Ruling Elite Push for Carbon Trading Markets

EU Carbon Rises, Ignores Climate Pact Delay

November 16, 2007

Reuters - European carbon emissions futures rose slightly on Monday, unaffected by confirmation from world leaders that a legally binding climate pact will be delayed until 2010 or later.

EU Allowances (EUAs) for December delivery rose by 10 cents or 0.75 percent to 13.51 euros ($20.23) a tonne at 1322 GMT.

"Prices have not reacted to news that 2010 is the new deadline. The market has widely expected this for the past six months," an emissions trader said.

Denmark, the host of the Copenhagen U.N. climate change talks, on Monday proposed the end of 2010 as a new deadline for the conclusion of a binding treaty on cutting greenhouse emissions.

U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders on Sunday supported delaying a legally binding climate pact until 2010 or even later.

Traders said the delay was widely expected. Climate talks in Barcelona at the start of November alluded to delay but lack of progress well before that dampened expectations.

Carbon prices took support from firmer oil and German power prices on Monday, traders said.

U.S. oil rose above $77 a barrel on Monday, taking back most of last week's 1.4 percent losses as the dollar drifted lower.

German Calendar 2010 baseload power on the EEX was up 21 cents or 0.45 percent at 46.45 euros per megawatt hour.

U.N.-backed certified emissions reductions (CERs) rose by 6 cents or 0.49 percent to 12.35 euros a tonne. The EUA-CER spread was at 1.16 euros.

EDF Trading has signed a deal with renewable energy company Bionersis to buy carbon credits from four landfill gas projects in Latin America for an undisclosed amount, the EDF subsidiary said on Monday.

California Outlaws Large, Power-Hungry TVs

November 19, 2009

Yahoo Tech - In a move that could spell the end of the plasma TV industry as we know it, the state of California agreed today to enact strict regulations on the amount of power televisions can consume, effectively outlawing most large plasma TVs as of January 1, 2011, with many more televisions set to be banned beginning January 1, 2013.

The state had been concerned that 10 percent of a home’s energy use is typically devoted to the TV and its related equipment, and that percentage has been increasing as consumers gain access to larger and larger (and cheaper and cheaper) televisions, which command an ever-increasing hunger for power.

The new rules go into effect a little more than a year from now: On January 1, 2011, televisions will be required to reduce energy consumption by an average of 33 percent. In 2013, a second tier of restrictions will go into effect, with average energy consumption required to be reduced by 49 percent vs. today’s levels...

Derivatives: 'Shell Pushes for Unfettered Carbon Trading Markets'

November 17, 2009

Climateer Investing - If you can't trust oil companies, hedge funds and Goldman Sachs, who can you trust?

From the Houston Chronicle:

Royal Dutch Shell Plc is calling for the removal of any restrictions on carbon credit trading and asking for derivative contracts to be allowed under cap-and-trade programs.

“You have to allow a secondary market to develop,” David Hone, Shell's climate change adviser, told reporters at an energy conference in Singapore today. “You don't want to have a carbon market that's restricted from doing what other commodity markets are doing.”

Legislators in the U.S. plan to impose restrictions on trading of carbon credits under a proposed cap-and-trade program, on concern that speculators will drive up carbon prices and costs for consumers.

Under such programs, emitters are permitted to release a certain quantity of polluting gases and are allotted permits for that amount, which can be bought and sold as required. The European Trading Scheme, mandatory for heavy industry and power generators, is the world's largest. There are also voluntary cap-and-trade programs such as the one operated by the Chicago Climate Exchange.

The current economics of carbon capture and sequestration projects require carbon dioxide to cost $100 a ton to make a profit, David Lawrence, an executive vice president at Shell, said Nov. 13. Companies need to advance technology to cut projects costs to make them feasible at $40 a ton “and potentially below that,” he said.

“Is carbon capture and sequestration a possibility? Yes, it is. Can it be done? Yes, it can. Can it cost a lot of money? Yes, it does,” Lawrence said on a Webcast presentation. “These are all in the early days and requires a tremendous amount of work to push this forward, to make them happen.”

European Union carbon-dioxide permits for December advanced 0.6 percent to 13.49 euros a metric ton as of 11:08 a.m. on the European Climate Exchange in London.

Shell and BP Plc are among companies supporting cap-and-trade. Almost 200 countries are due to gather in Copenhagen next month to discuss the terms of a climate accord to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

President Barack Obama's administration proposed regulatory changes in August, including imposing higher capital and margin requirements on derivatives markets and requiring certain contracts be processed through clearinghouses. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has moved to limit commodity speculation amid concerns it's distorting prices...

Bend Over, Here It Comes Again

Remember, just as economists using the tools of science (mathematics) doesn't make economics a science, artificial constructs like cap-and-trade using the tools of markets doesn't make the racket "market based."

'Trading Thin Air' Makes Important Forecasts Regarding the Future of the Carbon Market

November 19, 2009

bharatbook - ...Emissions trading is on track to play a key role in the world’s transition to a low-carbon economy. As countries meet their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, the global carbon market has experienced rapid growth. From 2005 to 2008, the market grew from $11 billion to $126 billion. This growth and accompanying diversification has been made possible by an increasingly elaborate set of players. In addition to the suppliers, intermediaries and end users in the carbon market, services providers are also needed in the areas of quality control, legal advisory services, information and analysis and capacity building. Legal frameworks and regulatory bodies are also present. Although the Kyoto Protocol will expire in 2012, there is general consensus that a cap-and-trade system will be established in the United States and a global carbon trading system will be a fixture in the world economy for decades. Carbon is predicted by some to become a commodity with its emissions regulated worldwide...

Lithuania to Sell 50 Million Tonnes of Carbon Credit

November 16, 2009

Reuters - Lithuania wants to sell 50 million tonnes of emission rights from its 2008-2012 period quota, the Lithuania environment ministry said on Monday

Countries comfortably below their greenhouse gas targets quotas under the Kyoto Protocol can sell excess emission rights to other countries or companies in the form of credits called Assigned Amount Units (AAUs).

"Lithuania wants to sell 50 million AAUs, and we want to do that as soon as possible," Laura Dzelzyte, spokeswoman for the Environment ministry, told Reuters.

"We have signed protocols of intent with several countries, and we hope to close the deals by year-end," she added.

Lithuania was allocated 221.3 million tonnes of emission rights for the whole period of 2008-2012.

The ministry had earlier estimated Lithuania's emission volumes would increase to 31-37 million tonnes next year from an estimated 24-27 million tonnes in 2009 after the country shuts down its Soviet-era Ignalina nuclear power plant at end of this year.

Its total emission requirements would be 142-161 million tonnes for the 2008-2012 period, allowing it to sell the excess.