Cleantech news as it happens — check back for regular updates:

• The chemical mechanism that occurs on the surface of an automotive catalytic converter has been deciphered thanks to an observation speed record established by Frédéric Thibault-Strarzyk at the Laboratoire Catalyse et Spectrochimie in Caen;
• At “Laser 2009″ in Munich, June 15 to 18, Fraunhofer researchers will be demonstrating how laser technology can contribute to optimising the manufacturing costs and efficiency of solar cells;
• The participants of the St James’s Palace Nobel Laureate Symposium agreed on a memorandum that urges “governments at all levels, as well as the scientific community, to join with business and civil society to seize hold of this historic opportunity to transform our carbon-intensive economies into sustainable and equitable systems”;
• Today Arup, the C40 and the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), a project of the William J. Clinton Foundation, announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding that will see Arup support the two organisations in helping the world’s largest cities continue to tackle climate change;
• First Solar Inc. and Pfalzsolar GmbH, a German solar project developer owned by Pfalzwerke AG, a public utility in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, today announced the signing of a new long-term supply agreement;
• SCHOTT Solar and SolarEdge today announced a joint design partnership agreement to develop and test a novel PV panel-integrated power harvesting system embedded directly into SCHOTT Solar’s module;
• Deloitte has produced a new podcast on “Plugging the leak: The future of information security“;
• European Union emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases declined for the third consecutive year in 2007, according to the EU’s GHG inventory report compiled by the European Environment Agency.

• Green technology investors seek safer havens in 2011
• New US consortium plans $1.4bn in cleantech investments
• What does 2011 hold for China, US?
• World Economic Forum: Cleantech rules
• Virtual design speeds green reality
• Opinion: Darling’s green bank idea is laughably small
• Some guys and Holy Grails: 5 rules for spotting ‘cleantech porn’
• Despite some ‘green shoots,’ cleantech VCs see trouble ahead
• Cleantech Connect Awards recognise fast-growing innovators
• Irish cleantech firms seek opportunities in Silicon Valley