Tag Archives: credits
UN Takes Steps To Boost Demand For Carbon Market Credits
Grenada office will help Carribbean countries identify projects for the Clean Development Mechanism Grenada in the Caribbean is the setting for the UN’s third collaboration centre. (Source: rappensuncle) The UN has taken steps to accelerate the development of carbon markets in the Caribbean with the opening of a regional collaboration centre in Grenada. The office will help local governments, NGOs and businesses interested in accessing the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) identify projects and opportunities. The CDM is the only truly global carbon market, and is designed to develop low carbon projects in the developing world with financing from richer nations. “The regional collaboration centres aim to increase participation in the CDM, but their work differs substantially from region to region and from project to project,” said the chair of the CDM executive board, Peer Stiansen. “The centre in Grenada will focus on the needs of the Caribbean Region in an effort to make it an increasingly attractive destination for CDM projects.” This is the third regional collaboration centre established by the UNFCCC, with the first in Lomé, Togo and the second in Kampala, Uganda. Analysts say it urgently needs to boost interest in its carbon trading system in order that it remains relevant. Yesterday Bloomberg reported an “unprecedented freeze” in UN carbon trading. According to data from ICE Futures Europe, no UN Certified Emission Reduction, or CER, changed hands on July 22 and July 23. Supply of CERs currently outstrips demand, and prices have dropped by 80% since the start of the year, raising concerns that the mechanism is losing its ability to operate. Earlier this month, the CDM passed the 7000 project mark with 1,000 new projects having been accepted since February. – See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/…h.7Wd5sEGG.dpuf Continue reading
Carbon Credits Surge to Six-Month High as EU Refines Eligibility
By Mathew Carr – Jul 18, 2013 United Nations Emission Reduction Units surged 39 percent after Europe specified which credits are ineligible for use in its carbon market, the world’s biggest. ERUs for December jumped as high as 25 euro cents ($0.33) a metric ton, the highest since Jan. 31, on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London . The European Commission, the bloc’s regulatory arm, upgraded its carbon registry yesterday to clarify which offsets can be used to meet emissions obligations. ERUs fell to a record low in May after the European Union said it may restrict the use of some offsets from countries including Russia and Ukraine should they fail to adopt new carbon goals as of this year. The credits, created from carbon-reducing projects in developed nations and emerging countries, may now narrow the price gap with more expensive Certified Emission Reductions from developing countries, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The majority of ERUs issued since the start of the year are “likely to be confirmed as eligible” because they have been certified by an audit firm, Richard Chatterton, a London-based analyst for New Energy Finance, said in an e-mailed note. ERUs were trading at 22 euro cents a ton at 1:55 p.m. in London, while CERs fell 1.9 percent to 52 euro cents. Factories, power stations and airlines in the EU market can use either CERs or ERUs to match a limited portion of their emissions obligations. “The difference between the CER and ERU price will continue to narrow as the market gains confidence that ERUs will ultimately be able to be exchanged for EU allowances,” Chatterton said. Price Plunge ERUs plunged to a record 6 cents on May 1 amid a surplus of carbon permits in Europe, where slowing economic growth has damped demand for the credits. EU lawmakers are still debating a plan to temporarily reduce supply and boost prices. EU carbon allowances rose 1 percent to 4.17 euros a ton. The UN 1997 Kyoto Protocol supports the development of carbon-cutting projects by awarding investors with ERUs or CERs that can be sold to companies and governments with pollution caps. One credit is equivalent to a one-ton reduction of carbon dioxide. 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
Trees Best Left To Generate Carbon Credits
Taxpayers are losing money on native forest logging in NSW. It makes better financial sense for the native forests of southern NSW to remain un-logged and left to generate carbon credits, a new report suggests. NSW taxpayers would be able to generate carbon abatement, conservatively valued at about $222 million over the next 2½ decades, and use some of the money to fully compensate timber companies, according to the analysis by think tank The Australia Institute. The NSW government disagrees, saying the report is based on an unrealistically high carbon price. Cut carbon not trees. Photo: Michele Mossop Taxpayers are presently losing money on native forest logging. ”Stopping harvesting and using the native forests of the Southern Forestry Region to generate carbon credits offers a viable alternative to commercial forestry,” the report said, citing public data about the profitability of all current logging operations, government subsidies, and company tax received from logging corporations. The NSW government has reviewed the report, but said it used incorrect assumptions. “One such error identified is the assumed net financial benefits from carbon sale quoted at $222 million,” a spokeswoman for Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson said. ”This estimate is over-inflated and based on a carbon price of $9 increasing at 2.5 per cent real from 2015, where in reality the carbon price is likely to be around $5 flat.” While most sawmillers turn small profits, the industry overall loses money, and the losses are largely borne by the government-run Forestry Corporation of NSW. The details of their contracts remain commercial-in-confidence, but net losses via subsidies between now and 2033 are estimated to be about $77 million. ”Under current and likely future market conditions, the harvesting and processing of native logs in the Southern Forestry Region is likely to generate substantial losses, and the aggregate net financial benefits are likely to be significantly higher if commercial harvesting is stopped and the native forests … are used to generate carbon credits,” the report said. The main glitch in the proposal is that native forestry logging operations are not yet eligible to generate carbon credits under the federal government’s Carbon Farming Initiative. However, both the government and the federal opposition have said they intend to expand the scheme soon. ”The growth in eucalypt plantations has been massive, and these are now coming online and muscling in on native forest logging,” said the report’s co-author, Andrew MacIntosh, associate director of the Centre for Climate Law and Policy at the Australian National University. Read more: http://www.smh.com.a…l#ixzz2Ye9Nl6LU Continue reading
