Few Canadian companies disclose environmental practices

Major pension funds are demanding more environmental data about the businesses they’ve invested in, but most companies are still not giving them key information about things such as energy and water consumption, according to a new review of corporate social responsibility in Canada.

via Few Canadian companies disclose environmental practices – The Globe and Mail.

Gazprom: contract shake up could herald change in gas market pricing

In an unprecedented move for the Russian energy giant, Gazprom has agreed to incorporate spot market prices in some of its long-term European export contracts. More significantly, the move potentially represents a structural change in gas market pricing mechanisms away from oil-linked contracts and toward a system that is more reflective of supply and demand fundamentals.

At the height of last year’s European  gas row, in which Gazprom and utilities battled about the liability for billions of cubic meters of gas, Gazprom chairman Alexey Miller staunchly refused to renegotiate with the likes of E.ON, GDF Suez or Eni on long-term gas contracts. The energy giant insisted that gas prices remained linked to the prevailing oil prices. However, after a few months and a $2.5 billion loss in sales , the world’s biggest gas producer has announced that it had indeed agreed to contractual changes with several European utilities. According to Gazprom’s director general of exports, Alexander Medvedev, “[The company] took into account the trends in the European market and the crisis.”

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The Link Between China, The Yuan and Commodities

Interesting analysis here:

A lot of the immediate impact of China’s decision to allow its currency to float higher is being felt by commodities and commodity producers – as in, they’re going up.

Pierre Lapointe, global macro strategist at Brockhouse Cooper, noted that commodities are actually one of the reasons for China making the decision in the first place. Chinese consumer prices are above the target range, but producer prices look even worse: They have surged 7.1% over the past 12 months, mostly because of higher commodity prices.

via The Link Between China, The Yuan and Commodities — Seeking Alpha.