Tag Archives: carbon
Accelerating The Clean Energy Revolution With CA’s Cap-And-Trade
une 3, 2013 By Emily Reyna Emily Reyna Senior Manager of Partnerships & Alliances for CA’s Climate & Air Team, Environmental Defense Fund Six months ago, California launched the largest economy-wide cap-and-trade program in the world, in what many have deemed a grand experiment . Many people watched nervously as the market unfolded, despite California having applied the lessons learned from the growing pains of the EU ETS and from six years of crafting the market rules in consultation with the state’s – and the world’s – leading experts. Results from the first and second auctions eased those initial fears and today’s results continue to affirm the presence of a strong and viable market. That’s good news for California. Auction Results The third auction held on Thursday, May 16 th offered 14.5 million 2013 allowances for sale and 9.56 million 2016 allowances. So, what happened? Summary Allowance year Allowances offered Allowances sold Settlement price 2013 14,522,048 100% $14.00 2016 9,560,000 78.6% $10.71 Participation: Overall participation was high, with almost 1.8 times more credits bid on than were sold. A diverse array of 81 entities were approved to bid in the auction. Current (2013) vs. Future (2016) vintage allowances: All of the 2013 allowances sold, while almost 80% of the 2016 allowances sold, an indicator that there is solid confidence the program will still be around. Entities are keeping their options open in not buying all available allowances for use three years out, which makes sense given the multiple options for achieving compliance. Clearing price: As expected , the clearing price for 2013 allowances was high, settling at approximately 30% above the auction price floor of $10.71. Because 2016 allowances did not sell out, their clearing price remained at the floor of $10.71. Auction proceeds: By selling more than 10 million state-controlled allowances, California’s third auction raised over $117 million – that will be used to advance the goals of AB 32, to reduce climate pollution. The budget is still being finalized for this year, but at least 25% of the auction proceeds (or $64 million to date) must benefit disadvantaged communities. Three Reasons the Momentum Is Here to Stay California’s program is proving to be a strong model for replication elsewhere : Others are watching California’s program closely. In a short period, a price on carbon has been established, all credits at the first three auctions were sold above the floor price, and most importantly, we have begun the process of breaking California’s dependence on fossil fuels and seen a decrease in carbon emissions. Next year, Quebec will link with California’s market – a first step towards a broader carbon market, and potential blueprint for other states and provinces to join the program. Innovation : Smart companies are innovating to reduce their emissions. For example, Kroger Company uses an anaerobic digester in Compton, California to convert spoiled food to energy , generating 13 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. Unleashing this type of innovation accelerates the clean energy revolution and puts us further along the path to meeting the state’s aggressive climate goals. Future Leadership : Today, EDF kicked off its sixth year of EDF Climate Corps , an innovative fellowship program that places grad students in companies, cities and universities to identify energy savings within those organizations. This year, 116 graduate students will be working in over 100 organizations this summer — 19 in California — including Apple, Adidas and the Los Angeles Community College System. Many of the alumni continue the work they do in corporate, public and non-profit spaces to address the largest environmental issue of our time. As Van Jones said at the Greenlining Institute Summit recently, “Young people are fighting for us.” We have solid reasons to be optimistic about California’s carbon market, and the continued growth of the clean energy economy. The skeptics aren’t staying silent, but their case is losing steam. After all, facts are facts, and for Emily Reyna is the Senior Manager of Partnerships and Alliances for California’s Climate & Air team in the San Francisco office. In this role, Emily is responsible for engaging and forging common ground with businesses and other key stakeholders to further EDF’s work on implementation of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32). Emily previously worked in EDF’s Corporate Partnership’s Program on EDF Climate Corps , an innovative program that places specially-trained MBA and MPA students in companies, cities and universities to build the business case for energy efficiency.California, today’s auction results proved once again the numbers are on our side. Continue reading
Time For Europe To Embrace ‘Affordable, Sustainable’ Energy Solutions
Published 29 May 2013 The European Union should embrace new renewable solutions such as gas fermentation technologies to advance towards a low-carbon economy, argues Jennifer Holmgren. Jennifer Holmgren is chief executive of LanzaTech , which has developed a biological fermentation process that transforms industrial waste gases and residues into fuels and chemicals. Pressed by Europe’s economic crisis, EU leaders at a recent summit called for “affordable and sustainable energy” to underpin the EU’s “competitiveness, jobs and growth”. Many see this as wishful thinking, and argue for a relaxation of the club’s ambitious 2020 energy and emissions reduction targets. If the EU is to weather the crisis and emerge stronger and more competitive than ever, energy policies need to be looking resolutely forward, not back. Technologies are advancing faster than the policies designed to harness them. The EU is debating amendments to the Renewable Energy Directive and Fuel Quality Directive to include sustainability criteria. These criteria could help determine whether Europe can indeed meet its 2020 targets. If policies can catch up with science, sustainable energy can fuel Europe’s growth. Researchers in many different fields have made working out the conundrum of affordable and sustainable energy their priority for years now. Their investments are paying off. A number of new technologies are questioning our perceptions of waste for example, by turning greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into a valuable resource, and the potential is vast and varied. It is part of a growing trend among researchers who say why capture and bury these gases – a technique supported by EU policies– when you can recycle them into valuable commodities? The EU’s 2020 target to source 10% of Europe’s transport fuel from renewables, is reachable by deploying a variety of existing and new technologies, including gas fermentation which captures carbon-rich waste and residues from European manufacturers and recycles it into biofuel in a closed loop system. These processes allow industries not only to reduce their carbon footprint, but moreover to convert this liability into a valuable green commodity, and be at the forefront of a greener, more sustainable economy. This kind of economy supports green growth for industry, preserving and creating jobs across Europe as manufacturers and industry invest in green technologies while maintaining a healthy bottom line. The old argument that a cleaner, greener economy and job-creation are mutually exclusive just doesn’t hold water anymore. Greening a traditional industry by deployment of a gas fermentation facility at a steel plant for example can create 40 to 50 jobs. CleanTech also boosts foreign direct investment, with global supply chain partners and customers ready to finance and build plants in Europe. Furthermore, increased efficiency and reduced dependence on fossil imports reinforce energy security, and help reduce costs. It is crucial that Europe, in its role as global leader in the fight against climate change, embrace these technologies. Looking beyond 2020, they are an important part of the equation if the EU is to meet its commitments to reduce GHGs 95% by 2050. As Commission President José Manuel Barroso said at the summit, however, there is no silver bullet solution. In its drive for a more sustainable economy, Europe needs to assess all technologies over time and not stop with one policy. There is a high risk for policies focusing on one or a few technologies that may not work in the long run or produce unintended consequences in the future. There is a need to de-risk those policies by diversifying but also coordinating the different policies to further support deployment of clean technologies. Many policymakers and researchers have rightly argued that the solution to climate change requires a wide range of measures. Why not expand the concept of renewable energy beyond solar, wind and other means of harnessing the forces of nature? You need carbon to produce liquid fuels and chemicals – and we can source this from wastes and residues from industry in Europe today. Why not look at what up to now has been seen as a burden we’d just like to go away or bury, and see greenhouse gases as an opportunity, as one solution in a complex equation to ensure a more sustainable, growing economy? Continue reading
New EU Climate Policy Unlikely Before 2015: Poland
May 23, 2013 Poland’s Minister of the Environment Marcin Korolec is pictured in Rio de Janeiro, on June 22, 2012. The European Union is unlikely to hammer out its new policy on global warming ahead of a global climate deal that could be clinched in 2015, … more The European Union is unlikely to hammer out its new policy on global warming ahead of a global climate deal that could be clinched in 2015, Poland’s environment minister said Wednesday. “A long discussion on climate change is getting underway. There’s no chance that new measures will be adopted during the current terms of the European Parliament and the European Commission,” minister Marcin Korolec told Poland’s PAP news agency. In its efforts to reduce global warming, the international community is to draw up new, universal climate pact by 2015, which should come into effect by 2020. Korolec’s comments come after UN climate chief Christiana Figueres warned last week that the world had entered a “new danger zone”, with record levels of Earth-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Korolec believes Brussels could soon propose cutting EU fossil fuel imports by 30 percent by 2030, and back production of electric cars. The 27-member EU—struggling to overcome recession sparked by the eurozone’s lumbering debt crisis—should also ban costly and inefficient energy subsidies as a means of forcing the development of new, economically viable, power solutions, he said. Korolec also slammed a European Commission proposal to freeze a portion of carbon emission quotas under the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) in order to drive up the price of those on the market. “It raises doubts when the European Commission itself proposes to intervene in a market system which it set up in the first place,” he said. “Poland has opposed this from the start and I’m confident that the European Parliament will reject it again,” he added. The parliament refused to raise the price on greenhouse gas emission quotas in April to avoid further burdening heavy industries in Europe already feeling the effects of the eurozone crisis. The European Commission revealed last week that the EU’s emissions were down 2.0 percent in 2012, reflecting the economic slowdown . The ETS covers more than 12,000 power plants and manufacturing installations across the EU plus Norway and Liechtenstein, according to the Commission. It is a key part of EU efforts to reduce its CO2 emissions by some 20 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels. Read more at: http://phys.org/news…poland.html#jCp Continue reading
