EU takes next step in making airlines pay for carbon

Carbon Expert

The European Commission on Monday took another technical step to bring all
airlines using EU airports into its carbon trading scheme, following on from
last year's court ruling that, despite loud international opposition, the EU
plan was legal.

Click here to read the full Reuters article.

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Carbon Expert | How to profit from trading carbon credits

Carbon credits are being traded all around the world by companies to meet environmental emissions targets, individuals looking to decrease their personal emissions, and investors looking to profit from the carbon market boom whilst helping the environment.

This is now big business. According to the latest report from the World Bank, the global carbon trading market is now worth a phenomenal US$144 billion.

So what are carbon credits and how can they help? Each carbon credit represents one tonne of CO2; creating a way of monetising greenhouse gases. Each carbon credit bought puts money into a project that is verified to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and can then be sold to companies who need to reduce emissions to comply with global targets, or to individuals who want to reduce their emissions.

The opportunity to trade carbon credits was created by the United Nations’ Kyoto Protocol, a legally binding document committing countries to efforts for the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The treaty created a number of emission reduction targets that nations needed to meet to safeguard the environment. Collectively, industrial nations agreed to reduce their GHGs by 5.2% from 1990 levels. On an individual country basis, this ranges from an 8% reduction in the European Union to 6% for Japan, 0% for Russia, and an increase permitted of 8% for Australia and 10% for Iceland. These countries are now responsible for ensuring that companies, and the governments themselves, are reducing GHGs.

To facilitate this, the Kyoto Protocol gave GHGs a value, known as a carbon credit. Each carbon credit is equivalent to one tonne of CO2. If a company has emissions over its allowance, then this entails a cost.

Private investors, through a carbon credit broker, can get access to these credits on exchanges, and trade rising demand for credits to make a profit and to channel funds into these projects, helping them grow.

This boom has meant increasing interest from investors, who usually trade stocks and shares. Is it worth these investors diversifying their portfolio to trade carbon credits? What are the upsides and downsides to either?

Source: www.propertywire.com

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We have a commitment to the alternative green market sector, and are a leading international broker of carbon credits. In a market now worth approximately US$144 billion, the carbon market is set to eclipse all preceding markets. Carbon is having a major impact on energy markets and prices. Its effects are impacting upon energy producers, utilities and increasing numbers of manufacturers.

Carbon Expert | What Is Carbon Credit?

In step with the dramatic rise in C0₂ emissions and other pollutants in recent years, a variety of new financial markets have emerged, offering businesses key incentives — aside from taxes and other punitive measures — to slow down overall emissions growth and, ideally, global warming itself.

A key feature of these markets is emissions trading, or cap-and-trade schemes, which allow companies to buy or sell "credits" that collectively bind all participating companies to an overall emissions limit. While markets operate for specific pollutants such as greenhouse gases and acid rain, by far the biggest emissions market is for carbon. In 2007, the trade market for C0₂ credits hit $60 billion worldwide — almost double the amount from 2006.

How It Works

Emissions limits and trading rules vary country by country, so each emissions-trading market operates differently. For nations that have signed the Kyoto Protocol, which holds each country to its own C0₂ limit, greenhouse gas emissions trading is mandatory. In the United States, which did not sign the environmental agreement, corporate participation is voluntary for emissions schemes such as the Chicago Climate Exchange. Yet a few general principles apply to each type of market.

Under a basic cap-and-trade scheme, if a company’s carbon emissions fall below a set allowance, that company can sell the difference — in the form of credits — to other companies that exceed their limits. Another fast-growing voluntary model is carbon offsets. In this global market, a set of middlemen companies, called offset firms, estimate a company’s emissions and then act as brokers by
offering opportunities to invest in carbon-reducing projects around the world.
Unlike carbon trading, offsetting isn’t yet government regulated in most countries; it’s up to buyers to verify a project’s environmental worth. In theory, for every ton of C0₂ emitted, a company can buy certificates attesting that the same amount of greenhouse gas was removed from the atmosphere through renewable energy projects such as tree planting.

Why It Matters Now

Industry watchers say carbon markets will continue to grow at a fast clip — especially in the United States, where Fortune 500 powerhouses such as DuPont, Ford, and IBM are voluntarily capping and trading their emissions. Even though a national cap on carbon emissions doesn’t yet exist in the United States, most consider it inevitable, and legislators are already pushing the issue in Congress.

It’s not just governments who are demanding emissions compliance — consumers want it, too. The commitment a company makes to curb its pollutant output is an increasingly public aspect of strategy. More and more employees are taking these factors into account when deciding where to work. A recent study from MonsterTRAK found that 80 percent of young professionals want their work to impact the environment in a positive way, and 92 percent prefer to work for an environmentally friendly company.

Why It Matters to You

Let’s say a company can’t afford to modify its operations to reduce C0₂. Purchasing carbon credits or offsets buys it time to figure out how to operate within C0₂ limits. For others, it can be a cost-effective tool to help lower emissions while earning public praise for the effort. Each credit a company buys on the Chicago Climate Exchange — usually for about $2 — means another
company will remove the equivalent of one metric ton of carbon.

The Advantages

Companies in different industries face dramatically
different costs to lower their emissions. A market-based approach allows
companies to take carbon-reducing measures that everyone can afford. “The
private sector is better at developing diversified approaches to manage the costs
and risks [of reducing emissions],” says Jesse Fahnestock, spokesman
at Swedish power company Vattenfall, which is a member of a global Combat
Climate Change coalition.

Reducing emissions and lowering energy consumption is usually good for the core business. For example, in 1997 British energy company BP committed to bring its emissions down to 10 percent below 1990 levels. After taking simple steps like tightening valves, changing light bulbs, and improving
operations efficiency, BP implemented an internal cap-and-trade scheme and met its emissions goal by the end of 2001 — nine years ahead of schedule. Using the combined C0₂ reduction strategy, BP reported saving about $650 million.

Then there’s the long-term investment angle: Buying into the carbon market boom now suggests significant dividends later on. Carbon credits are relatively cheap now, but their value will likely rise, giving companies another reason to participate.

The Disadvantages

As with any financial market, emissions traders are vulnerable to significant risk and volatility. The EU’s trading scheme (EU-ETS), for instance, issued so many permits between 2005 and 2007 that it flooded the market. Supply soared and carbon prices bottomed out, removing incentives for companies to trade. Enforcement of trading rules can be just as unpredictable, though Fahnestock says the EU is working to correct the problems.

Carbon offsets have their own drawbacks, which reflect a fast-growing and unregulated market. Some offset firms in the United States and abroad have been caught selling offsets for normal operations that do not actually take any additional C0₂ out of the atmosphere, such as pumping C0₂ into oil wells to force out the remaining crude. In 2008 the Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association, and the World Economic Forum will work to develop a Voluntary Carbon Standard to verify that offsetting projects are beyond business-as-usual and have lasting environmental value.

The lack of offset regulations has also made marketing problematic. Recently, companies have taken to declaring themselves “carbon neutral.” But until the Federal Trade Commission determines the guidelines for such terms, it’s unclear which companies actually merit the distinction. Already Vail Resorts, the organizers of the Academy Awards, and other organizations have taken heat for touting their investments in carbon offset projects that were not entirely environmentally sound.

Source: www.cbsnews.com

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We have a commitment to the alternative green market sector, and are a leading international broker of carbon credits. In a market now worth approximately US$144 billion, the carbon market is set to eclipse all preceding markets. Carbon is having a major impact on energy markets and prices. Its effects are impacting upon energy producers, utilities and increasing numbers of manufacturers.

Carbon Expert | Carbon expert pitches for use of solar, wind energy

Climate change experts at the International Conclave stressed on the urgent need for setting up wind and solar energy power generation projects as well as taking up fuel efficiency measures in transportation and planning energy efficiency for buildings.

Former Planning Commission member Kirit Parikh, who was heading the Committee of Low Carbon Strategies for India, said, “India is emitting only two per cent of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted globally. Indian emissions are never above the average stipulated levels. Yet, we are also victims of climate change and we are seriously committed to make a 25 per cent cut in CO2 emissions.”

The Committee had recently filed an interim report stating that reducing CO2 emissions by 25 per cent is possible by increasing energy utilisation by eight per cent and even a 35 per cent reduction in emissions is possible if we are assisted by developed countries in the areas of technology transfer and other issues.

“We are importing 80 per cent of the oil and 20 per cent of the coal our country requires. By the rate at which we are using coal in thermal power plants and any new plants coming up, we are going to face a very difficult situation by the year 2035,” said Mr Parikh.

In the field of nuclear energy the country has aimed at generating 10,000 mega watts of power in next 35 to 40 years. Fast breed rectors have to be set up but it takes time to produce plutonium needed.

Source: www.deccanchronicle.com

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We have a commitment to the alternative green market sector, and are a leading international broker of carbon credits. In a market now worth approximately US$144 billion, the carbon market is set to eclipse all preceding markets. Carbon is having a major impact on energy markets and prices. Its effects are impacting upon energy producers, utilities and increasing numbers of manufacturers.

Carbon-Expert News - Carbon Trading to Double in North America This Year

Carbon trading in North America is poised to double this year with the inauguration of carbon markets in California and Quebec, and the total value of the Western Climate Initiative is set to surpass that of the eastern Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, according to Thomson Reuters Point Carbon.

Carbon Expert–Reducing Emissions and Carbon Trading

Carbon-Expert is a global company, with offices in London, Gibraltar and Spain, with over 10 years of blue chip experience. We source and trade Voluntary Emission Reduction Credits (VERs) to help companies and individuals offset their CO2 emissions and help mitigate the harmful effects of climate change worldwide.