Tag Archives: global-warming
“Carbon Farming” Makes Waves at Stalled Bonn Talks
By Stephen Leahy Civil society organisations warn that if agriculture becomes part of a carbon market, it will spur more land grabbing in Africa. Credit: Patrick Burnett/IPS UXBRIDGE, Canada, Jun 12 2013 (IPS) – U.N. climate talks have largely stalled with the suspension of one of three negotiating tracks at a key mid-year session in Bonn, Germany. Meanwhile, civil society organisations claim the controversial issue of “carbon farming” has been pushed back onto the agenda after African nations objected to the use of their lands to absorb carbon emissions. “There is a profound danger to agriculture here, with real potential for more land grabbing and expansion of monocultures in order to harvest credits.” — Helena Paul of EcoNexus At the Bonn Climate Change Conference this week, Russia insisted on new procedural rules. That blocked all activity in one track of negotiations called the “Subsidiary Body for Implementation” (SBI). The SBI is a technical body that was supposed to discuss finance to help developing countries cope with climate change, as well as proposals for “loss and damage” to compensate countries for damages. The SBI talks were suspended Wednesday. “This development is unfortunate,” said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Figueres also said the two-week Bonn conference, which ends Friday, had made considerable progress in the two other tracks. A complex new global climate treaty is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015 with the goal of keeping global warming to less than two degrees C. “Governments need to look up from their legal and procedural tricks and focus on the planetary emergency that is hitting Africa first and hardest,” said Mithika Mwenda of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), an African-wide climate movement with over 300 organisations in 45 countries. And where there is “progress” at the climate talks it is in the wrong direction, according to civil society. “We’ve seen many governments in Bonn call for a review of the current failed carbon markets to see what went wrong, why they haven’t actually reduced emissions and why they haven’t raised finance on a significant scale,” said Kate Dooley, a consultant on market mechanisms to the Third World Network. “If we don’t learn these lessons we’ll be doomed to repeat these environmentally and financially risky schemes, at the cost of real action to reduce emissions,” Dooley said in a statement. In Bonn, two key African negotiators appear to be pushing the World Bank agenda rather than their national interests, civil society organisations claim. Those negotiators are also working for organisations receiving World Bank funding. One appears to want African nations’ mitigation actions to be based on agriculture, they said. The World Bank and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation and other organisations favour what they call “climate smart” agriculture. This is defined as forms of farming that are sustainable, increase productivity and with a focus on soaking up carbon from the atmosphere. African environment ministers from 54 nations recently stated they were not obligated to use their lands to mitigate carbon emissions since Africa is not responsible for climate change. They also instructed African negotiators at the Bonn climate talks to focus on helping African agriculture adapt to a changing climate. “Are these people serving two masters?” asked Mariam Mayet of the Africa Centre for Biosafety, which works to protect farmers’ rights and biodiversity across the continent. “What is the World Bank’s level of influence over these individuals, and is there a risk that this is impacting on their actions and the outcome here?” Mayet told IPS. In December 2011, more than 100 African and international civil society organisations sent a joint letter to African ministers asking for “no soil carbon markets in Africa”. Globally, agriculture is a major source of global warming gases like carbon and methane – directly accounting for 15 percent to 30 percent of global emissions. Changes in agricultural practices such as reducing or eliminating plowing and fertiliser use can greatly reduce emissions. Agriculture can also be used to absorb or trap carbon in the soil. When a plant grows, it takes CO2 out the atmosphere and releases oxygen. The more of a crop – maize, soy or vegetable – that remains after harvest, the more carbon is returned to the soil. Civil society organisations warn that if agriculture becomes part of a carbon market, it will spur more land grabbing in Africa, with woodlands being used mainly for carbon sequestration instead of food production. “There is a profound danger to agriculture here, with real potential for more land grabbing and expansion of monocultures in order to harvest credits,” Helena Paul of EcoNexus, an environmental NGO, previously told IPS. Soils are extraordinarily variable and different climatic regimes affect how they function, said Ólafur Arnalds, a soil scientist at the Agricultural University of Iceland. While soils are a key part of the planet’s carbon cycle, we don’t know enough about soil carbon, Arnalds told IPS at a recent Soil Carbon Sequestration conference in Iceland. That complexity does not suit carbon markets well and drives up costs of accounting and verification. However, Arnalds does believe that soils and agriculture have an important role in climate change and farmers should be compensated for their efforts. Continue reading
Biofuels Will Play Integral Role In California’s Energy Future, Says New EBI Study
Biofuels developed from plant biomass and purpose-grown crops can substantially move California toward its ambitious energy goals, a new report says, but only through the wise allocation of feedstocks and the success of energy efficiency measures throughout the state. That’s the conclusion of “California Energy Future: the Potential for Biofuels,” a report of the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) co-authored by Energy Biosciences Institute scientists Heather Youngs and Chris Somerville. The study is one of seven produced by the CCST’s California’s Energy Future Committee, which was tasked with understanding how the state can meet aggressive reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions required by California policy by 2050. The biofuels paper, according to lead author Youngs, a Senior Fellow at the EBI, addressed six scenarios of varied supply and demand options. They illustrate that the degree to which biofuels may help California meet its emissions goals depends upon how future demand for fuels rises or falls and what technologies are developed. Other factors include energy crop availability, investment decisions, public acceptance, and competing demands for renewable energy resources. “The concerns regarding large-scale use of biomass for energy in California are largely a matter of sustainable resource management,” Youngs said. “Judicious use of feedstocks will be required to obviate long-term sustainability concerns and maximize efficient resource management.” The researchers concluded that next-generation biofuels can reduce greenhouse gas emissions of transportation to meet the target GHG reduction goals of the state, but deep replacement of fossil fuels through implementation of low-carbon lignocellulosic ethanol and advanced biomass-derived hydrocarbons (drop-in fuels), and reduction in demand, are required. The challenge for California lies in landmark State Executive Order S-03-05, signed by Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005. The target: reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) more than 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. The California Legislature has also enacted legislation to encourage low-carbon technologies. Assembly Bill 32, The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, put a 2020 GHG target officially on the books. It also paved the way for the Renewable Portfolio Standard that requires 33 percent renewable electricity by 2020, and for adoption of California’s landmark 2009 Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The CCST’s first report in its California Energy Future series summarized the conclusions of a two-year study — in order to reach those goals, a little bit of everything will be required. This includes increased efficiency through reduced demand, shifts to electrification, decarbonized electricity production, and decarbonized liquid and gaseous fuels. Subsequent reports reveal the details, delving into nuclear power, transportation and building efficiency, electricity from renewable sources, and advanced technologies. One key finding of the Committee was that low-carbon fuels are absolutely required to reach the GHG reduction goals. Even with electrification of some vehicles, liquid fuels will still be required for aviation, marine and heavy-duty transportation. “Substantial amounts of low-carbon biofuels would be required even with optimistic efficiency, electrification, and implementation of other renewable energy sources,” the authors state. California has a policy goal of producing 75 percent of its biofuels from in-state resources. Biofuels can be produced using agricultural wastes, forest thinnings and harvest residues, municipal wastes, and purpose-grown energy crops such as perennial grasses and short rotation woody crops. According to the report, this could be difficult. The state could produce 40-120 million tons of biomass or 3 to 10 billion gallons of fuel each year, meeting up to 60 percent of the 2050 demand in the most optimistic case. Success will depend upon overcoming a number of economic, social and sustainability barriers, Youngs said. “Biofuels could reasonably be imported from other states or countries like Brazil,” she noted. “While imported biomass could supply in-state biorefineries to meet the 75 percent goal, this solution would be more costly than the import of biofuels themselves to meet the GHG reduction goals. Decisions regarding biomass use and biofuel import will greatly affect the ability of the state to meet its policy goals.” The authors expressed confidence that future technologies could be deployed to produce a new generation of low-carbon biofuels, like cellulosic ethanol and drop-in biofuels, to meet the demand by 2050. They also urged the proper choice of species and production criteria for feedstocks and fuel conversion technologies by region in the state. This includes development of arid-tolerant feedstocks, water-minimizing conversion technologies, use of grasses that sequester soil carbon and recycle nutrients, and use of plants that can tolerate poor soils and do not compete with food or feed production. All of these issues are being studied at the EBI in Berkeley and Illinois. Source: University of California – Berkeley Continue reading
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
