Jersey-based firm Beyond Advisors is behind the Vegan Climate ETF - its four-letter New York Stock Exchange ticker will read VEGN. Minimum investment is one share, costing $25 (€22) at launch. Its structure will be the same as any other ETF, said Beyond Advisors CEO Claire Smith. The annual expense ratio is 0.60%, or $6 per $1,000 invested. That's high compared to some mainstream ETFs. But Ms Smith and her partners, Lee Coates and Larry Abele (all vegan), expect animal rights activists and environmentalists to jump at it, writes the Irish Independent. The investment product is constructed primarily by excluding from the universe of the Solactive US Large Cap index (a proxy for the S&P 500 Index) any stocks whose activities are incompatible with a vegan and climate-conscious approach to investing. Goodbody's head of advisory services Michelle O'Keefe said some Irish investors will be interested, "especially because of the climate angle". "I'd expect it to be replicated by an EU-based fund manager at some point," she said.
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'CHANGE DONATIONS' HOPING TO PROVIDE A FRESH BLUEPRINT FOR A SCANDAL-FREE CHARITY SECTOR - It's the time of goodwill and the peak season for charities and non-profits, with bucket shakers and clipboard-wielding fundraisers a familiar sight on our streets in the lead-up to Christmas.
In a sector hit by a series of scandals, a rise in door- to-door scams, and with the introduction of contactless payments prompting an acceleration towards a cashless society, charities are coming under increased pressure. Change Donations aims to lighten the load by providing solutions to these problems and giving donors more transparency and convenience, says the Irish Examiner. Co-founders Amelia Scivier, Lizzy Hayashida and William Conaghan met on Trinity College's MBA programme, and the idea for Change Donations came out of the course's entrepreneurship module. Having looked at services such as savings app Moneybox in the UK, they decided to adopt the rounding-up model for donations to charities and non-profits. Rounding-up is where donors can allocate their virtual spare change from purchases made by debit or credit card to the charity of their choice. Change Donations allows users to set monthly limits, choose their preferred charities, and what type of purchases they’d like to round up.
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LONDON MAYOR SADIQ KHAN TO LOOK AT IMPOSING RENT CONTROLS IN THE CITY - The mayor of London has hinted that he is considering introducing rent controls across the capital in a radical overhaul of private rental laws.
Sadiq Khan told an MP that London needed to adopt a "strategic approach to rent stabilisation and control", since the arguments in favour of capping rent inflation are becoming "overwhelming". Although national legislation governs private sector renters' rights, tenancies and rents themselves, it is understood that Khan will begin to advocate for fundamental change in order to tackle overinflated rents, in a move which could lead to councils assuming greater powers. "I agree with you that London needs a strategic approach to rent stabilisation and control," he wrote in a letter to Karen Buck, the Labour MP for Westminster North, seen by the Guardian. "I have long advocated such reforms; in 2013, I suggested reforms could give renters the right to longer-term tenancies and predictable rents. The housing crisis is now having such an effect on a generation of Londoners that the arguments in favour of rent stabilisation and control are becoming overwhelming." The proposed changes include ending section 21 "no fault" evictions, which the housing campaign group Generation Rent said have been the leading cause of statutory homelessness since 2012. "This law allows evictions with no reason needed, and this is one more reason why we should scrap it," the group said.
