Tag Archives: carbon
Shanghai To Fine Firms For Breaching CO2 Market Rules
15 Jul 2013 10:13 Last updated: 15 Jul 2013 13:37 BEIJING, July 15 (Reuters Point Carbon) – Shanghai companies that fail to surrender enough government-issued carbon permits for each tonne of CO2 they emit under the city’s Emissions Trading Scheme face government fines of up to 100,000 RMB ($16,000) and will be forced to buy permits in the market, according to draft rules released by city lawmakers. Shanghai plans to launch an emissions market before the end of the year, capping carbon dioxide emissions from 200 companies across a broad sector of the city’s economy, including big energy users such as Bao Steel, energy companies such as PetroChina as well as China Eastern Airlines. The city is one of seven designated regions in which the central government is trialing emission markets before rolling out a federal scheme later in the decade in a bid to rein in pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency. The release of draft rules on Friday reveal for the first time how lawmakers intend to enforce environmental laws on companies responsible for pumping out about 110 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. “It is urgent to make clear rules on the basic issues as for carbon trading…. (the rules) will provide strong legal support and protection to carry out the pilot ETS,” the draft rules said. As well as fines for companies failing to surrender permits, companies that obstruct independent auditors in reporting emissions face penalties of up to RMB50,000 per breach. Emitters will be able to reduce the cost of complying with the scheme by offsetting up to 5 percent of their emissions by buying carbon credits, known as Chinese Certified Emission Reductions, from domestic projects that cut emissions. The rules, which were published on the local government’s website on Friday, still need to be ratified by government officials before becoming law. China, the world’s biggest emitter has been plagued by environmental problems associated with its rapid increase in coal consumption, with smog engulfing many of its cities located across the eastern seaboard. To improve energy efficiency the nation has a target to cut the emissions intensity of its economy – emissions per unit of GDP – by up to 45 percent by the end of the decade. To help it meet that goal, Shanghai plans to cut its carbon intensity by 19 percent below 2010 levels by 2015 and wants to curb 2013 energy consumption below 118.4 million tonnes of standard coal equivalent, increasing by 4.18 percent year-on-year. The city of Shenzhen was the first region in China to launch a carbon market in July, with permits changing hands at about $4.50-5.00 each, roughly the same price as those in Europe. By Kathy Chen – kathy.chen@thomsonreuters.com and Andrew Allan Continue reading
‘A So-Called Market In Invisible Stuff’: The Meaning Of Tony Abbott’s Carbon Rhetoric
July 15, 2013 Ben Cubby Environment Editor Abbott slammed on ‘invisible substance’ Tony Abbott has attracted criticism for saying the ETS is a “so-called market” for an “invisible substance”. Autoplay ON Video feedback on Monday, answering his own rhetorical question about what a carbon trading scheme is. Abbott’s emission was received with glee on social media, where people pointed out that there are many “invisible substances” – natural gas, oxygen and bacteria spring to mind – that both have market value and are essential to life on Earth. It’s the latest in a long campaign to redefine the stuff that comes from burning coal as a “colourless, odourless gas”, a harmless three-way cuddle between one carbon and two oxygen atoms that, happily, provides “plant food”. But, while the “invisible substance” line is facile, it is worth examining a little more closely, because it contains a few hints about the opposition’s strategy. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has ramped up his rhetoric against market regulation of carbon emissions. Photo: Jonathan Ng The phrase “so-called market” not only plays to the sympathies of people suspicious of money markets, it positions the Coalition as the party with the knowledge to discern real markets from fake ones. The “non-delivery” hints at Labor government unreliability, and the “no one” points to the ethereal nature of the carbon exchange mechanism, where permits have a set value for a set period of time, but become worthless after that, like unused movie tickets. The fact that you can’t really make a non-delivery to no-one seems to have escaped Abbott, but the staffer who penned the line could argue the twisted grammar echoes the confusing nature of an ETS that won’t actually reduce emissions for a few years. Best of all, “invisible substance” plugs into a medieval mistrust of scientists and their incomprehensible powers. The sentence links these modern-day alchemists together with the shadowy financiers who would run the so-called markets, trading invisibility while we pay for it. Or something. It suggests that Abbott is prepared to wear some public ridicule in exchange for speaking directly to that part of his supporter base that is unmoved by scientific evidence about global warming. Never mind that the Coalition is proposing to spend about $10 billion of the public’s money fighting an “invisible substance”. That can be hidden behind its earthy rhetoric of “direct action” and a “green army” getting its hands dirty with a hard day’s practical work. What the Coalition is really trying to do is wrest back control of the language of climate change, because if it can control the language, and debate on its own terms, it can win. Read more: http://www.theage.co…l#ixzz2Z8DAdFr5 Continue reading
Hopeful Signs For U.S. And Chinese Cooperation On Climate Change
Derek Walker / Published July 10, 2013 yunheisapunk/ Flickr Last month offered a thrilling glimpse into the future for the millions of people around the U.S. and across the world who are yearning for real solutions to climate change. On June 18, Shenzhen, an economically-vibrant city of 15 million on the South China Sea, launched the first of seven Chinese regional pilot carbon market systems slated to begin by the end of 2014. The Shenzhen market is set to include at least 635 local companies that contribute approximately 40% of the city’s CO2 emissions, and is expected to result in a 21% decrease in the carbon intensity of the economy in just two years. Shenzhen is one of seven carbon trading pilots that represent about 25% of China’s GDP and may include thousands of companies emitting hundreds of millions of tons of CO2. Inspiration, encouragement and support for Shenzhen’s maiden market launch came from a familiar place: California . Both Shenzhen and California have well-established reputations as trailblazers on innovative solutions that match economic growth with environmental gains. Perhaps it will be little surprise, then, that none other than the state’s top climate change official, California Air Resources Board (CARB) Chair Mary Nichols and Governor Brown’s personal representative, Wade Crowfoot, stood with senior officials from Shenzhen and from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) at the Shenzen launch. Nichols has presided over the development of California’s groundbreaking climate change effort and oversaw the Fall 2013 launch of California’s carbon market, the first comprehensive state-level system in the U.S. The California market is a promising model for Shenzhen and the other Chinese pilots. California has held three allowance auctions to date, with strong participation by companies and a modest increase in the price of allowances with each auction. Ultimately, California’s carbon market will be a key element driving the state back to 1990 levels of greenhouse gas pollution by 2020, accompanied by dramatic improvements in air quality and significant incentives to carbon-cutting entrepreneurs. Nichols formalized the partnership between California and Shenzhen by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) paving the way for technical cooperation between officials and other stakeholders engaged in the respective carbon market programs. The California-Shenzhen partnership is just the tip of the iceberg in the crescendo of cooperation between the U.S. and China. Earlier in June in California, President Obama and Chinese President Xi signed an agreement to collectively fight dangerous hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that are used in air conditioning and refrigeration. HFCs are pound-for-pound some of the most potent greenhouse gases, and controlling them will be an essential short-term piece of solving the climate change puzzle. As California and Shenzhen roll up their sleeves to support one another’s ambitious climate change programs, they will provide demonstrable proof of the promise of cooperation between their nations and will deliver results and momentum towards national action. In her remarks at the Shenzhen launch, Mary Nichols called the leadership of California, Shenzhen, and other provinces, states and cities around the world “a foundation that national and international action can spring from.” The Chinese carbon trading pilots are strong signals that climate change is an issue to be taken seriously and to be acted on expeditiously. In the U.S., President Barack Obama recently took the stage in Washington and laid out his Administration’s vision for bold national action to fight climate change, an eagerly-anticipated outline of how progress will be achieved towards Obama’s 2009 commitment to slash greenhouse gas pollution 17% by 2020. While 2020 will be an important milestone in charting progress, it is but the beginning of a long journey. Climate change science couldn’t be clearer about the need to achieve dramatic greenhouse gas reductions by mid-century. And no long-term solution to the environmental challenge of our lifetime will be found without the leadership of the world’s top greenhouse gas polluters. That leadership is now coalescing into national and bilateral action and, for the first time in some time, offers hope that we are headed in the right direction. Continue reading
