On June 18th, China became the latest and largest country to trade carbon emissions. The southern city of Shenzhen started a pilot emissions-trading scheme (ETS), the first of seven citywide and provincial carbon markets which, when all up and running, will constitute the second-largest in the world, after Europe’s.
China needs to cut emissions. It also needs to shift from command-and-control limits on pollution to market-based ones, like an ETS. So on the face of it the idea is fine. But the actual pilot looks like charade………………………………………..Full Article: Source

More than 20% of global emissions are now either taxed or traded. But the question remains: will adding economic incentives to cleaner energy actually work? Putting a price on carbon emissions is seen as crucial to curbing climate change. And the good news is that much of the world is doing just that (though not the U.S.). A new report from the World Bank identifies 40 national, and 20 sub-national, mechanisms globally.
The European Union, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand all now have emissions trading systems, or are implementing them. Other countries, like Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Japan, Norway, and South Africa have (or are implementing) carbon taxes. And then there are regional trading initiatives, such are those in California and Quebec………………………………………..Full Article: Source

European Union carbon permits fell the most in four weeks as the European Parliament’s environment committee approved a weakened proposal to reduce a surplus of emissions allowances.
The December futures contract lost 6.9 percent to close at 4.39 euros ($5.88) a metric ton on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange, the biggest decline since May 22. Earlier the contract fell as much as 7.2 percent to 4.36 euros a ton………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China, the world’s largest carbon emitter, was set Tuesday to launch its first carbon trading scheme aimed at reducing emissions, state-media said. A platform allowing businesses in the southern city of Shenzhen to trade permits to emit carbon was established on Sunday, with trading due to start on Tuesday, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported.
China plans to open similar schemes in seven areas before 2014, in what analysts say is a step towards a nationwide carbon market. “This is the first step towards a national carbon trading system,” Li Yan, head of environmental group Greenpeace’s climate and energy campaign in China, told reporters………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China, the world’s biggest carbon emitter, is to launch its first carbon trading scheme as a pilot project in Shenzhen. The test scheme, which will be rolled out to seven areas by 2014, could be spread across the country after 2015.
Beijing is aiming for a 40% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 from 2005 levels, without specifying how it will achieve that goal. The government has previously faced pressure to reduce pollution in cities………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Global greenhouse-gas emissions rose to record levels in 2012, the International Energy Agency said in a report released last week. Especially disconcerting is the news from May that carbon-dioxide levels reached 400 parts per million “for the first time in several hundred millennia,” the report states.
IEA predicts that the global temperature could rise between 6.84 and 9.54 degrees Fahrenheit, “with most of the increase occurring this century.” This is significantly more than the 3.6-degree Fahrenheit temperature (2-degree Celsius) rise scientists have said the Earth must not surpass………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Global carbon emissions reached a new high in 2012, rising by 1.4% to 31.6 billion tons, according to the International Energy Agency. The large rise in emissions was led by China, which released 300 million more tons in 2012 than it did in 2011.
As well as leading the pack with regards to increased rates of emissions, China was also the leader with regards to total emissions. It’s worth noting, though, that the rise was one of the lowest rises in the country during all of the last decade — perhaps a sign that China’s rapid growth is beginning to slow, as well as being a reflection of its considerable investment into renewable energy and energy efficiency………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China’s economic growth has come on the back of unparalleled coal use, unbreathable air and the unenviable title of being the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter.
So as it prepares to launch its first pilot carbon market on Tuesday, there is intense speculation about the scheme’s likely impact, both domestically and whether it boosts China’s support for a binding global treaty to lower carbon emissions……………………………………..Full Article: Source

More time is needed for the nation’s seven pilot exchanges to build up sufficient data-collection infrastructure and trading rules. The mainland will not be in a position to form a national exchange to trade carbon emission rights until after 2015, according to an official of one of seven pilot exchanges.
It will take time for the nation’s seven pilot exchanges to build up sufficient data-collection infrastructure and trading rules, let alone operate smoothly and come up with a model that works nationwide, said David Tang Yue-tan, secretary of the board of Tianjin Climate Exchange………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Greens group in the European Parliament said it was against a tentative carbon compromise as the restrictions agreed on by representatives of three other political parties reduce the impact of the planned market fix.
Climate negotiators from the European People’s Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, and the Socialists and Democrats group struck a draft deal on the conditions of a carbon-market intervention sought by the European Commission………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China, responsible for about one-quarter of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, has ambitious goals to reduce them — but has been unwilling to set absolute targets for fear of slowing economic growth. There are now signs that its position is changing.
On 18 June, the country will launch an emissions-trading scheme in the southern city of Shenzhen, marking its first attempt to cut emissions using market mechanisms. Under the scheme, more than 630 industrial and construction companies will be given quotas for how much carbon dioxide they can emit………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A surplus of Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) carbon permits will require the European Union to cut emissions by an extra 7 percentage points to meet its 2030 climate goals, according to a report by environmental research company Ecofys.
The report, the Next Step in Europe’s Climate Action: Setting Targets for 2030, finds any future emissions reduction goals will have to take into account the effects of the current carbon permit surplus in the ETS, the largest global carbon market. The EU’s emissions reductions should be around 49 percent compared to 1990 levels, Ecofys says in the report………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Carbon emissions from fossil fuels reached record levels, but the 2012 rise was relatively small, and there are positive signs. As Fiona Harvey reported for The Guardian, the International Energy Agency (IEA) 2012 World Energy Outlook Report found that annual carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels rose 1.4 percent in 2012 to 31.6 billion tonnes (gigatonnes [Gt]).
The bad news is that this is a new record high level of emissions. The good news is that it represents the second-smallest annual increase since 2003, behind only 2009 when global fossil fuel carbon emissions fell due to the global recession. Emissions estimates from 2009–2010 have also been revised downward, so the reported 31.6 Gt 2012 emissions match the reported value from 2011………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Global temperatures are on track to rise by more than double the two-degree Celsius (3.6-degree Fahrenheit) warming goal set by the UN unless urgent measures are taken, the International Energy Agency warned on Monday.
“The path we are currently on is more likely to result in a temperature increase of between 3.6 and 5.3 C (6.5-9.5F),” IEA chief Maria van der Hoeven said in presenting a new report on greenhouse gases. The Paris-based agency urged governments to act, saying the 2C target could still be met with little economic pain………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says the world’s carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel usage have risen to a record level. It warns that despite increased renewables usage climate change will “not go away.”
Global carbon dioxide emissions hit a new record in 2012, standing at 31.6 billion tons, the IEA reported Monday. The agency said the energy sector accounts for about two-thirds of global emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, which scientists say are fueling climate change………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The European Union needs to think of other ways to prevent new coal-fired power stations from being built because its carbon market won’t achieve that this decade, according to the International Energy Agency.
Nations should consider measures including bans of new and inefficient plants known as “sub-critical,” unless they are fitted with carbon capture and storage technology, Maria Van der Hoeven, the executive director of the Paris-based agency that advises 28 developed nations, said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A sticking plaster solution for climate change has been proposed by the world’s top energy think tank, the International Energy Agency (IEA). It says climate change could pass a critical level if the world waits until 2020 for the planned comprehensive UN deal to cut emissions.
In the meantime, it recommends some short-term measures. These include action on energy efficiency, coal-fired power stations, and fossil fuel subsidies………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Taking a tough stance against the European Union (EU)’s emission norms for airlines, the environment ministry has indicated that it would approach the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to resolve the issue.
Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan has already written a letter to the EU Commissioner for Climate Change demanding a reversal of the carbon tax………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The transition toward a new generation of carbon markets includes a range of domestic or regional initiatives that will become the cornerstone of the global growth of the carbon market in the coming years. Over 40 national and 20 sub-national jurisdictions have either implemented or are considering market mechanisms that place a price on carbon.
The World Bank Partnership for Market Readiness Program (PMR) – in which Australia plays a major role – is a key initiative that is helping to support the introduction of market mechanisms to cut emissions in 16 developing countries including emissions powerhouses China, India, Brazil and Indonesia……………………………………Full Article: Source

Carbon prices in international markets are at their lowest in a decade. Projects, especially in India and China, two major suppliers of carbon credits, are writing off expected revenues. Carbon trade, touted as the emission trading scheme that’d cheaply reduce emissions bringing green technologies within the financial reach of poorer countries, is at a near-collapse.
Worse, the logic of carbon-credit trading — that it’s a cheap way emission reduction — is under scrutiny. Many claim it has resulted in private players gaining funds, doing little………………………………………..Full Article: Source

We can’t stop fossil fuels being burned: but we can easily act now to capture and store carbon with CCS technology. How often have you read that we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to solve the problem of climate change – shortly followed by frustration and disappointment?
People might expect me, as a climate scientist, to be disappointed by the failure of the attempt by the MP Tim Yeo to set an ambitious decarbonisation target in Tuesday’s debate on the energy bill. But I’m not………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A proposal agreed to this week by major airlines could rescue U.N. efforts for a deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the aviation sector, but the industry still needs to lean on governments for the plan to move ahead, industry observers said.
Following its annual meeting in South Africa on Monday, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it will ask governments to create a system through which airlines would offset any increase in emissions after 2020 by buying carbon credits from projects that reduce emissions in other sectors………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The idea of slapping a price on carbon to reduce emissions and tackle global warming is moribund in Congress for now. But that’s not the case elsewhere in the world.
A big new World Bank report (pdf) finds that more than 40 national governments and 20 sub-national governments have either put in place carbon-pricing schemes or are planning one for the years ahead. That includes either carbon taxes or some form of cap-and-trade………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Today, the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) released The World’s Carbon Markets: A case study guide to Emissions Trading, a collaborative series of case studies examining carbon market development around the globe.
The report compares key features of current and prospective policies in 18 jurisdictions around the world. It is a resource for policy makers, analysts, and anyone interested in learning more about emissions trading………………………………………..Full Article: Source

I last raised the issue of a carbon price in “What Unconventional Fuels Tell Us About the Global Energy System”, which added several data points to Charles C. Mann’s already thorough discussion of fossil fuels for The Atlantic.
My conclusion is: a carbon price is needed to induce large-scale changes of how we produce and consume energy. It’s only part of the solution, but one that many experts say is needed to reduce carbon emissions………………………………………..Full Article: Source

When he clinched the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2008, Barack Obama claimed that “generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment . . . when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal”.
Right now, however, honest environmentalists are telling their children that Obama stood aside while the House of Representatives’ legislation on climate mitigation died in the Senate, despite impassioned pleas for him to make an effort to push the bill across the finish line. And despite Obama’s 11th-hour intervention in Copenhagen in 2009, the UN Kyoto process hit the wall………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Investors have been advised to be wary of dealing in carbon credits after a local company experienced difficulty reselling them. The company touts carbon credits as a green investment and as a means of making a high profit. However, experts in the market say they can have little to no resale value.
Advanced Global Trading (AGT) claims it can resell carbon credits at more than three times the average market price………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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The European Union’s regulator is considering tools to link the supply of carbon permits with the bloc’s economic performance, according to Jos Delbeke, director general for climate at the European Commission.
The possibility of improving the world’s biggest emissions- trading system by equipping it with a flexibility mechanism emerged during public consultations on long-term scenarios for the market, Delbeke said. It adds to six options floated by the commission last year to strengthen the cap-and-trade program after prices slumped to all-time lows amid a record surplus of allowances exacerbated by an economic crisis………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Hopes for a speedy transition from a carbon economy to clean energy have been dashed. Which technologies offer the best chance of turning things around? This month, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere exceeded 400 parts per million for the first time in human history. If the trend continues, the International Energy Agency has warned, the world could warm by 6C by the end of the century.
In December 2009, the US Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, called the world’s first Clean Energy Ministerial. The aim was to speed the transition from a carbon economy to clean energy production in the 22 countries that together produced 80% of the world’s greenhouse gases………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Greenhouse gas emissions dropped 7% in the UK, compared with an EU average of 3.3%, according to new data. The mild winter of 2011-12 may seem a distant memory after this year’s big chill, but the warmer temperatures helped the UK achieve a fall in greenhouse gases steeper than any other nation in the European Union.
In 2011, the latest year for which figures are available, UK emissions of climate-warming gases dropped by 7%, compared with an EU average of 3.3%, according to data released on Wednesday by the European Environment Agency (EEA)………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Scaling up CCS in China requires climate policy to climb the political agenda, so that carbon reduction is considered equal to energy conservation and security of supply.
China’s estimated total carbon dioxide emissions reached 25% of global emissions in 2011 and they continue to grow rapidly – so rapidly, in fact, that the increase in China’s emissions over an eight-month period is about the same as the UK’s total emissions in 2011……………………………………Full Article: Source

Operating details of China’s first pilot carbon-trading scheme, in Shenzhen, have been released as it gets ready to launch next month, and as the country prepares to roll out seven pilot schemes by 2014.
The world’s biggest carbon emitter, China is planning to experiment with carbon trading schemes during the next three years as it seeks to cut emissions. Beijing is targeting a 40 per cent reduction in emissions relative to economic output by 2020, from 2005 levels, but hasn’t identified what means it will use to reach that goal……………………………..Full Article: Source

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition blocked an opposition move to debate and vote on Europe’s carbon market, highlighting the government’s reluctance to take a stance on a proposed fix before Sept. 22 elections.
Lawmakers from Merkel’s coalition parties rejected a Social Democratic motion in the Environment Committee of the lower house in Berlin yesterday calling on the government to support European Commission plans to curb the oversupply of carbon permits, said Eva Bulling-Schroeter, the panel’s head. The lawmakers requested the motion be delayed to an unspecified later date, she said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Carbon credit generating a $1 billion business in 2012 for India has thrown up huge business opportunities for the developing economy from which emerging business can hugely benefit but tribal societies across the globe are in a dilemma over its market driven mechanisms.
India will continue to benefit more and more out of the sale and utilization of Carbon Credits / Certified Emission Reductions (CER), should it be given more clarity from regulatory authorities and incentives by way of more tax subsidies………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Launched in 2005, the European Union’s emissions trading system represented a huge step forward in the fight to curb global warming. Under the scheme, some 5,000 companies generating half of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions must surrender a carbon permit for each tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) they emit.
Some factories receive permits for free, while most power firms buy them from companies with a surplus or from state-backed auctions held almost every day. The higher the price of the permits, the higher the cost of polluting…………………………………….Full Article: Source

Here’s a very strange thing: Europe’s decades-long effort to reduce carbon emissions has been thrown into a shambles because utilities and manufacturers are exceeding their carbon-reduction targets. That’s right. Exceeding them. It almost sounds like a joke, but it’s not.
Europe’s $100 billion carbon market, an innovative force in the powerful carbon-reduction approach known as cap and trade, has ceased to function the way it’s supposed to. The resulting chaos in Europe’s energy and environmental policies is threatening carbon-reduction initiatives in Australia, Asia, and elsewhere………………………………………Full Article: Source

A report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and Ernst & Young forecasts that South Korea’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) could reach the penalty level of $90 per tonne of CO2 – exceeding that of any other ETS in the world.
According to the authors the high prices expected from the Korean scheme come down to three factors: 1) ambitious emission reduction targets ( 30% below business-as-usual (BAU) emissions in 2020 applied proportionately to the sectors covered by the Korean ETS or equivalent to a 19% reduction from 2010 levels);……………………………………….Full Article: Source

A plan to bolster the flagging price of permits to emit carbon dioxide that are traded in the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) appeared dead last month after being voted down by the European parliament. But now, less than a month later, supporters say momentum is growing to reintroduce the plan for another vote, possibly as early as July.
The plan, which parliament rejected on 16 April, would have delayed the introduction of 900 million carbon allowances into the ETS, the cornerstone of EU efforts to reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions. But what seemed a bitter defeat in April for supporters, is now, in retrospect, starting to look like an unlikely victory…………………………………..Full Article: Source

Carbon-market supporters from China to California will push for emissions trading even as they prepare for the end of the United Nations Kyoto Protocol in seven years, Europe’s top climate negotiator said.
Nations including China and New Zealand and some U.S. states have formed an informal group, “kind of the champions of the carbon market,” Artur Runge-Metzger said in a May 2 interview in Bonn, Germany. “It’s that club that’s going to set international standards” rather than UN talks, he said………………………………….Full Article: Source

The $1.4 billion worth of tax relief had been planned for July 2015 as compensation for the fixed carbon tax converting to a market-based emissions trading scheme.
The Government had expected the carbon price to rise from about $25 to $29 a tonne. But next week’s Budget is tipped to slash that prediction to about $15. It means the cost of tackling pollution will be halved, but it will also punch a $4.5 billion hole in the Budget for 2015. ……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet has confirmed the 2015 tax cut associated with the carbon trading scheme will not go ahead because of the drop in the carbon price in Europe.
Mr Combet says the Government know thinks the carbon price will not be as high as the $29 per tonne originally forecast. He says that means there will not be a need to increase the tax free threshold as promised………………………………………..Full Article: Source

China may introduce tougher taxes on emissions and use of resources, after Vice-premier Ma Kai said more reforms are needed to achieve greener industrial development. In an article for Qiushi Magazine on Thursday, Ma called for an increase in the funds needed to tackle pollution “via taxation measures”.
He said measures could include a heavier tax burden on companies and higher prices for the use of resources, such as water. To promote energy saving and enhance efficiency, Ma called for innovative pricing mechanisms for resources, and for more use of renewable energy such as hydro and nuclear power………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The European Union became a pioneer in tackling climate change by starting the first major cap-and-trade system designed to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by putting a price on them. But analysts are increasingly worried that technical mistakes, Europe’s prolonged recession and the failure of policy makers to strengthen the system is undermining its effectiveness.
Like all such systems, Europe’s program caps the overall emissions that power plants, steel mills and other industries can put into atmosphere………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Governments and members of the European Parliament must decide on a plan to prop up the EU carbon market by July at the latest, a joint statement from nine energy and environment ministers, said.
The statement, seen by Reuters, is expected to be published officially on Tuesday to coincide with discussions among members of the European Parliament on the European Commission plan. No-one from Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change, which is expected to release the statement, was immediately available for comment………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Europe’s program to halt climate change is in disarray with lawmakers in the region expressing concern the drift is undermining the planet’s most significant effort to combat global warming.
Members of the European Parliament’s environment committee meet today for a second time to revive a plan the full assembly rejected that would have boosted the cost of greenhouse-gas emissions. The rebuff left the cost of pollution near a record low, leaving companies with less incentive to reduce emissions………………………………………..Full Article: Source

EON SE, Germany’s biggest power generator, used the most United Nations offsets to cover carbon- dioxide emissions last year, overtaking steelmaker ArcelorMittal (MT), data on the European Commission website show.
Factories and power stations used 500 million offsets in the bloc’s cap-and-trade program, the data show. EON handed in about 35 million credits, enough to cover 43 percent of its emissions last year. RWE AG (RWE), the second-biggest polluter in 2012, used credits covering 22 million tons, or 14 percent of its discharges. Offsets may be used to cut compliance costs within Europe’s carbon-trading system………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The federal government is scrambling to find more than $3 billion of additional savings in the two weeks before the budget after Treasury halved the projected price of carbon when Australia links to the European scheme.
The government plans revise down the projected price of carbon in 2015-16 from $29 a tonne to around $15………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Europe’s reputation as a leader in climate change policy took another beating this month when the European Parliament rejected, by 334 votes to 315, a proposal to reform the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The vote leaves Europe’s carbon-trading market — the world’s largest — at risk of collapse and threatens to fragment and complicate efforts to tackle climate change on both sides of the Atlantic.
The EU ETS was set up in 2005 as a market-based alternative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It gave companies the choice of reducing their emissions or buying emission allowances from other companies………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Climate Commission’s report examining escalating global action on climate change reveals emissions from electricity generation in 2012 dropped by 4.7 per cent on the previous year.
And emissions from electricity hit the lowest levels seen since 2001-02 in the last six months of last year.Coal-use is being scaled back as gas and green energy grows, with Australia nearly doubling its renewable energy capacity since 2001………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Australian Industry Group (AIG) - representing 60,000 businesses spanning manufacturing, services and the mining industry - has continued its lobbying of the Australian Government on carbon tax, drawing on the rejection by the European Parliament of proposals to increase the cost price of purchasing carbon allowances.
The EU parliament was considering whether to force an increase in the cost of carbon allowances, which must be purchased by companies whose operations significantly damage the environment. Due to a surplus of carbon allowances available for purchase, the cost of allowances has fallen steadily since the introduction of the EU’s carbon trading scheme, reducing the incentive effect of the scheme for businesses to adopt environmentally-friendly practices………………………………………..Full Article: Source