An Announcement from Needmor Fund
The Needmor Fund is pleased to announce the appointment of Shari Berenbach, President and CEO of the Calvert Social Investment Foundation, to Needmor’s Finance Committee. Shari brings with her a comprehensive background in mission related finance and community investments. Her long tenure at Calvert Foundation has seen it grow from $5 million to $350 million in community investment assets under management.

Widely respected in the community investment world, Shari has long associations with many of Needmor’s key partners in the field. We think there is much that Needmor can learn from Shari and she has expressed the same in her expectation of joining Needmor.

The Needmor Fund, headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, funds community organizing across the nation. They have been pioneers in socially responsible investing, shareholder activism, and community development investing.


Dave Beckwith, Executive Director
dbeckwith@needmorfund.org

Ken Rolling, Board Chair
www.needmorfund.org

New Sustainable Transportation ETF to be Launched on NASDAQ
Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC plans to list its PowerShares Global Progressive Transportation Portfolio on the NASDAQ Stock Market on September 18, 2008.

Worldwide economic growth has increased demand for transportation solutions, but in most cases those solutions have not been matched by sustainable improvements in infrastructure. Sustainable transportation meets the needs of society without sacrificing ecological values.

To be traded under the ticker PTRP, the portfolio is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that is based on the Wilder NASDAQ OMX Global Energy Efficient Transport Index. An index-based exchange-traded fund seeks to replicate the movements of an index of a financial market.

The Wilder Index tracks innovative and energy efficient transportation by focusing on businesses that are engaged in cleaner and improved means of transporting goods and people. It includes a global group of companies engaged in four focus areas: alternative vehicles; rail and subway systems; sea, land, air and intermodal; and transport innovation.

Google Heats Up Next Generation Geothermal Energy
More than $10 million in investments and grants will flow from Google.org into Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) technology. Google is also supporting research into governmental policies on geothermal energy and next generation geothermal resource mapping.

Google.org explains EGS as the technology needed to create the conditions of geothermal energy manually by passing water through fractured hot rocks and capturing the energy in steam turbines. Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source that could satisfy Google’s search for an energy that is cheaper than coal ( RE).

Fixed Income Classes Get Indexes with ESG Performance Factors
The KLD US Corporate Bond (USCB) Index series is the first US index that applies environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors to fixed income asset classes. Launched by KLD Research & Analytics, Ryan ALM, and Mergent, the indexes are available as 1-3 years, 1-5 years and 1-10 years bond indexes.

All three indexes are offered for licensing. The bond indexes were created to help fixed income investors apply ESG factors to their portfolios. The KLD USCB indexes are equal-weighted with a 5% cap per issuer.

Investors Still Supporting Clean Energy
London-based New Energy Finance (NEF) reports record high investments by venture capital and private equity investment in the clean energy sector from April to June. $5.8 billion in venture and private equity was invested in clean energy during the second quarter, more than double the $2.6 billion invested during the first quarter of the year.

Public clean energy companies gained $5.2 billion in investments during the second quarter, a huge jump from the first quarter’s investment of $1 billion in public clean energy companies. However, the second quarter numbers were significantly lifted by the flotation of EDP Renovaveis, which raised $2.4 billion.

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