In this edition, the latest on carbon supply and prices, including in Argus’ Voluntary market resilient to low CDM prices and Bloomberg’s EU to Present Detailed Plan to Curb CO2 Oversupply on Nov. 14. In other markets, U.S. Plunge in Gas Drilling Means $1 Billion Lost Profit.
Quote of the Day:
“The voluntary market has held up. For big corporates the voluntary carbon market is generally used as a valuable tool in a broader sustainability strategy.”
–Climate Bridge’s Sarah Chapman in Argus’ “Voluntary market resilient to low CDM prices”
Lead Stories
Voluntary market resilient to low CDM prices
Argus
The voluntary carbon market is growing and has remained unaffected by low prices in the clean development mechanism (CDM), project developers told Argus.
http://jlne.ws/TsVNhs
**RKB – Source says the massive price dip that has occurred in the CER market has not happened in the voluntary market — it has not had such a downward trend.
EU to Present Detailed Plan to Curb CO2 Oversupply on Nov. 14
Bloomberg
The European Union’s regulatory arm said it will present next month a detailed proposal to curb oversupply on the carbon market, rebutting speculation it may delay the plan.
http://jlne.ws/S0MuZf
MEPs push to fast-track carbon market debate
EurActiv.com
Frustrated MEPs are planning to fast-track a long-delayed amendment to the Emissions Trading System (ETS) directive, which would confirm the EU’s legal ability to withhold carbon allowances from auction, so boosting depressed carbon prices.
http://jlne.ws/V3BpF3
**RKB – A vote on the amendment is not due until 19 February 2013, frustrating to the European Commission’s top climate civil servant Jos Delbeke – and a 90-day cooling-off period had been feared before a final plenary vote.
Introducing CME Direct for Emissions
CME Direct Press Release
Live futures trading of NYMEX energy products – WTI, Brent, RBOB, Heating Oil – and now also emissions!
http://jlne.ws/ODOeYC
South Korea doubles emissions target for 2013
Business Green
Businesses in South Korea have been told that next year they will be required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by double this year’s target, ahead of the launch of carbon trading in 2015.
http://jlne.ws/Qp5gIc
**RKB – Additional coverage in Carbon section
What would it mean to treat climate change like a security threat?
Grist.org
Climate change is a serious security risk to the United States — the Department of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the White House have affirmed as much in various reports and proclamations. It’s become a popular talking point among climate hawks. Nonetheless, there hasn’t been enough thinking, at least outside nerd circles, about what it would it mean to approach climate change as a security problem. What exactly would that look like?
http://jlne.ws/T7kK7X
Latest Climate Signs Should Jolt Leaders Into Global Action
Ecosystem Marketplace
The evidence is hardening that climate change presents a clear and present danger, rather than one which is uncertain and distant. At the same time, the UN climate talks roam around the world, marking time to match electoral cycles, hoping that a quasi-legal agreement will come into force in 2020. We are forcefully reminded of Giddens’ paradox:people will not act until they come face to face with the consequences of climate change – by which time it will be too late. Disaster is certainly close. Four recent pieces of evidence give pause for thought.
http://jlne.ws/P6mm0F
Tax breaks key to driving green energy investment
Business Green
Working out a way to accelerate investment from high net worth individuals in small to medium sized renewable energy projects will be crucial to bridging a widening funding gap as bank lending proves more and more difficult to come by.
http://jlne.ws/Rwilhy
First Solar Says Industry in Australia Trails U.S. by Four Years
Bloomberg
First Solar Inc. (FSLR), the biggest maker of thin-film panels, said Australia is four years behind the U.S. in building large solar farms and expects its project with General Electric Co. (GE) to help spur the industry’s expansion.
http://jlne.ws/RwFm4h
REDD Critic
Living On Earth.org
California’s hope to offset its carbon by buying credits in rainforest nations may not really help, says a recent Greenpeace report. Roman Paul Czebiniak, a Greenpeace Senior Policy Advisor on Climate Change and Forests explains why to host Steve Curwood.
http://jlne.ws/V3ytIx
Events
EMA Regional Thought Leader Roundtable: Northeast REC Markets
EMA
October 17, 2012
http://jlne.ws/ViJHgR
EMA 2012 Fall Meeting
**Keynote speaker is Richard Sandor
October 24 – October 26, 2012
Santa Monica, CA
http://jlne.ws/NIFCwM
Carbon
South Korea Asks Companies to Cut CO2 Emissions 3% in 2013
Bloomberg
South Korea will ask companies to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a combined 17.2 million metric tons next year, equivalent to a 3 percent reduction and twice as much as this year’s target.
http://jlne.ws/RwbWDi
Banks buy up carbon permits
Financial Review
Major banks are offering to buy some of the 27 million carbon permits given to Australia’s biggest emitters by the federal government, as companies look to increase cash flow or pay off higher electricity costs.
http://jlne.ws/PzbmJ6
Natural Gas/Coal
U.S. Plunge in Gas Drilling Means $1 Billion Lost Profit
Bloomberg
The U.S. shale boom is turning into a bust for companies that provide drilling services as the number of rigs seeking natural gas has fallen faster than any time in the last 24 years.
http://jlne.ws/Qp3nvp
Ontario premier resigns, says party needs renewal
Reuters
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced on Monday he was resigning as head of Canada’s most populous province just one year after winning a third successive term, saying it was time for a renewal in leadership.
http://jlne.ws/Tpw0Hl
Factbox: Surge in natural gas pipelines to hit U.S. Northeast
Reuters
New U.S. pipeline projects in the Marcellus Shale are set to unlock significant reserves of natural gas in the last few months of this year and in 2013.
http://jlne.ws/Wglzfe
Brazil’s HRT says signs Amazon natural gas accord with Petrobras
Reuters
HRT Participações em Petróleo (HRTP3.SA) and its Anglo-Russian partner TNK-BP (TNBP.MM) signed an accord with Brazil’s state-led oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA) to draw up a plan to sell natural gas from their Amazon fields, HRT said on Monday.
http://jlne.ws/TpwsVZ
TEXT-S&P examines Marcellus shale impact on U.S. gas industry
Press Release
Supply dynamics in the U.S. natural gas industry are rapidly evolving, and the Appalachian region in the Northeast U.S. is a significant proponent of change, according to a new report published by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. Specifically, the region is home to the sprawling Marcellus shale, which could contain recoverable resources equal to almost half of the current proven natural gas reserves in the U.S. Since production in the region is largely undeveloped, increasingly rapid development is attracting new exploration and production activity-a trend that is already affecting
long-standing national and regional gas flows, as well as regional pricing.
http://jlne.ws/ROaAob
Mongolia eyes Peabody to develop giant coalmine
Reuters
The state-owned developer of the huge but remote Tavan Tolgoi coal deposit in Mongolia has invited U.S. miner Peabody Energy (BTU.N) to help build infrastructure at the project ahead of a much-delayed bidding process, a senior company official said.
http://jlne.ws/V42kq4
Power
U.K. Could Save $17 Billion a Year by Cutting Power Demand
Bloomberg
The U.K. could wipe 10.9 billion pounds ($17 billion) off its annual energy bill by 2030 with the introduction of incentives designed to cut electricity demand during the switch to a low-carbon market, a study showed today.
http://jlne.ws/QkUEbi
Norway’s REC sees no market improvement ahead
Reuters
Norwegian solar equipment maker Renewable Energy Corporation sees no improvement in depressed market conditions in the period ahead, Chief Executive Ole Enger told Reuters on Tuesday.
http://jlne.ws/Pz7jMT
German green power surcharge to rise 47 pct in 2013
Reuters
Subsidies levied on German consumers to support renewable power will rise by 47 percent next year, putting pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition to keep energy costs in check ahead of a federal election next year.
http://jlne.ws/R25eb0
Germany Power Links for Unbuilt Offshore Wind Cost Consumers, TenneT Says
Bloomberg
German consumers are paying millions of euros to link the national power grid to windmills in the North Sea that haven’t yet been built, grid operator TenneT TSO GmbH said.
http://jlne.ws/ODVfbZ
Alabama Power Wants More Affordable Wind Power
AWEA on Renewable Energy World.com
Alabama Power Co. said recently that it has received approval from the Alabama Public Service Commission to purchase more electricity from Midwestern wind projects. A new purchase of electricity from Buffalo Dunes Wind Project, LLC, the firm said, mirrors one previously approved with Chisholm View Wind Project, LLC. Combined, the deals add up to 404 MW of electricity, and each project is under contract for 20 years.
http://jlne.ws/SXvaVR
Water
South Africa’s $40 Billion Water Gap Threatens Economy
Bloomberg
Concrete patches on the canals snaking through Nico Greeff’s vineyards betray constant repairs to an outmoded irrigation system that’s the lifeblood of farming in South Africa’s arid west.
http://jlne.ws/T7iDBd
Bentley Selected for Aguas de Portugal Water System Improvements
Bloomberg
Bentley Systems Inc. said it was chosen by the state-controlled water utility Aguas de Portugal SGPS SA to provide software technology solutions to make the country’s water and wastewater systems more efficient.
http://jlne.ws/QkVapy
Reports
Carbon Markets and Carbon Policy in China (Posted Oct. 15, 2012)
The Climate Institute/Climate Bridge
http://jlne.ws/T2mHma
The Carbon Emissions of Server Computing for small- to medium-sized organizations (Posted Oct. 15, 2012)
http://jlne.ws/Rp3Jk5
The Hidden Costs of Electricity: Comparing the Hidden Costs of Power Generation Fuels (Posted Sept. 19, 2012)
http://jlne.ws/PCt372
CDP Global 500 Climate Change Report (Posted Sept. 11, 2012)
Carbon Disclosure Project
Beyond the bluster: Why wind power is an effective technology (Posted Aug. 30, 2012)
IPPR
http://jlne.ws/UeZB9b
Carbon Tax Revenue and the Budget Deficit: A Win-Win Solution? (Posted Aug. 27, 2012)
MIT
http://jlne.ws/Ri3So8
The 21st Century Corporation: The Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability (Posted Aug. 21, 2012)
Ceres
http://jlne.ws/ONwe8M
EPA REGULATIONS AND ELECTRICITY (Posted Aug. 16, 2012)
GAO
http://jlne.ws/NHwlos
European Power & Renewables Deals: Quarterly M&A outlook (Posted August 15, 2012)
Pricewaterhousecoopers
http://jlne.ws/TFZjaV
Advancing Technology for America’s Transportation Future (Posted August 6, 2012)
http://jlne.ws/MA2U6I
Benchmarking Air Emissions Of the 100 Largest Electric Power Producers in the United States (Posted July 31, 2012)
http://jlne.ws/QbRr0J
Per capita CO2 emissions in China reached European level (July 18, 2012)
http://jlne.ws/NAjBQQ
The Interim Regulation of Voluntary Greenhouse Gases Emission Trading in China (Posted July 10, 2012)
The Climate Group
http://jlne.ws/Mhv62s
Measure for Management: C40 Cities (July 9, 2012)
Carbon Disclosure Project
http://jlne.ws/L9LC37
