If theres one, top-level truth about the state of green business, its that no matter how much innovation companies are doing to reduce their impacts or improve the greenness of their products, its that most individuals are not willing to pay more for a sustainable product.

So its perhaps fitting that eBay was one of the companies on stage this morning at the third and final GreenBiz Forum in San Francisco. CEO John Donahoe took the stage this morning to discuss how a company that was not founded with green in mind has benefited from the green passions of its employees and users.

“[eBay founder] Pierre Omidyar did not found it as a green company, but as a way to connect buyers and sellers,” Donahoe said.

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London (CNN) — A trader accused of fraud over a $2.3 billion loss in unauthorized trading reported by Swiss banking giant UBS pleaded not guilty in a London court Monday.

The trader, Kwaku Adoboli, was ordered held in custody, and his trial was scheduled to begin September 3.

Adoboli faces a charge of fraud by abuse of position between January and September 2011, and he also faces two counts of false accounting.

His lawyer said he was “sorry beyond words” in a previous court appearance in September.

The loss would potentially be among the largest ever to a bank in unauthorized trading.

The trader was charged in September, a day after he was arrested in connection with the discovery of unauthorized deals at UBS.

Britain’s Financial Services Authority, the Serious Fraud Office and the Crown Prosecution Service are also involved in investigating the case.

UBS said no client positions were affected by its $2.3 billion loss.

UBS posted a profit in the third quarter despite “the unauthorized trading incident,” it said in its quarterly report, but its investment banking division recorded a loss of 650 million Swiss francs ($708 million).

UBS chief executive Oswald J.

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The baht snapped five days of gains, retreating from its strongest level in almost three weeks on speculation importers increased demand for the US dollar to take advantage of the more favourable exchange rate.

The currency advanced by 1.7% in five days as global funds bought $1.5 billion more of Thai bonds than they sold in seven days of net purchases through Monday, said the Thai Bond Market Association.

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If you have no credit history at all, then you may find it difficult to apply for best credit cards. As most issuers check credit history, then they will most often deny applications from people without a lot of it. They prefer people who have purchased using credit cards prior to determining whether these consumers are worthy of a new credit card.

However, you can actually get credit cards even if you have no credit history. Read more…

When it comes to plastic, to love it or to hate it is always the question. Indeed, there is a certain level of fear and loathing we have toward the stuff, when we hear, for example, about BPA leaching out of baby bottles into babies. But you have to admit, we kind of love — and definitely rely upon — the utility and convenience of the stuff whether in the form of a Ziploc bag, Nalgene bottle, credit card … you get the picture.

Plastic is everywhere. One way to push back on plastic use is to ban it, as Whole Foods did with its ban on single use plastic bags. E

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(Financial Times) — Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, has cut his forecast for his country’s economic growth rate to 7% this year signaling a sharp slow down in the world’s fastest growing large economy after China.

Mr Singh said on Sunday that India was “going through difficult times,” alluding to a severe test of his leadership from falling growth, rising prices and a bitterly divided parliament. His acknowledgement of weaker economic performance comes weeks before elections in five states, including the political crucible of Uttar Pradesh.

Over past months, higher interest rates have throttled growth while the Congress-led government has been beset by high profile corruption scandals and an angry parliamentary opposition.

Last week, Pranab Mukherjee, the finance minister, had offered a more optimistic growth projection of 7.5% in the current fiscal year.

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The central bank’s monetary policy committee should reconsider whether its decision to cut the repurchase rate by only 0.25 percentage points recently was appropriate in the current situation, Commerce Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said on Wednesday.

Mr Kittiratt said this before attending a seminar on “Reinvent Thailand” held by Krungthep Turakij, a daily Thai-language business newspaper.

The country had been severely damaged by the great floodsand the industry sector needs loans for rehabilitation, he said.

The minister advised business leaders to clearly show their standpoint on this matter.

“I do not want to interfere with the central bank’s work. This is m

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