Tag Archives: environmental
Biomass Continues To Fuel Eastern Oregon’s Economy
By Andy Giegerich Sustainable Business Oregon editor Government leaders, and some environmental advocates, believe biomass can create jobs and promote clean energy generation. A Wallowa biomass specialist has collected $3.75 million to expand its facility and create as many as 14 new jobs. Integrated Biomass Resources, a wood products manufacturer, collected the money through the BizCapital group, which is the small business lending division of Advantage Capital Partners, and the Oregon New Markets Tax Credit programs. Integrated Biomass Resources believes the infusion will help it hire between 10 and 14 workers, with another eight construction jobs being needed to expand its facility. Some sustainability advocates have increasingly begun pushing biomass as a way to create jobs while repurposing available goods. The company’s leaders said the funding will be used to achieve the goal “of helping with forest restoration while providing jobs and economic opportunity to rural Oregon.” Integrated Biomass Resources makes several products from wood biomass, including bundled fire wood, wood chips and densified heat logs. The federal and Oregon New Markets Tax Credit programs aim to spark jobs growth and promote retention in communities that are historically underserved by traditional sources of investment capital. Companies: Advantage Capital Partners Continue reading
Interpol Warns Of Criminal Focus On $176 Billion Carbon Market
Last updated on 6 August 2013, 9:25 am Crime agency says lack of oversight and transparency threaten the environmental integrity of carbon markets How VAT fraud is committed within the European emissions trading scheme (Pic: Europol) By Ed King Carbon trading schemes are at acute risk from criminal gangs and fraud, a new report from Interpol warns. The police agency says uncertain regulations and a lack of oversight and transparency threaten the environmental and financial integrity of the world’s carbon markets, worth an estimated $176 billion. And it says that there is a risk that if financial instruments related to carbon trading become too complex, the world’s carbon markets could spark a financial crisis on par with 2008. The report says law enforcement agencies must be more aware of ‘carbon crimes’, improve communication between countries and impose tighter regulations on transactions and calculations of emissions reductions. “Unlike traditional commodities, which at some time during the course of their market exchange must be physically delivered to someone, carbon credits do not represent a physical commodity but instead have been described as a legal fiction that is poorly understood by many sellers, buyers and traders,” Interpol says. “This lack of understanding makes carbon trading particularly vulnerable to fraud and other illegal activity.” Areas Interpol says criminals seek to exploit include over-claiming for credits, the sale of credits that do not exist, false claims relating to a project’s benefits, money laundering and online credit theft. And it warns that even third party auditors, employed by schemes like the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism to verify projects, may be susceptible to “bribes or collusion” to manipulate the results. “The discrepancy between the objectives of the financial players in the market – to maximize profit – and the overall objective of the Kyoto Protocol – to ensure overall greenhouse gas emissions are reduced – places diverse pressures on the regulation of the market when drawn alongside other typical commodity markets,” says the report. Lucrative takings High profile criminal cases include a 2010 hacking attack on cement maker Holcim, resulting in the theft of 1.6 million credits worth €23.5million, while in 2011 hackers stole two million carbon credits from registries in Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece and Poland. In 2012 three men in the UK were sent to prison after running a £39 million tax fraud related to carbon trading . And earlier this year one of Britain’s most prolific money launderers Ian Macdonald was jailed for eight years for an £18 million carbon credits scam targeting vulnerable UK investors. “It is imperative that the carbon trading markets remain secure from fraud, not just to protect financial investment, but also because the global environment depends upon it,” said Andrew Lauterback, Senior Criminal Enforcement Counsel at the US Environmental Protection Agency. “This criminal activity risks seriously undermining the environmental integrity of the carbon markets globally,” added David Higgins from Interpol’s Environmental Crime Programme. Jamal Gore, Deputy Chair of the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA) welcomed Interpol’s drive to raise awareness of criminality in the sector, but told RTCC many of the issues raised in the report had already been resolved. “ICROA’s Code of Practice, the governance mechanisms of the voluntary carbon credit standards and the emergence of professionally managed carbon credit registries together address many if not all of the issues related to the voluntary carbon market that the guide raises,” he said. “The publication of the guide in its current form therefore represents a missed opportunity. By highlighting both the challenges facing the carbon markets and the work already being done to drive best practice, it could have better served its purpose of reducing carbon trading crime. Instead it risks sowing doubt just when we need to redouble our efforts to fight climate change.” Large target New carbon markets are ripe targets for criminal activity, PwC’s Jonathan Grant told RTCC, advising policymakers in China and South Korea to devote more attention to managing fraud risks. He also recommended environment departments charged with implementing new mechanisms ensure they have sufficient experience of regulating financial instruments, citing this as a concern among analysts. Carbon trading is the world’s fastest growing commodities market. In June, China launched the first of seven pilot projects, with an aim of developing a national emissions trading scheme (ETS) by the end of the decade. The UN runs two schemes, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI), which are targeted at improving low carbon investment in the developing world. The EU ETS is worth an estimated $148 billion, the US-based Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) $249 million and New Zealand’s market $351 million. – See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/…h.nEmz9ZzS.dpuf Continue reading
Obama’s Climate Plan Sets Power Plant Emissions Limits
Environmental Leader June 25, 2013 President Barack Obama’s climate plan will restrict carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants and boost investment in renewable energy, according to White House documents. The climate plan , which Obama will announce this afternoon, doesn’t set a timeline for the power plant rules. Reuters reports the EPA will issue proposed carbon emissions limits for existing powers plants by June 2014 and finalize the regulations a year later. The federal government will also make up to $8 million available in loan guarantees for energy-efficiency and clean-technology projects for fossil fuel plants. In addition to limiting carbon emissions, the US will work to reduce other potent greenhouse gases , including hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and methane, both domestically and internationally. The plan calls for cleaner-burning fuels for transportation and says the Obama administration will work with the auto industry to develop post-2018 fuel economy standards for heavy-duty vehicles. The federal government will work with the private and public sector to deploy biofuels, advanced batteries and fuel cell technologies for all modes of transportation, it says. In an effort to reduce energy bills for businesses and homes, the White House will set efficiency standards for appliances and federal buildings that will cut carbon pollution by at least 3 billion metric tons by 2030 — equivalent to about half of the carbon pollution from the US energy sector for one year. The plan also sets new renewable energy goals, including installing 100 MW of renewable capacity across federally subsided housing by 2020 and building enough wind and solar projects on federal lands to power more than 6 million homes by the same date. The plan says the federal government will obtain 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. This new goal more than doubles the current target of 7.5 percent. Additionally, the plan focuses on preparing for the impacts of climate change, including establishing a task force to advise on how the federal government can better support climate preparedness and taking measures to improve climate resilience in areas damaged by Hurricane Sandy. It says the White House will launch a “climate data initiative” and a “toolkit for climate resilience” that centralizes access to data-driven resilience tools, services and best practices. Continue reading
