Tag Archives: financial
Denver Apartment Buildings For Sale – Kyle Malnati – Madison Commercial Properties
Denver Apartment Buildings For Sale: Kyle Malnati is the owner of Madison Commercial Properties in Denver and a partner of Madison & Co. Properties. Kyle Mal… Continue reading
‘Climate Bomb’ Warning Over China Coolant Release
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1c273ab0-dbe4-11e2-8853-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2X7AUUxXp By Kathrin Hille in Beijing A “climate bomb” of potent greenhouse gases 15,000 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide is set to be released by some of the world’s leading producers of refrigerants following a ban on climate credits. The companies, the majority of them in China, argue that a ban on trading of climate credits for the incineration of HFC-23 makes it no longer financially viable to destroy the gas, which is a byproduct of a substance used in air conditioners and refrigerators. A warning by the Environmental Investigation Agency in a report to be released on Monday will raise the pressure on China to ban such gases and end economic incentives for their production in multilateral talks. Some 19 factories – 11 in China – making HCFC-22 have been receiving climate credits under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism for installing and operating incinerators to burn HFC-23 that is created during the manufacturing process, instead of venting it into the atmosphere. Facilities in developing countries can sell emission reduction credits to buyers in developed countries to allow the latter to meet their targets under the Kyoto protocol. However, the European Emissions Trading Scheme, the world’s largest carbon market, banned trading in those credits last month after finding that the financial incentive drove companies to produce more HFC-23 instead of curbing it. Other climate exchanges have said they will follow, causing substantial revenue streams for the producers to dry up. The EIA said an investigation had shown that most of China’s non-CDM facilities were emitting HFC-23 already. “If all of these facilities [under the CDM] join China’s non-CDM and vent their HFC-23, they will set off a climate bomb emitting more than 2bn tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions by 2020,” it said. People involved in the sector in China said this was likely to happen. “If there is no more funding, the CDM plants could start venting as well,” Mei Shengfang, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Fluorine and Silicone Industry, said. He added that authorities were considering offering support. An executive at China Fluoro Technology, one of the largest Chinese CDM plants, said: “Our company is still incinerating the HFC-23 now. If the money is used up, we can stop incineration. We can’t go on doing this, we can’t afford it and we have no duty to do it.” Releasing HFC-23 into the atmosphere is not illegal. China has been blocking proposals for a ban as part of multilateral talks under the Montreal Protocol to phase out hydrofluorocarbons, which continue on Monday in Bangkok. China raised hopes this month when President Xi Jinping and President Barack Obama of the US said at a summit that they had agreed to work together to reduce the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons. “This is a reversal of China’s attitude, and all eyes are on China now to see if it’s for real,” said Alexander von Bismarck, executive director at EIA. Additional reporting by Li Wan Continue reading
Greek Markets Rattled By Political Disarray
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7157a3f8-da54-11e2-a237-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2WqkGfnWs June 21, 2013 10:43 am Greek markets rattled by political disarray By Robin Wigglesworth Greek bond yields have climbed sharply as investors fret over domestic political uncertainty and an impasse between the country’s troika of official sector lenders. The benchmark 10-year bond yield of Greece rose 75 basis points to 11.6 per cent by late morning in London, while the Athens stock exchange index fell 2.9 per cent to its lowest level since early April. Greece’s small Democratic Left party could pull out of the government coalition headed by premier Antonis Samaras after the collapse of talks on resuming state television broadcasts. The abrupt shutdown of broadcaster ERT last week angered the Democratic Left’s members of parliament and caused consternation among Greece’s austerity-fatigued population. Mr Samaras said that he was determined to avoid early elections despite the row. Global markets have been rattled by the US Federal Reserve’s indication that it will start to reduce its bond-buying programme this year and end it in 2014, but most bond and stock markets regained some of their footing on Friday. In contrast, Greek bond yields have continued their ascent. Investor sentiment towards Greece is not helped by uncertainty over how to plug a funding gap in the country’s bailout programme. The FT reported on Thursday that the International Monetary Fund might suspend aid to Greece next month unless the eurozone stepped in. If the current review of the programme “is concluded by the end of July, as expected, no financing problems will arise because the programme is financed till end-July 2014”, Gerry Rice, an IMF spokesman, said in a statement. Mr Samaras’s New Democracy party and its Pasok ally jointly have 153 deputies, a slender majority in the 300-member parliament. But the departure of the Democratic Left would be a blow to a government that still has to impose deep public spending cuts and oversee a large privatisation programme. Greek bond yields have tumbled for much of the past year as hedge funds bet the debts will be spared in another overhaul of Athens’ debt burden – most likely after the German elections later this year. Continue reading
