It appears, just at the moment that President Obama says the word ‘climate change’ for the first time in an eon, the European carbon market has approached collapse.
Category: Carbon Markets
New Musings on a US Carbon Tax
It has been a while since I’ve seen any editorial activity about a carbon tax, but here is an interesting one by David Frum.
Carbon Markets on the Verge of Collapse
The Article
Voluntary Carbon Trading…the latest financial scam
An interesting article about the number of ‘scams’ developing around voluntary carbon trading.
Environmental Finance
Bunge, the agri-business ‘giant’, recently acquired Climate Change Capital…leading to a change in focus toward ‘impact investing’.
I always end up confused…particularly when they talk of CCC holding $1.4 B in ‘committments’. I know what they mean by committments, but I do not know (and they do not explain) how that translates to Company balance sheet.
Big numbers…impact investing….does this make sense?
The Article
Northeast and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
America’s greenhouse gas emissions are headed up again, driven by a recovering economy, federal government data show. The Northeast may be able to buck that trend thanks in part to cap-and-trade, the controversial system for curbing global warming gases that Congress and many state governments scorned in recent years.
Grassroots Green Energy Projects
A Report on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)
A new report is touting the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) for helping cut carbon dioxide emissions in the Northeast. The news is somewhat hazy for Rhode Island, however, and overall the data show that the cap-and-trade program is still a work in progress.
Environment Northeast (ENE), a nonprofit that tracks the 10-state, carbon-cutting RGGI program, said emissions from power plants are down 11 percent from last year, and are well below a cap set in 2009. The reason, ENE stated, is power plants are burning more natural gas and less high carbon-packed fuels such as coal and oil. Renewable energy, mild weather and improvements in energy efficiency also are being credited for helping reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
All good things for cutting carbon pollution, but much of the progress appears to derive from a single factor: the price of natural gas. Since 2005, natural gas prices have dropped significantly below coal and oil. As of Dec. 31, gas was about four times cheaper than oil.
The Article
European Carbon Markets at Record Lows
European Union carbon permits and U.N.-backed credits collapsed to record lows on Thursday, extending this week’s sharp price slide as fears of a slowing economy sapped demand in the markets that are heavily supplied with emissions units.
Th Article
Cap and Trade Benefits Connecticut
Connecticut’s commitment to the regional cap-and-trade system and subsequent investment in energy efficiency bolsters the economy, even as power plants shell out cash for their air pollution.
In the first three years of the 10-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Connecticut’s state government received $51.7 million of the $913.3 million awarded throughout the region. Connecticut invested 73 percent in energy efficiency initiatives; 23 percent in renewable energy projects; 5 percent on offsetting air pollution; and 1 percent on clean energy education for teachers and students.
Because of energy efficiency, the impact on Connecticut’s economy outpaced the average of the 10 states in the regional initiative, according to an economic impact study of the Northeast’s cap-and-trade system, performed by the Boston-based Analysis Group.
The Article
Richard Pace 