Tag Archives: carbon-markets
Global Carbon Markets Characterised By Ups And Downs
Vivian Nereim May 31, 2013 Save this article The unregulated voluntary market makes up a tiny percentage of carbon markets worldwide. Most trading happens on regulated markets, such as the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, the largest carbon market in the world. The EU market launched in 2005 with the goal of combating climate change. Certain companies, such as power plants and airlines, are required to cap and trade their emissions. Each “EU allowance” traded represents the permission to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or the equivalent amount of another greenhouse gas. While the voluntary market is characterised by one-off deals, markets such as the EU’s have a standardised product that is traded on an exchange, said Konrad Hanschmidt, head of carbon markets analysis for Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Market players can watch the price tick up or down by the second. The EU market has suffered recently, however. The average price for EU allowances fell from double digits in 2011 to just €3.75 (Dh17.96) recently, according to data from Thomson Reuters Point Carbon. Meanwhile, United Nations-backed carbon credits, called Certified Emissions Reductions, are trading for less than €0.50, having fallen 99 per cent since 2008. * Vivian Nereim Read more: http://www.thenation…s#ixzz2VLZ0aR9n Follow us: @TheNationalUAE on Twitter | thenational.ae on Facebook Continue reading
World’s Carbon Markets: EDF, IETA Launch Online Resource On Emissions Trading Programs
By NAT KEOHANE | BIO | Published: JUNE 3, 2013 While Washington is stuck in gridlock, other jurisdictions around the world are moving forward on climate policy. Market-based approaches to cutting carbon are in place in jurisdictions accounting for nearly 10% of the world’s population. Above: areas shaded blue have emissions trading programs that are already operating; areas in green have programs that are launching or being considered. Market-based approaches to cutting carbon are already in place in jurisdictions accounting for nearly 10% of the world’s population and more than a third of its GDP. Many more jurisdictions are either moving ahead with market-based measures, or actively considering them. As interest grows around the world, policymakers are increasingly seeking information about the range of existing and proposed initiatives. In response, EDF has partnered with the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) , a trade association that represents businesses involved in carbon trading and climate finance, to launch The World’s Carbon Markets: A case study guide to emissions trading . The online resource provides detailed information about key design elements and unique features of 18 emissions trading programs that are operating or launching around the world. EDF has also put together a quick reference chart that makes comparing the 18 programs even faster and easier. Growing interest in emissions trading Market-based policies are a proven way to limit carbon pollution and channel capital and innovation into clean energy, helping to avert the catastrophic consequences of climate change. While emissions trading programs around the world, like the ones we have looked at in detail, vary in their features, they all share the key insight that well-designed markets can be a powerful tool in achieving environmental and economic progress. The countries, states, provinces and cities highlighted in this report, which are moving ahead with strong action on climate change, constitute a vital and dynamic world of “bottom-up” actions that complement multilateral efforts such as the ongoing United Nations climate negotiations. Jurisdictions considering market-based approaches can use this new resource to learn from their growing number of peers already headed in that direction. We expect the site will also be of value for policy makers, academics, analysts, journalists, and colleagues in the NGO community and beyond. If you find the information in The World’s Carbon Markets case studies helpful, please share edf.org/worldscarbonmarkets with your networks. Continue reading
Capturing Carbon on the Cheap
Environmental Leader – 31/05/13 Some of the processes being looked at as cheaper ways of capturing carbon dioxide emissions include a government-led large-scale implementation at a power plant, a installation at a natural gas production facility and rolling out the technology to other industrial facilities, according to an article in the MIT Technology Review. Despite the US’ growth in renewable energy use, electricity generation from coal is expected to grow twice as much as generation from electricity by 2020. But without carbon capture technology many coal plants would fail to meet strict regulations and face closure. However, no one currently knows how much large-scale carbon capture will cost and finding out will cost billions of dollars, MIT Technology Review reports. One method being investigated as a workaround to find cheaper ways to capture carbon is for government to demonstrate its effectiveness on a large scale. The FutureGen project was originally planned as a new kind of hydrogen and electricity producing power plant. It was canned by the Bush administration due to high costs, but it was reinstated in a form that costs half as much after the Recovery Act. The project is now focused on retrofitting an existing power plant, but, given design and permit challenges, it may still not be ready to take advantage of Recovery Act funding , the article says. A natural gas production facility in Norway has been using carbon capture technology for years and emulating it could provide another way forward, the article says. Utilizing such technology at a natural gas production facility can be more efficient as such facilities produce a far more concentrated stream of CO2 than power plants. Capturing carbon at industrial facilities may be the only way to deal with emissions from such sources as ethanol and steel plants, the article says. Two projects that capture carbon from fermentation at an ethanol plant and another that captures it from a hydrogen plant production plant are now online. This kind of industrial site carbon capture could account for about half of captured CO2 by 2050, the article says. There is also a market for selling captured CO2 to oil recovery projects, such as a Department of Energy demonstration project in Texas that went online earlier this month. This adds an income stream to the process of CO2 capture and, once used by the oil recoverers, the gas is trapped underground in a capped well. Also this month, Aker Solutions won a contract to perform the world’s first tests for capturing carbon dioxide emissions from a cement production plant. Aker Solutions says it will perform long-term testing on the actual flue gas to select the best chemical solvent for high-content CO2 flue gas at a Norcem plant in Brevik, Norway. In other carbon capture news, scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have discovered and demonstrated a new technique to remove and store atmospheric CO2 while generating carbon-negative hydrogen and producing alkalinity, which can be used to offset ocean acidification. The hydrogen can be used as a carbon-negative “super green” fuel or chemical feedstock, the researchers said. Continue reading
