Rob Luke has been covering markets and environmental issues for 15 years in Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America. He lives and works in Edwardsville, Illinois, and can be reached at rob.luke (at) sbcglobal.net.
Voluntary water quality markets, where businesses pay farmers and others to reduce their water pollution, have great potential for addressing a growing problem -- but only if the demand can outpace concerns about hazy regulations and high prices.
A cornerstone of the market for Renewable Energy Certificates is the knowledge that RECs have passed muster with independent verifiers like San Francisco-based Green-e. But now that a certified company has fallen out of compliance, Green-e is in the position of having to play hardball to maintain the market's credibility.