Tag Archives: carbon
A Year After Carbon Pricing, Australia Greener And More Efficient
Details Category: Carbon Market 27 Jun 2013 Published on Thursday, 27 June 2013 Australia greener a year later after Carbon Pricing’s launch Australia is greener, more efficient, and has reduced its greenhouse gas emission only a year after Carbon Pricing was launched in the country, according to a report by the Australian Government. It was on July 1, 2012, that Carbon Pricing was launched by the government of Australia, imposing a price of $23.72 per metric ton of emitted carbon on some 300 companies. It was designed to ensure that climate change was addressed while still maintaining a strong economy. A year after Carbon Pricing was launched, the report titled “How’s Australia’s carbon price is working – one year on,” released by Australia’s Department of Indusrty, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education, shows that the country has increased power generation from renewable sources, is more energy efficient, and has reduced its carbon emissions. Comparing the period of July 2012 to May 2013 to the same period of the previous year, there was an increase of 28.5 percent in the electricity generated by renewable sources and an increase of 5.6 percent power from gas and liquid resource. There was also a drop in electricity generated from black coal and brown coal, 4.2 percent and 13.3 percent respectively, from the previous period. The intensity of the emissions from the National Electricity Market also dropped to 0.88 emissions per megawatt hour from 0.92 emissions/MWh the very day Carbon Pricing was launched, and since then emissions/MWh from the National Electricity Market has been relatively low compared to the time when the carbon tax was not being imposed. This decrease in figures translates to the country reducing over 12 million tones of pollution from electricity generation. Carbon Pricing has also improved the country’s energy efficiency. In the 11-month period of July 2012 to May 2013, the amount of electricity sent out to the National Electricity Market went down by 2.4 percent. According to the report, this decrease in the amount of electricity sent out is due to households and businesses responding to higher power prices, being supported by the government to improve energy efficiency, and the initiative to install solar panels and solar water heaters on their roofs thereby reducing the use of electricity from the grid. In addition to the impacts that Carbon Pricing is having on the country, the government’s Clean Energy Future plan – a roadmap to secure clean energy future – is also moving the country towards a low carbon path. Under the Clean Energy Future plan, targets such as 20 percent of the country’s electricity is expected to come from renewable sources by 2020; major investments in clean energy technologies; reducing the energy use and pollution of manufacturing companies; reducing the pollution of farmers on the land; and programs that improve energy efficiency. – L. Polintan Continue reading
Carbon Markets to Be a Focus of Poland Climate Talks, Marcu Says
By Mathew Carr – Jun 26, 2013 This year’s climate talks in Poland will attempt to establish a framework for rules governing industry-based carbon markets and non-market programs after 2020, according to the Centre for European Policy Studies. A so-called framework for various approaches would provide flexibility to nations wary of giving control over their domestic energy or greenhouse-gas markets to an international process, said Andrei Marcu, head of the centre’s carbon market forum in Brussels and adviser to Poland, which is hosting the United Nations negotiations in Warsaw starting Nov. 11. 3:17 June 26 (Bloomberg) — Former U.S. Representative Bob Inglis, a Republican from South Carolina, talks about President Barack Obama’s climate policy and immigration law. He speaks with Tom Keene and Sara Eisen on Bloomberg Television’s “Surveillance.” (Source: Bloomberg) The rules would allow nations to run their own programs, market or via government regulations and taxes, and choose whether they want to join the international market, he said yesterday by phone. Otherwise, countries could use their emission reductions domestically to show they are taking action to protect the climate, he said. President Barack Obama yesterday said his administration would “redouble” efforts to help forge an international climate-protection agreement that would govern emissions beyond 2020 and apply to all nations, not just those that have already industrialized. “We need an agreement that’s flexible, because different nations have different needs,” Obama said in a speech in Washington . “And if we can come together and get this right, we can define a sustainable future for your generation.” Using EPA Obama sought to limit U.S. emissions from existing and new fossil-fuel power stations and create free trade in clean-energy goods. His resolve to regulate using the Environmental Protection Agency may prompt the business community to lobby Congress to consider adopting more cost-effective carbon markets, said Anthony Hobley, president of the Climate Markets & Investments Association in London . Obama’s speech also may encourage the UN talks to become more pragmatic during their next few negotiating sessions, focusing on setting principles for domestic programs rather than seeking to impose targets, Hobley said yesterday in a phone interview. “We’ve been a little naive in what we expected international law to do.” To contact the reporter on this story: Mathew Carr in London at m.carr@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lars Paulsson at lpaulsson@bloomberg.net Continue reading
France May Redirect Carbon Revenues To Power-Hungry Firms
Reuters 26/06/13 France is considering switching its use of revenues raised from carbon permit auctions next year, possibly giving funds to large, energy-intensive companies as Germany already does, sources with knowledge of the matter have told Reuters. France currently allocates its portion of revenues from the sale of European Union permits to the insulation of homes, but sources have told Reuters that may change in 2014. One source said the government is weighing the idea of compensation for such companies and noted the government’s emphasis on helping France’s struggling industrial champions. “The government said it will not compensate (costs for energy-intensive companies) in 2013, but did not rule out anything from 2014,” a second source said. Such state aid for companies is permitted under EU rules aimed at preventing so-called “carbon leakage”, or the outsourcing of activities and jobs to avoid CO2 taxes. Finance Ministry data shows there are 520 “sites” in France which qualify as electricity-intensive and therefore would qualify for the funds. Based on current carbon prices, revenues from permit sales in France would amount to about €300 million, Reuters calculations show. Germany currently uses part of the revenues from carbon permit sales to help energy-intensive companies. German government data shows that over 2,200 firms benefit. The carbon-derived payments must go into energy efficiency measures. The German government also offers such companies exemptions from network fee payments and from renewables support. France’s energy-intensive companies, such as Air Liquide , pay 30 per cent more for power than their German peers, reflecting both the refunds on permit sales and other exemptions, according to Uniden, the French union of energy-using industries. Power for delivery next year currently costs €37.50 ($53) a megawatt hour in Germany and €42.0 in France. Rio Tinto’s Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne aluminium plant in the French Alps is one plant threatened with closure because of high energy costs. Its 30-year electricity contract with French utility EDF expires in 2014 and its bill will rise as it catches up with current market prices. European power producers, among Europe’s main polluters, from this year have had to buy carbon permits in auctions under a scheme meant to reduce European carbon emissions. Continue reading
