Tag Archives: climate
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
China Unveils Details Of Pilot Carbon-Trading Programme
Nation’s first trading scheme in the southern city of Shenzhen will cover 638 companies when it begins next month Jonathan Kaiman in Beijing guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 22 May 2013 16.38 BST China has unveiled details of its first pilot carbon-trading programme, which will begin next month in the southern city of Shenzhen. The trading scheme will cover 638 companies responsible for 38% of the city’s total emissions, the Shenzhen branch of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced on Wednesday. The scheme will eventually expand to include transportation, manufacturing and construction companies. Shenzhen is one of seven designated areas in which the central government plans to roll out experimental carbon trading programmes before 2014. China is the world’s biggest carbon emitter and burns almost as much coal as the rest of the world’s countries combined. Li Yan, Greenpeace east Asia’s climate and energy campaign manager, said that the pilot programmes will inform the central government on how to motivate local authorities to adopt low-carbon policies. The push to reduce carbon emissions coincides with the newly installed leadership’s effort to tackle the country’s dire air pollution problem, which has emerged as a source of widespread anger and frustration in recent months. “Having a mid-term strategy, and trying to prepare years ahead, is actually in line with China’s interests and its political and social priorities,” she said. On Monday, the Chinese newspaper 21st Century Business Herald reported that the NDRC has discussed implementing a national system to control the intensity and volume of carbon emissions by 2020. The agency expects China to reach its carbon emissions peak by 2025, five years earlier than many recent estimates, according to unnamed sources quoted in the article. At a recent climate change meeting, the agency “announced that it’s currently researching and calculating a timetable for the greenhouse gas emissions peak, and will vigorously strive to implement a total emissions control scheme during the ’13th five-year plan’ period (from 2016-2020),” the paper quoted a NDRC official, also unnamed, as saying. “The NDRC is looking for a national cap, but nobody knows exactly when that is going to happen,” said Wu Changhua, greater China director of the Climate Group. “There’s still a lot of work to be done.” The EU’s carbon trading scheme, the world’s largest, has suffered repeated setbacks in recent months. In April, MEPs voted against a proposed reform aimed to raise the price of carbon, which has been diluted by an overabundance of permits. Read the full article at: http://www.guardian….n#ixzz2Uh94cM8l Continue reading
