Annual reports contain information about grants made in that year, energy-related essays, and program information.
As global climate change and rising demands for oil, natural gas, and coal resources attract growing worldwide attention, China’s new influence raises growing speculation and concern. The rapid pace of China’s economic growth staggers the world’s imagination, and its rising significance as an environmental actor magnifies the stakes in managing a  massive global transition toward sustainable growth. The world’s most developed nations are grappling with the urgent challenges posed by climate change. Many have developed policies to dramatically reduce the greenhouse gas emissions their economies produce. Yet critics wonder whether such changes can really matter unless China also commits itself to a parallel and equally aggressive strategy to reduce its carbon footprint.

First report: EPA Technology Programs and Intra-Agency Coordination, May 2006, 56 p.

Second report: EPA Technology Programs: Engaging the Marketplace, May 2007, 72 p.

EPA and the venture capital community: building bridges to commercialize technology
U.S. National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT), April 2008, 100 p.

The current report (the third one in a series) states that: “Stimulating private-sector investment in new technologies is among the most important initiatives EPA can undertake…” “ The global need for solutions exceeds the fiscal capacity of any government”, “ The commercial market may be able to mobilize and invest immense resources of private capital to develop and diffuse technologies rapidly.”NACEPT also indicated that the US no longer holds a position of environmental technology dominance in the marketplace. NACEPT reflects on the early days of EPA where it had embarked on impressive research and development programs—opening laboratories, funding university research, and conducting pilot and demonstration programs. However many of these programs were reduced or discontinued, causing a loss of some of its technical excellence and environmental leadership. NACEPT reported that it is time for EPA to restore its powerful vision of a clean and healthy world, by declaring an even more energetic and visionary commitment to technology discovery, verification, and commercialization of innovative approaches to protecting health and the environment. Such a commitment is essential to solve the enormous environmental challenges posed by climate change, releases of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases, the impacts of diminishing resources, nanotechnology and new products, and other issues. NACEPT interviewed nine leading representatives from the investment community who routinely review opportunities for targeting early-stage environmental technologies. Together, they represent a valuable perspective on some key trends that dominate this investment market.

This report was prepared within the framework of the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (SHC) of the International Energy Agency (IEA). The goal of the report is to document the solar thermal capacity previously installed in the important markets worldwide, and to as certain the contribution of solar plants to the supply of energy and the CO2 emissions avoided as a result of operating these plants. The collectors documented are un glazed collectors, glazed flat-plate and evacuated tube collectors with water as the energy carrier as well as glazed and unglazed air collectors. The data were collected within the frame work of a questionnaire survey of the national delegates of the Executive Commit tee of the SHC Programme and other national experts active in the field of solar thermal energy. Since some of the 48 countries included in this report have very detailed statistics and others could only provide estimates from experts, the data was checked for its plausibility on the basis of various publications. Starting with the collector area, the capacity in stalled, the contributions of solar plants to wards the sup ply of energy and the re duction of CO2 were ascertained. The 48 countries included in this report represent 3.87 billion people, which is about 60% of the world’s population. The installed capacity in these countries is estimated to represent 85 - 90% of the of the solar thermal market worldwide.

Economic Aspects of Adaptation to Climate Change: Costs, Benefits and Policy Instruments
OECD, 28 May 2008, 134 p., Print (Paperback) + Free PDF  Price:   €30

Climate change poses a serious challenge to social and economic development. Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions need to move hand in hand with policies and incentives to adapt to the impacts of climate change. How much adaptation might cost, and how large its benefits might be, are issues that are increasingly relevant both for on-the-ground projects and in national and international contexts.
This report provides a critical assessment of adaptation costs and benefits in key climate sensitive sectors, as well as at national and global levels. It moves the discussion beyond cost estimation to the potential and limits of economic and policy instruments - including insurance and risk sharing, environmental markets and pricing, and public private partnerships - that can be used to motivate adaptation actions.
The report cautions that recent headline estimates on the global price-tag for adaptation face serious limitations. In addition, the few available studies have tended to stack upon the assumptions made in preceding studies. Therefore, a consensus, even in order of magnitude terms, is premature and may be misleading.
Costing or raising large sums of money to finance adaptation is clearly important, but will not alleviate the challenge of ensuring that individuals, businesses, governments and civil society make timely, well-informed, and efficient adaptation decisions.
The report therefore also calls for a raft of policy instruments to establish the right incentives to influence such decisions. Setting up the right incentive and partnership structures to promote adaptation, however, will be a daunting task.  Adaptation to climate change as a public policy challenge has only just emerged.

Executive Summary