Posted on 10/12/2009 5:33:02 PM PDT by mgist
Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has thrown his hat into the green-investment ring, pledging to spend $1 billion on clean energy. The 29th richest man in the world with a net worth of about $11 billion, Soros suggested he is interested in investing in technologies that are profitable and that are effective in reducing global climate change. "I want to apply rather stringent criteria to the investments," Soros said in a speech in Denmark on Saturday.
If he is true to his word, however, his investment would seem to rule out a technology into which he has already invested -- carbon capture and sequestration, which has been shown to be riotously expensive and dubiously effective, as in this recent post.
In addition to the $1 billion, Soros, who has spent $6 billion in philanthropic foundations since 1979 to support free and open societies, education and public heath issues, launched a new foundation, the Climate Policy Initiative. The foundation will advise policy makers on climate, energy and environmental issues. It will be funded with $100 million over the next 10 years.
"The problem of global warming," he said, referring to the reason for forming the foundation, "is primarily a political problem at this point. The science is beyond dispute, but how do we achieve the objectives we all know are necessary? That is a political problem."
Thomas Heller, a professor at Stanford University's School of Law, will head then new institute, which Heller characterized as "part advisory service, part policy developer and part watchdog."
A key issue for the new institute will be carbon legislation. Soros has said that he prefers an outright tax on carbon emissions rather than a cap-and-trade program. Why? According to Soros, who famously gamed the currency markets, cap and trade "can be gamed; that's why financial types like me like it -- because there are financial opportunities."
Soros's announcement comes at a time when green energy investment is booming. Even against the backdrop of an economic recession, for instance, more than $155 billion was invested worldwide in clean-energy companies, nearly four times as much as in 2004, according to Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment, published last June. The report, for the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative, was prepared by New Energy Finance.
If Soros wants to see what's profitable and what works, it would be hard to do better than wind and solar power, two of the biggest prime movers last year, according to New Energy Finance. Wind power received the most new investment -- $51.8 billion globally, a 1 percent increase over last year, confirming wind power's status as the most mature and best-established sustainable generation technology.
Solar continues to the the fastest growing sector for new investment, however, with $33.5 billion invested globally, a nearly 50 percent increase over last year. As I reported here recently, costs for solar panels are expected to drop 43 percent in 2009.
....And now we know exactly why the Dems are so much wanting cap and trade.
“The 29th richest man in the world with a net worth of about $11 billion”
A pathetic underestimation...
George doesn’t come here much....
but can be in Scandinavia last weekend...
I wonder how much he invested buying off politicians to get to this point?
That’s why he is never prosecuted....big money. He owns the DEMS, and I suspect, some RINOS.
It’s all about the Benjamins baby.
Obama pays off his union cronies with a Health Care bill that covers up their pillaging of pension funds, and now Soros is being paid off big time.
Not to mention the 2 billion $ “US government” loan Soros was given for off shore drilling. In Brazil that is.
So much for enviromental concerns, right?
There is no global warming. It is all political. There is nothing scientific about what they are trying to do. But we here al know that.
Don’t some of the Congress critters have stock in this company? Like Nancy Pelosi.
He should be prosecuted.
Early 1990's speach before the Committee for Monetary Research and Education."
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2009/10/soros-on-falsehoods-lies-and-investing.html
More power to him as long as it’s his billion.
Written by PC Mag
Monday, October 12 2009 12:26
George SorosBillionaire George Soros said on Saturday that he would invest $1 billion in clean energy technology as part of an effort to combat climate change.
The Hungarian-born U.S. investor also announced he would form and fund a new climate policy initiative with $10 million a year for 10 years.
"Global warming is a political problem," Soros told a meeting of editors in the Danish capital where governments are scheduled to meet in December to try to hammer out a new global climate agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
"The science is clear, what is less clear is whether world leaders will demonstrate the political will necessary to solve the problem," he said, according to a brief email statement.
His remarks came a day after climate talks in Bangkok ended in deadlock over how much cash should be made available to poorer nations to help them cope with climate change and over the size of rich countries' greenhouse gas emissions cuts.
Soros said he would apply stringent criteria to his investments in clean energy technologies.
"I will look for profitable opportunities, but I will also insist that the investments make a real contribution to solving the problem of climate change," Soros said.
Whatta guy.
” A fool and his money....”
We're the fools, we'll foot the bill for his losses via tax writeoffs.
Go ahead, George. Piss your money away any way you want.
BINGO, and he was given money to drill in Brazil!
Is that investment expected to eventually show a return of anything but tax dollars? Is Soros actually risking his capital, or does he have lucrative government "partnerships" in place so that he makes money even if the new technologies don't work?
damn, you beat me to it:
As Thomas Tusser said: “A fool and his money are soon parted.”
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