ICIS Blogs : government

Canada plans to ban phthalates

Green Chemicals — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:02:44 GMT

Last week Friday, Canada's Minister of Health announced their planned proposal to ban phthalates in soft vinyl toys and child-care articles as well as further reduction limits of lead in consumer products. Canada is proposing regulations to prevent...(read more)

Carbon cap and trade costs little

Green Chemicals — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:36:46 GMT

I was working about the Cash for Clunkers bill (where you can exchange your old car for money voucher for a new supposedly more environment-friendly car) and it was more complicated than I thought...I need to do more research about that. So for now let's...(read more)

P&G resin wins Green Chem award

Green Chemicals — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:45:49 GMT

This news came in this morning from Procter & Gamble (P&G) Chemicals about their green alkyd resin Chempol® MPS winning this year's EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge award under the category Greener Chemicals Design. The resin is...(read more)

Europe's future chem industry

Green Chemicals — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:55:14 GMT

The European Chemical Industry (Cefic) launched last week its latest sustainability vision project, the F3 Factory , under the EU Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry ( SusChem ). Cefic and its partner EuropaBio created the multi-stakeholder...(read more)

Gov't should stop deforestation - Unilever

Green Chemicals — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:55:31 GMT

Consumer goods producer Unilever said governments especially in Southeast Asia particularly Indonesia should call for a moratorium on deforestation of tropical rainforest. Unilever CEO Paul Polman said the destruction of the world's tropical rainforests...(read more)

China's plastic bag use down after ban

Green Chemicals — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:11:04 GMT

ICIS co-blogger Paul Hodges of the Chemicals & The Economy blog reported about this article from China Daily stating that after a year of plastic bag ban in China (which started on June 1, 2008), supermarkets cut their plastic bag use by 66%. Statistics...(read more)

Let the climate change debates begin

Green Chemicals — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:40:46 GMT

Washington (and the chemical industry) is abuzz this week with the proposed American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act by House Reps Waxman and Markey. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce passed the bill on May 21 with a 33-25 vote. The bill...(read more)

Windy news

Green Chemicals — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:44:32 GMT

Another catching up I need to do is about several wind energy announcements from the past few weeks. Late last month, the Department of Energy announced that it will provide $93 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support further...(read more)

Toxic Media?

Green Chemicals — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:55:15 GMT

A toxicologists survey by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Statistical Assessment Service ( STATS ) and Center for Health and Risk Communication at George Mason University, found that majorities of toxicologists rate most government agencies as accurately...(read more)

EPA cancels carbofuran use

Green Chemicals — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:05:25 GMT

Before I delved more deeply into the green regulatory buzzwords of the week CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) and ACES (American Clean Energy and Security Act), let me go to the more simple news such as this cancellation of carbofuran registration...(read more)

Another Spain study critic

Green Chemicals — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:00:17 GMT

I got this email from the Washington News Observer (sort of like TMZ except covering politics instead of celebrity news *lol*) and they send several YouTube clips about their exclusive interview with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) criticizing Obama's...(read more)

Cap-and-Trade pains

Green Chemicals — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:17:08 GMT

I mentioned about Kimberly-Clark 's recent prediction that any cap-and-trade bills in Washington will not pass this year as the government is broke right now and can't afford to pass a risky (and possibly expensive) legislation. ICIS Chemical...(read more)

Check your taxes for green bucks!

Green Chemicals — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:42:11 GMT

Try to squeeze every last penny you can get from the government by checking out some of the tax incentives under federal and your own state laws. Here are some of the US federal tax incentives on green home improvements, eco-friendly cars and other energy...(read more)

US anti-chemical campaigns intensify

Green Chemicals — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:20:13 GMT

ICIS News (subscription required) reported on Wednesday about the intensifying anti-chemical attacks from state-legislative and advocacy groups and that according to the American Chemistry Council , it is getting harder for the chemical industry to contest...(read more)

The price of green jobs? Learn from Spain

Green Chemicals — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:33:21 GMT

The group Western Business Roundtable sent an email yesterday about a Spanish study concluding that for every green job created in Spain resulted in the loss of 2.2 other jobs. The study finds that only one in 10 renewable energy jobs created in Spain...(read more)