Tag Archives: climate
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
Details Of Likely CAP Reform Deal Begin To Emerge
25 June 2013 | By Alistair Driver EU POLICYMAKERS have endorsed plans that would give member states the option of using national certification schemes to qualify for the greening payment under the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The EU Council of Agriculture Ministers is into its second day of talks in Luxembourg, where it has been joined by MEPs from the Agriculture Committee and Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos. Details of issues that have been provisionally agreed by the decision-makers in the process – the EU Council of Ministers and the EU Parliament’s Agriculture Committee – are emerging as the talks move towards a possible conclusion on Wednesday. Among the issues already ‘cleared’ in trilogue talks between the parties is confirmation that the UK and other member states and regions will be able to establish certification schemes as the basis for qualifying for the 30 per cent greening payment. Defra Secretary Owen Paterson has already made it clear he wants to establish am English Certification for this purpose. These schemes will include environmental measures beyond the three broad measures originally proposed by the European Commission. A key element will be ensuring ‘equivalence’ in these measures across the EU. The NFU’s CAP adviser Gail Soutar, commenting from Brussels, said this flexibility could be a ‘double-edged sword’ for English farmers. While they will benefit from the flexibility in how to comply with greening, they could face tougher environmental than their counterparts. In an Irish presidency document outlining areas where provisional agreement has been reached, further details surrounding the three basic greening requirements are unveiled. · Permanent grassland ratio can be applied at national, regional or farm level. · The minimum area threshold where there will be no Ecological Focus Area is 15 hectares of arable land. · The percentage will start at 5 per cent in 2015, then move to 7 per cent only after a Commission report in 2017 and subject to a legislative proposal. · Permanent crops are now excluded from EFA . EFA applies to arable land only. · The following EFA eligible areas are agreed: Fallow land, terraces, landscape features, buffer strips, agro forestry, afforested lands, strips of eligible hectares along forest edges, catch crops, nitrogen-fixing crops and short rotation coppice (with no use of mineral fertiliser or plant protection products). · Exemption for holdings where more than 75 per cent of the holding is in grassland (permanent or temporary), or covered by crops under water, or a combination of both, subject to a maximum for the remaining land of 30 hectares. · Exemptions also for holdings where more than 75 per cent of the arable land is temporary grassland, fallow, leguminous crops, or a combination of these, subject to a maximum for the remaining land of 30 hectares. · EFA percentage decreased by 50 per cent where a MS implements a measure at regional level, which yields an equivalent or higher benefit to the climate and the environment. In other measures provisionally agreed, member states and regions will be given scope to retain coupled subsidies. Under a three-tier system: · All Member States will be permitted a level of 8 per e coupling, plus 2 per cent for protein crops. · Member States who used more than 5 per cent coupled aid in one year in the period 2010-2014 permitted a level of 13 per cent, plus 2 per cent for protein crops. · Member States who used more than 10 per cent in one year in the 2010-2014period may decide to use more than 13 per cent upon approval by the Commission. MEPs and Ministers have also provisionally agreed to give member states and regions more flexibility on how they move towards area payments, something that is likely to be welcomed in Scotland and Wales. Member states and regions will be required to ensure all farmers receive at least 60 per cent of the average payment per hectare by 2019. The active farmer, young farmer and small farmers have been provisionally agreed, as follows: Active Farmer: Short mandatory negative list agreed to determine who is not eligible for support, comprising airports, railway services, water works, real estate services, and permanent sports and recreational grounds. Young Farmer: Mandatory scheme agreed in Pillar 1, using up to 2 per cent of direct payment pot. Small Farmer : Optional scheme, with a maximum payment of €1,250, using up to 10 per cent of the direct payment pot. The outcome on all of these provisional agreements still had to be confirmed by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday afternoon the Parliament’s Agriculture Committee on Wednesday. As of Tuesday afternoon, there were still a number of outstanding issues to be resolved, including the milk package, the sugar regime, including when quotas will be removed and ‘legal alignment’ – who holds powers in Brussels to make key decisions under the reformed CAP. Continue reading
