From New Scientist ENVIRONMENTALISTS have a new, unlikely ally in the fight against global warming.
A document signed on Monday by three of Wall Street's largest banks - Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley - requires anyone seeking money for new fossil-fuel power plants in the US to consider the effect this will have on the global climate.
The document, entitled The Carbon Principles, states that power companies that want to build new plants will be asked to consider renewable alternatives and carbon-trading schemes. Even if legal emission limits are not yet in place, the document requires power firms to consider future legislative changes and budget accordingly.
Borrowers will also have to analyse the potential of carbon capture schemes (see opposite), such as locking away carbon dioxide in disused oil reservoirs. In the US, the principles are likely to have the greatest impact on new coal-fired plants, some of which are already being disrupted by environmental objections.
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