Sustainable investment fund looks to the long term

The company now has an office in Australia because it sees the Australian superannuation industry as likely to be attracted to its philosophy.

In the wind: America’s drive towards clean technology Sydney Morning Herald ANNE DAVIES, WASHINGTONJ anuary 9, 2010 “….Barack Obama, facing the steepest downturn since FDR’s time, wants to transform America into a green machine, a nation that leads the world in technology and manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars, technologies to make the electricity grid more efficient and long-life batteries…

…..Al Gore has also set up another company, Generation Investments, a sustainable investment fund that is focusing on the next stage of the market – looking for proven businesses that offer long-term rather than short-term profits.”The market is long on short and short on long,” Gore wrote in his book, Our Choice.”This short-term orientation has significant negative repercussions for the global economy. If businesses forego value-creating investments to manage short-term earnings, it damages economic viability in the future,” he wrote.
The company now has an office in Australia because it sees the Australian superannuation industry as likely to be attracted to its philosophy.
The man behind Sun Microsystems, Vinod Khosla, has set up Khosla Ventures. Both Khosla and Kleiner Perkins are foundation investors in Ausra, a solar thermal company based on Australian technology developed by David Mills……..
Perhaps the biggest impediment for the US – and indeed for Australia – comes in reversing many of the subsidies for fossil fuels that are infused throughout the tax system and getting politicians to impose a cost on carbon emissions.

A study by the US Environmental Law Institute of energy subsidies between 2002 and 2008 found that $US72 billion flowed to the fossil fuel industry, compared with $US29 billion for the renewables industry.

In the wind: America’s drive towards clean technology