Editor’s Note: We will not publish Monday, May 27 and Tuesday, May 28 in observance of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday.

Quote of the Day:

“[There is] no silver bullet to solve the strategic energy challenges that Europe faces.”

–European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in EurActiv’s “Leaders hesitate between common EU response and ‘silver bullets’ on energy”

Lead Stories

U.S. House votes to force approval of Keystone pipeline
Reuters
The House of Representatives approved a bill as expected on Wednesday declaring that a presidential permit was not needed to approve the Canada-to-Nebraska leg of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a move that would take a decision on the project away from the Obama administration.
http://jlne.ws/10VhfjV

House Passes Keystone Bill as White House Vows Veto
Bloomberg
The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the eighth time congressional Republicans have advanced a measure promoting the project.
http://jlne.ws/10OSVzf

COLUMN-Keystone XL double standard: Tale of 2 pipelines: Campbell
Reuters
A casual observer familiar with the Keystone XL saga would think the United States was making it very hard to build any oil sands-related pipelines. But nothing could be farther from the truth.
http://jlne.ws/11cQCFW

Science Group Criticizes Politicians for Global Warming Distortions
New York Times Dot Earth blog
It’s great to see the Union of Concerned Scientists offering nonpartisan criticism of elected officials for distorting — in both directions — what’s known about the role of human-driven global warming on several fronts, from tornado ferocity to hurricane losses.
http://jlne.ws/18lnNxD

Climate Scientist Hansen Turns Activist, Advocates ‘Fee’ on Carbon Pollution
Bloomberg
James Hansen, the former NASA climate scientist who first brought climate change to the attention of Congress in the 1980s, stepped down as head of the agency’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies last month. That hasn’t stopped him traveling the globe to lobby for climate protection measures, while remaining an adjunct professor for Earth and Environmental Studies at Columbia University.
http://jlne.ws/11dI5Ts

Cheap shale gas bubble ‘will burst within 2-4 years’: Expert
EurActiv.com
The current shale gas boom which has bathed the US economy in cheap energy will soon go bust, a former gas industry geologist has told EurActiv.
http://jlne.ws/1213zdP

Leaders hesitate between common EU response and ‘silver bullets’ on energy
EurActiv.com
Several EU leaders attending a summit in Brussels announced yesterday (22 May) they would prioritise ‘silver bullet’ solutions – such as the development of shale gas – to reduce energy prices. The European Commission, meanwhile, said simultaneous action was needed “on several fronts.”
http://jlne.ws/13LkE5M

Hollande calls for EU ‘harmonisation’ on renewable energy
EurActiv.com
European Union countries should consider dropping their national support schemes for renewable energies in favour of a harmonised EU approach that would send a clearer signal to investors, French President François Hollande said at the conclusion of an EU summit yesterday (22 May).
http://jlne.ws/13LqPXl

Utility CEOs Slam EU Energy Policy
The Wall Street Journal
The chief executives of eight leading energy utilities Wednesday criticized the European Union’s political leaders for the bloc’s fragmented energy policy, calling for a more favorable market environment to encourage investment in energy infrastructure.
http://jlne.ws/Z2dnQO

India’s Wind-Power Target Is up in the Air
The Wall Street Journal
India’s ambitious push to increase the share of renewable energy in its total power generation portfolio to nearly one-fifth by 2017 largely on the back of wind power could falter due to slow progress in implementing policies to attract investment to the sector, according to industry officials.
http://jlne.ws/16QfKL7

Events

Waste Conversion Congress East Coast
Boston, Massachusetts
June 17-18
http://jlne.ws/104mJZx

2013 Rising Seas Summit
Association of Climate Change Officers
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
June 18-20
http://jlne.ws/16i3JOk

New York Energy Week
New York, NY
June 24 -28
http://jlne.ws/ZB89bL

Converge Paris
Sustainable Energy Tech Conference
Paris, France
June 24-28
http://jlne.ws/14ClDYZ

Carbon

Utilities Tap Cheaper Compliance Option With UN Carbon Banking
Bloomberg
Utilities and refineries have retained the most flexibility among European Union industries to use lower-cost United Nations carbon offsets to comply with the bloc’s emissions caps from 2013 to 2020, according to EU data.
http://jlne.ws/10nvsJS

U.K. Climate Adviser Says Low-Carbon Mix Saves $150 Bln
Bloomberg
Britain, under pressure to build new power stations, could save as much as 100 billion pounds ($150 billion) through 2050 by spending on wind, nuclear and carbon capture rather than gas, the government’s climate adviser said.
http://jlne.ws/16Vq3yl

Natural Gas/Coal/Alternative Fuels

Japan Increases Coal Use at Expense of Oil
The Wall Street Journal
Japan’s thermal coal imports rose while oil imports fell in April, reflecting increased coal-fired output at electricity utilities. The trend of coal replacing relatively more expensive oil will likely continue until the summer, as higher temperatures could force generators to use all available capacity.
http://jlne.ws/ZfAKsi

China plans tougher quality standards for coal to tackle pollution
Reuters
China may impose higher quality standards for imported and locally traded coal to cut air pollution, two sources said, in a move that could slash imports while boosting the fortunes of a faltering domestic industry.
http://jlne.ws/12yYjZL

COLUMN-China, India may seek better quality coal: Clyde Russell
Reuters
Asian giants China and India may be planning to improve the quality of coal they are burning, but it’s unlikely any changes will have much effect on the level of imports for the foreseeable future.
http://jlne.ws/1976dyJ

Russia tweaks taxes to stimulate hard-to-recover gas output
Reuters
Russia plans to switch to a variable tax rate on natural gas producers to lessen the burden on companies willing to develop deep and remote fields, and to claw back money from exporters which enjoy benefits.
http://jlne.ws/11cQLcI

China’s Green Drive to Boost Oil Demand
The Wall Street Journal
In China’s government-driven economy, the law of unintended consequences is strong. So a new rule meant to help the environment could boost Big Oil instead.
http://jlne.ws/11eltIr

Energy-Rich Colorado Becomes Setting for Fracking Fight
Bloomberg
Stan Dempsey, an oil and gas lobbyist, raced from one committee hearing to another in Colorado’s statehouse this spring, defending the industry against an onslaught of bills.
http://jlne.ws/16c35D3

Itochu, Partners to Make Non-Food Biodiesel Fuel in Nebraska
Bloomberg
Itochu Corp. (8001), a Japanese trading company, and partners are investing in technology developed by Benefuel Inc. to produce biodiesel fuel from inedible feedstock.
http://jlne.ws/18ljJxq

Power

Merkel protégé struggles with Germany’s green revolution
Reuters
Chancellor Angela Merkel appointed him for his charm and political skill as marshal of her vision of a ‘green revolution’ in Europe’s biggest power market. A year on, Peter Altmaier finds himself spurned by many environmentalists, disdained by industry and viewed coolly by a public wary of the costs.
http://jlne.ws/10mRkFj

Thailand’s Blackout Raises Questions About Power Stability
The Wall Street Journal
More than eight million residents and tourists in southern Thailand -– many of them in famous travel hubs such as Phuket, Hat Yai and Koh Samui –- were caught off guard by the country’s biggest-ever power blackout Tuesday night, plunging much of the region into darkness.
http://jlne.ws/10mOy31

Australian Venture OneWind Plans $2 Billion in Power Projects
Bloomberg
OneWind Australia, a venture backed by private equity fund Denham Capital Management LP, expects the first of as much as $2 billion in wind farms it plans in the country to start operating by 2015.
http://jlne.ws/10U5QEe

Vestas Wins 155-MW Turbine Order From IENova in Mexico
Bloomberg
Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS), the wind-turbine maker with the highest installed capacity, won a 155-megawatt order from Infraestructura Energetica Nova SAB, the Mexican unit of U.S. natural-gas utility Sempra Energy. (SRE).
http://jlne.ws/10qbjj1

Munich Re Buys 30 Megawatts of Onshore Wind Farms in Sweden
Bloomberg
Munich Re (MUV2), the biggest re-insurer, is buying three wind farms in Sweden with a combined capacity of 30 megawatts as it earmarks 2.5 billion euros ($3.2 billion) to invest in renewable-energy assets.
http://jlne.ws/16QUnte

Reports

Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind April 2013 (Posted May 1, 2013)
Yale Project on Climate Change
http://jlne.ws/ZWPD1Z

Clearing the Air: Reducing Upstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Natural Gas Systems (Posted April 8, 2013)
World Resources Institute
http://jlne.ws/10M9Um3

The State of Green Business 2013 (Posted February 12, 2013)
GreenBiz.com
http://jlne.ws/12K3WYL

Can the US Get There from Here? (Posted February 6, 2013)
WRI
http://jlne.ws/X5PgyQ

The Billion Euro Aviation Bonanza – Aviation’s Participation in the EU ETS (Posted January 22, 2013)
http://jlne.ws/WHQez7

View all reports >

Quote of the Day:

“This makes it all the more important to have a well-functioning carbon market and a predictable climate and energy policy framework post-2020 which is conducive to mobilizing private capital and to bringing down costs for energy investment.”

–Quote from EU statement covered in Bloomberg’s “EU Urges Energy Market as U.S. Shale Gas Widens Price Gap”

Lead Stories

Airlines May Delay Emissions Measure for Extra Year: ICAO
Bloomberg
Airline industry agreement on a standard measure of aircraft greenhouse-gas emissions may be delayed at least a year for more research, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
http://jlne.ws/14SPtI3

China to cap carbon emissions by 2016
RTCC.org
China will apply a cap on its greenhouse gas emissions by 2016, according to local media. The National Development and Reform Council (NDRC) has sent a proposal to the State Council for approval that would place a limit on the world’s biggest emitter. It is expected to be supportive of the plan.
The new regime in Beijing has backed climate and environmental action in the country calling for the development of an “ecological civilisation”, offering hope for the new UN climate deal. Tomas Wyns is director of the Center for Clean Air Policy-Europe (CCAP) and has recently consulted on the development of carbon markets in China. “The NDRC is growing a little impatient with how the regional schemes are progressing so they have started designing components of the national scheme such as emissions registries, measuring, reporting and verification,” he told RTCC.
http://jlne.ws/14T2Urs

California carbon permits sell for record high price
Climate Spectator
California’s largest greenhouse gas-emitting businesses paid $14 per metric tonne (1.1 tonnes) for the right to release carbon this year, a record-high price that narrowly beat market expectations, the state said on Tuesday.
http://jlne.ws/10RDvyc
**More coverage in Carbon section

Opinion: Global inaction shows that the climate sceptics have already won
FT.com
Humanity has decided to yawn and let the real and present dangers of climate change mount. That was the argument I made in last week’s column. Nothing in the responses to it undermined that conclusion. If anything, they reinforced it. Judged by the world’s inaction, climate sceptics have won. That makes their sense of grievance more remarkable. For the rest of us, the question that remains is whether anything can still be done and, if so, what?
http://jlne.ws/ZeyPEg

EU Urges Energy Market as U.S. Shale Gas Widens Price Gap
Bloomberg
European Union leaders urged faster integration of the bloc’s power and natural-gas markets to lower energy prices as the U.S. shale-gas revolution widens the EU’s cost gap with its largest trading partner.
http://jlne.ws/Z0VaD0

EU Panel Penalties to Hurt Solar Firms From China to U.K.
Bloomberg
The European Union is poised to penalize imports of Chinese solar products, a move that would increase Europe’s cost for most photovoltaic panels an estimated 45 percent overnight.
http://jlne.ws/10Ri8x8

Analysis: Oil saving win-win drives Saudi solar power boom
Reuters
A slide in solar power costs and a surge in oil prices over the last few years has made solar power a win-win strategy for Saudi Arabia: saving billions of dollars of crude for export while making electricity at less than half the cost.
http://jlne.ws/10RmXXc

Events

World Environmental & Water Resources Congress
Cincinnati, Ohio
May 19-23
http://jlne.ws/ZnwHsU

Tackling Climate Related Risks in Endowment & Pension Fund Portfolios
Association of Climate Change Officers
May 21, 2013 – 11:30am – 1:30pm EST – Free Webinar
http://jlne.ws/18YGwQX

Waste Conversion Congress East Coast
Boston, Massachusetts
June 17-18
http://jlne.ws/104mJZx

2013 Rising Seas Summit
Association of Climate Change Officers
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
June 18-20
http://jlne.ws/16i3JOk

New York Energy Week
New York, NY
June 24 -28
http://jlne.ws/ZB89bL

Carbon

Demand remains high at third California carbon auction
Thomson Reuters Point Carbon
Yesterday, California regulators announced the results of the third auction of California carbon allowances (CCAs) held on May 16.

Market participants bought all available vintage 2013 (V13) allowances for a price of $14.00/t, up three percent from the clearing price at the last auction, and in line with previous estimates from Thomson Reuters Point Carbon, the leading provider of market intelligence, news, analysis, forecasting and advisory services for the energy and environmental markets.“The clearing price at last week’s auction shows that market players are taking market fundamentals more seriously when generating bids at auction, compared to when allowances cleared at the price floor in the first auction last November”, commented Olga Chistyakova, senior analyst at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon.

Demand for V13 allowances remained strong, but fell slightly from the previous auction – the ratio of bids to available allowances dipped from 2.47 in February to 1.78 last week – but the picture remains positive. “The bullish subscription rate and price results display an absence of short term fears of various outstanding lawsuits against the cap-and-trade program. The results demonstrate that market players are confident the program will go forward, and that CARB would be able to defend it against the lawsuits”, said Chistyakova.

Demand for V16 allowances nearly doubled since the previous auction in February, “showing increased market confidence in the program’s longevity” according to Ashley Lawson, senior analyst at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon. Financial buyers showed much stronger interest in vintage 2016 allowances, buying 13 percent or just over 1 Mt of the future auction volume, compared to the previous auction where they did not buy any future allowances.
**No Link

Xenophon will save carbon trading
Climate Spectator
Recent Nielsen polling analysis suggests the Coalition might be able to gain control of the Senate in conjunction with two conservative leaning politicians – one being John Madigan and the other possibly a member of the Katter Australia Party. If this were to transpire the carbon price would be dead as a dodo.
http://jlne.ws/12XCWBN

Credits grow on future farms
Stock Journal
POLITICAL instability may have caused uncertainties but carbon farming is still set to play a big part in agricultural enterprises, according to Australian Carbon Traders managing director Ben Keough.
http://jlne.ws/10m3MFe

Facts On Ground Contradict BC Auditor General
Ecosystem Marketplace
The Kootenay Land District – or “the Kootenays”, as people there call it – is the heavily-forested southeastern part of British Columbia. More than 90% of it is government-owned, and on this land, logging is kept to a minimum.
http://jlne.ws/12O3kzb

Natural Gas/Coal

Fracking Role for Environmental Defense Fund Splits Green Groups
Bloomberg
A coalition of 67 grassroots groups criticized the Environmental Defense Fund for its ties to natural gas drillers in setting voluntary standards for hydraulic fracturing, a process opposed by many green advocates.
http://jlne.ws/10MN1hX

Italy’s Eni chips away at monolithic French gas market
Reuters
Every day about 500 French consumers sign up with Italian gas vendor Eni as it chips away at the near-total domination of the French gas market by GDF Suez.
http://jlne.ws/11d4fuO

Power

Energy transition in the Eifel: 1 MW Conergy solar plant supplies industrial estate
Conergy and partner Renew HGmbH expand their collaboration with citizens’ solar park
Press Release
Conergy and its long-time partner Renew HGmbH are supporting the local energy transition in the German Eifel with a solar power plant with a capacity of around 1 megawatt. The investor of the solar park is the local energy cooperative MEHR Energie eG. Its members, now numbering more than 100, have made it their aim to promote the supply of electricity from renewable energy sources in their region of Mosel-Eifel-Hunsrück, and they are now laying the foundations with this first major solar project in Ulmen. On an area of some 6 acres, equivalent to three soccer fields, the citizens’ solar park (Bürgersolarpark) will be generating around 845,000 kilowatt hours of clean electricity every year. This is sufficient energy for supplying around 240 households and therefore nearly a quarter of Ulmen’s residents.
**No Link

Brazil Plans to Auction 6,900 Megawatts of Wind-Farm Power Lines
Bloomberg
Brazil will auction by December contracts to build power lines connecting as much as 6,900 megawatts of planned wind farms in an effort to ensure the turbines will be able to send electricity to the grid once they’re installed.
http://jlne.ws/11ZQIbF

Polish renewables: Investors await legislation details to see which way the wind blows
FT.com
Growth in Poland’s booming wind energy industry is expected to slow this year, as developers hold off on investment decisions because of uncertainty over a proposed green law.
http://jlne.ws/12Xn2aN

CleanTech

Kroger to power distribution center with spoiled food
GreenBiz.com
Kroger has come up with a solution that will put a dent in the food waste generated by the supermarket chain — it will turn it into biogas energy that powers a distribution center.
http://jlne.ws/10Re6F3

Water

U.S. Grants $21 Million for Water-Saving Projects
Bloomberg
The U.S. awarded $20.8 million in grants for projects in 11 states to reduce water use, including new pipe systems in Northern California and rebates to Las Vegas homeowners who give up their grass lawns.
http://jlne.ws/12NOSrd

Reports

Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind April 2013 (Posted May 1, 2013)
Yale Project on Climate Change
http://jlne.ws/ZWPD1Z

Clearing the Air: Reducing Upstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Natural Gas Systems (Posted April 8, 2013)
World Resources Institute
http://jlne.ws/10M9Um3

The State of Green Business 2013 (Posted February 12, 2013)
GreenBiz.com
http://jlne.ws/12K3WYL

Can the US Get There from Here? (Posted February 6, 2013)
WRI
http://jlne.ws/X5PgyQ

The Billion Euro Aviation Bonanza – Aviation’s Participation in the EU ETS (Posted January 22, 2013)
http://jlne.ws/WHQez7

View all reports >

Quote of the Day:

“There is a widespread fear of the internal market in the energy sector. Governments fear the lights will go out if they lose control.”

–Georg Zachmann, analyst at Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, in FT’s “High energy prices for industry occupy officials at EU summit”

 

Lead Stories

China reveals details of first carbon trading scheme
Financial Times
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.
http://jlne.ws/16LLQID
**RKB — More details: The Shenzhen Carbon Exchange, the smallest of the seven in terms of total emissions, announced on Tuesday that its trading scheme would cover 635 industrial and construction companies, accounting for 38 per cent of Shenzhen’s total emissions in 2010. The exchange will launch on June 18.

High energy prices for industry occupy officials at EU summit
Financial Times
The portion of Wednesday’s EU summit that will be devoted to energy policy could be boiled down to a single, eye-popping chart that has been making the rounds in Brussels over the last week.
http://jlne.ws/10k5rI9
**RKB — Prices in Europe are now 37% higher than those in the US, and almost 20% higher than those in Japan.

Shale gas, energy costs vex EU leaders
Reuters
European leaders will discuss plans to exploit shale gas in summit talks on Wednesday as part of a decades-long quest to develop more secure and competitive energy supplies.
http://jlne.ws/10NmS6I

Extreme global warming seen further away than previously thought
Reuters
Extreme global warming is less likely in coming decades after a slowdown in the pace of temperature rises so far this century, an international team of scientists said on Sunday.
http://jlne.ws/10KGp3P

Climate Warnings, Growing Louder
The New York Times Editorial Board
The news that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, the most important global warming gas, have hit 400 parts per million for the first time in millions of years increases the pressure on President Obama to deliver on his pledges to limit this country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
http://jlne.ws/166rp9f

More tornadoes from global warming? Nobody knows
AP
A deadly tornado hit suburban Oklahoma City on Monday. A quick look at some basic facts:
http://jlne.ws/119PcMu

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie: No proof Superstorm Sandy was caused by climate change
NY Daily News
New Jersey Gov. Christie said Monday that climate change did not contribute to Superstorm Sandy. “I don’t think there’s been any proof thus far that Sandy was caused by climate change,” Christie said Monday at a ceremony honoring the rebuilding of the boardwalk in Lavallette, N.J. “But I would absolutely expect that that’s exactly what WNYC would say, because you know liberal public radio always has an agenda.”
http://jlne.ws/14uZATN

Trash Burning, With a Clean-Energy Twist
The New York Times
The Hague — After this newspaper has been read, it may be used to line a birdcage, recycled, burned, stuffed into a landfill or converted into something even more powerful than the press: electricity.
http://jlne.ws/12TTuuB

Op-Ed: Energy Exports Are Good!
The New York Times
What first caught my eye was the op-ed article in The Wall Street Journal. Published in late February, it was written by Andrew N. Liveris, the chairman and chief executive of the Dow Chemical Company. Liveris, an Australian, has become quite the Washington player in recent years. Among other things, he heads President Obama’s efforts to revive manufacturing.
http://jlne.ws/12TUxdV

EU Widens Probe Into Energy Pricing
The Wall Street Journal
European Union authorities have widened their probe into potential energy-price manipulation in recent days, sending requests for pricing information to commodity-trading firms including Glencore Xstrata PLC, Vitol Group and Gunvor Group Ltd., say people familiar with the requests.
http://jlne.ws/119RriW

Events

World Environmental & Water Resources Congress
Cincinnati, Ohio
May 19-23
http://jlne.ws/ZnwHsU

Tackling Climate Related Risks in Endowment & Pension Fund Portfolios
Association of Climate Change Officers
May 21, 2013 – 11:30am – 1:30pm EST – Free Webinar
http://jlne.ws/18YGwQX

Waste Conversion Congress East Coast
Boston, Massachusetts
June 17-18
http://jlne.ws/104mJZx

2013 Rising Seas Summit
Association of Climate Change Officers
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
June 18-20
http://jlne.ws/16i3JOk

New York Energy Week
New York, NY
June 24 -28
http://jlne.ws/ZB89bL

Carbon

Pakistan misses opportunity to earn carbon credits
Express Tribune/International Herald Tribune
KARACHI: A slump in price of carbon credits over the past few months has made renewable energy projects expensive as sponsors were aiming to offset part of their cost by selling tradable certificates in international markets, industry people told The Express Tribune.
http://jlne.ws/10SBBdI

Natural Gas/Coal

UK shale gas projections “wildly optimistic”, campaigners say
Business Green
Campaigners have decried as “wildly optimistic” a report claiming shale gas is poised to make a big contribution to the growth of the UK economy.
http://jlne.ws/12TY4sT

GOP gives Dems nine shots at amending Keystone bill
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Republicans on the House Rules Committee agreed Tuesday to make nine Democratic amendments in order to a bill authorizing construction of the Keystone pipeline, including one that would gut the bill entirely.
http://jlne.ws/ZbOvZ1

Moniz vows review of gas exports
The Hill’s E2 Wire
New Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz vowed Tuesday to take a fresh look at analyses of the effects of exporting natural gas, carrying out a pledge he made to a top Democratic senator.
http://jlne.ws/119STSg

Ethanol: Logic of circular biofuel trade comes into question
Financial Times
Despite having the world’s biggest ethanol industry, the US imported 9.6m barrels of the biofuel from Brazil last year.
Brazil, the ethanol pioneer, imported 2m barrels from the US.
http://jlne.ws/13Jv21d

Power

Romania Changes Course on Renewable Energy
The New York Times
With more wind turbines already built than any of its neighbors, Romania has gained a reputation as a prime location for green energy investors. Yet proposals now to cut subsidies for clean energy producers have deeply alarmed foreign companies drawn to its market.
http://jlne.ws/18gmiAS

Government confirms plan to use capacity market to boost energy efficiency
Business Green
The government has today unveiled long-awaited plans designed to encourage businesses to curb their electricity consumption and invest in energy efficiency, but Ministers have rejected plans for an energy efficiency feed-in tariff as the means of incentivising energy savings.
http://jlne.ws/18gpa0s

Water

AT&T and EDF join forces to develop Water Scorecard Guide
GreenBiz.com
Think of all the times you’ve turned on a faucet and no water came out. I’ll be the first to admit I can’t remember the last time this possibility even crossed my mind. The truth is we take water for granted, and don’t stop to question its seemingly unlimited abundance.
http://jlne.ws/12TWjMe

Why companies should care about the human right to water
GreenBiz.com
This month I am compelled to stay on the topic of water’s cost and value for several reasons. First, while discussions of the “full cost” or “true cost” of water are helpful, they do not capture the complexity of all of the issues related to the value of water. I also believe the human right to water needs to be part of this discussion.
http://jlne.ws/YXRG47

Reports

Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind April 2013 (Posted May 1, 2013)
Yale Project on Climate Change
http://jlne.ws/ZWPD1Z

Clearing the Air: Reducing Upstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Natural Gas Systems (Posted April 8, 2013)
World Resources Institute
http://jlne.ws/10M9Um3

The State of Green Business 2013 (Posted February 12, 2013)
GreenBiz.com
http://jlne.ws/12K3WYL

Can the US Get There from Here? (Posted February 6, 2013)
WRI
http://jlne.ws/X5PgyQ

The Billion Euro Aviation Bonanza – Aviation’s Participation in the EU ETS (Posted January 22, 2013)
http://jlne.ws/WHQez7

View all reports >

Quote of the Day:

“There are Republicans in Congress who know better, but they are afraid of crossing what is becoming the orthodoxy.”

–Former Republican Congressman from South Carolina Bob Inglis in NPR’s “Hot In My Backyard,” talking about Republicans in Congress who believe in man-made, global warming science but will not vote for any legislation on the issue.

 

Lead Stories

Hot In My Backyard
NPR – This American Life
After years of being stuck, the national conversation on climate change finally started to shift — just a little — last year, the hottest year on record in the U.S., with Hurricane Sandy flooding the New York subway, drought devastating Midwest farms, and California and Colorado on fire. Lots of people were wondering if global warming had finally arrived, here at home. This week, stories about this new reality.
http://jlne.ws/14ofCPe
**JK – I tuned into a good part of this over the weekend. The segment, (Act Two) called “Right Man For The Job” on the former Republican Congressman Bob Inglis was particularly interesting.
***Also, please note the ACCO event, today, May 21st, which addresses climate investment. This show highlights Bill McKibben’s divestment campaign in Act Three of the show.

“If people aren’t pissed off, it ain’t working”: A chat with green billionaire Tom Steyer Grist.org
Tom Steyer spent years as a wildly successful hedge fund manager, a vigorous philanthropist, and a sought-after funder of Democratic politicians, but most of that activity took place beneath the public radar.
http://jlne.ws/18cZUs2

Taking Stock of Climate Change Efforts: As European Carbon Market Falters, CA Expands Cap and Trade to Canada
Environmental Leader blog
Unlike many environmental problems, which can be addressed at a local or regional scale, climate change is inherently global in nature: greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions from any source join with historic and contemporary GHG emissions from other sources globally to contribute to the total store of GHGs in the atmosphere. The global nature of the issue is a key reason why, from the onset of climate change efforts, policymakers and environmentalists have attempted to address GHG emissions at an international scale.
http://jlne.ws/16325kr

U.S. and European Union Set to Negotiate Settlements in Chinese Solar Panel Cases
The New York Times
The Obama administration and the European Union have decided to negotiate settlements with China in the world’s largest anti-dumping and anti-subsidy trade cases involving China’s roughly $30 billion a year in solar panel shipments to the West, officials and trade advisers in Beijing, Brussels and Washington said.
http://jlne.ws/18ZowFR

China says it will not accept EU measures on emissions
Zee News India
Beijing: China said it will not accept any “unilateral and compulsory market measures” announced by the European Union threatening Chinese carriers with fines for non-compliance with its Emissions Trading System (ETS).
http://jlne.ws/12Q5tJA

Moniz era to begin at Energy Department
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Ernest Moniz will be sworn in as the next Energy Secretary on Tuesday, and a day later will go on-the-record publicly for the first time in his new role.
http://jlne.ws/12HqJ5n

Events

World Environmental & Water Resources Congress
Cincinnati, Ohio
May 19-23
http://jlne.ws/ZnwHsU

Tackling Climate Related Risks in Endowment & Pension Fund Portfolios
Association of Climate Change Officers
May 21, 2013 – 11:30am – 1:30pm EST – Free Webinar
http://jlne.ws/18YGwQX

Waste Conversion Congress East Coast
Boston, Massachusetts
June 17-18
http://jlne.ws/104mJZx

2013 Rising Seas Summit
Association of Climate Change Officers
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
June 18-20
http://jlne.ws/16i3JOk

New York Energy Week
New York, NY
June 24 -28
http://jlne.ws/ZB89bL

Carbon

U.K. to Pay $172 Million to Compensate for Carbon Price
Bloomberg
The U.K. government laid out rules for steelmakers and ceramics companies to claim as much as 113 million pounds ($172 million) in compensation for the extra power costs caused by the European carbon market.
http://jlne.ws/14pdQh2

RPT COLUMN-Carbon capture faces scale dilemma: Gerard Wynn
Reuters
European policymakers face a difficult decision on building carbon capture and storage (CCS) – saving money in the long run requires spending more upfront.
http://jlne.ws/10QESKC

Natural Gas/Coal/Alternative Fuels

Chesapeake Taps Anadarko Executive Lawler as CEO
The Wall Street Journal
Chesapeake Energy Corp. CHK +2.61% has plucked a 46-year-old executive from a rival oil-and-gas company to succeed its co-founder, Aubrey McClendon, as chief executive of the nation’s second-largest natural-gas producer.
http://jlne.ws/14Kcgpr

Power

Qatar Creates $1 Billion Foreign Water and Power Investment Arm
Bloomberg
Qatar created a $1 billion investment arm to add foreign power and water assets to stakes it already has in businesses from Barclays Plc (BARC) to Harrods department store.
http://jlne.ws/10JpAdv

Ecopower Seeks Permits for $250 Million Chile Wind-Energy Plant
Bloomberg
Ecopower SAC, a Chilean renewable-energy developer, filed for permits to develop a $250 million wind farm in the country’s Los Lagos region.
http://jlne.ws/13G9DG9

SunEdison Seeks IFC Funding for Solar Plant in Chile
Bloomberg
EMC Electronic Materials Inc. (WFR)’s SunEdison LLC unit is seeking funding from the World Bank’s private-sector financing arm to build a 50-megawatt solar plant in Chile that plans to sell power at commercial rates.
http://jlne.ws/11SoNud

Goldman Sachs Eyes Japan Renewable Energy Investments
Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) plans to invest as much as 50 billion yen ($487 million) in renewable energy projects in Japan in the next five years, tapping demand for electricity produced from solar and wind-power generators.
http://jlne.ws/17Tqs3P

Reports

Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind April 2013 (Posted May 1, 2013)
Yale Project on Climate Change
http://jlne.ws/ZWPD1Z

Clearing the Air: Reducing Upstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Natural Gas Systems (Posted April 8, 2013)
World Resources Institute
http://jlne.ws/10M9Um3

The State of Green Business 2013 (Posted February 12, 2013)
GreenBiz.com
http://jlne.ws/12K3WYL

Can the US Get There from Here? (Posted February 6, 2013)
WRI
http://jlne.ws/X5PgyQ

The Billion Euro Aviation Bonanza – Aviation’s Participation in the EU ETS (Posted January 22, 2013)
http://jlne.ws/WHQez7

View all reports >

Quote of the Day:

“We’ve seen a dramatic reduction in emissions across the region, while at the same time we’ve seen an increase in productivity and an increase in energy production.The lesson is that we can still support a healthy robust economy while improving energy efficiency.”

–Collin O’Mara, Delaware’s environment and energy secretary and chair of RGGI, in the Financial Times’ “US states look to cut greenhouse gases”

Lead Stories

US states look to cut greenhouse gases
Financial Times
A growing number of American states are looking at ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the absence of federal climate change legislation, with a northeastern scheme for trading carbon becoming a model.
http://jlne.ws/10TF8x5

EU carbon permit surplus doubles in 2012
Financial Times
The surplus of permits in the EU’s carbon market more than doubled last year to 2bn, according to fresh data that Brussels hope will rally support for its controversial plan to boost carbon prices.
http://jlne.ws/12yRA3C

EU confirms two per cent reduction in ETS emissions
Business Green
New figures from the EU have today confirmed that greenhouse gas emissions from facilities covered by the bloc’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) fell two per cent last year, sparking fresh debate over the need to tackle the chronic over-supply of carbon allowances in the market.
http://jlne.ws/10IUgsr

Analysis: Obama climate agenda faces Supreme Court reckoning
Reuters
With a barrage of legal briefs, a coalition of business groups and Republican-leaning states are taking their fight against Obama administration climate change regulations to the U.S. Supreme Court.
http://jlne.ws/105ho4k

Senate Panel Advances Nominee for E.P.A.
The New York Times
A sharply divided Senate committee on Thursday approved the nomination of Gina McCarthy to serve as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
http://jlne.ws/13qjGvp

Senate confirms Moniz as Energy secretary
The Hill’s E2 Wire
The Senate on Thursday voted 97-0 to approve President Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Energy.
http://jlne.ws/10vwrY1

Obama administration unveils fracking rules
The Hill’s E2 Wire
The Interior Department unveiled a revised proposal Thursday to regulate the oil-and-gas development process known as fracking when it occurs on federal and Indian lands.
http://jlne.ws/12eUXuH

Scientists agree global warming is man-made
Financial Times
An overwhelming majority of scientists agree humans have caused global warming, according to a study of scientific literature produced over the past two decades that claims to be the most comprehensive of its kind.
http://jlne.ws/10BA1fd

Arctic study finds resilience of social, ecological systems pushed to limits
Stockholm Environment Institute
The Arctic Resilience Report finds that rapid – even abrupt – changes are occurring on multiple fronts across the Arctic, raising the risk of crossing thresholds that would cause irreversible changes to ecosystems, environmental processes, and societies.
http://jlne.ws/10vtKFP

Events

World Environmental & Water Resources Congress
Cincinnati, Ohio
May 19-23
http://jlne.ws/ZnwHsU

Waste Conversion Congress East Coast
Boston, Massachusetts
June 17-18
http://jlne.ws/104mJZx

2013 Rising Seas Summit
Association of Climate Change Officers
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
June 18-20
http://jlne.ws/16i3JOk

New York Energy Week
New York, NY
June 24 -28
http://jlne.ws/ZB89bL

Carbon

Indonesia extends logging moratorium to protect rainforests
Financial Times
Indonesia has extended its landmark moratorium on logging for another two years but environmentalists and senior officials say the government must dramatically improve governance if it is to protect the country’s remaining rainforests and reduce carbon emissions.
http://jlne.ws/14u1LGB

Norwegian firm to seek ways to trap cement factory CO2
Reuters
Norway’s Aker Solutions has won a contract to make the world’s first tests for capturing emissions of carbon dioxide from cement factories as part of efforts to slow climate change, the company said on Thursday.
http://jlne.ws/14u7NHh

Natural Gas/Coal/Alternative Fuels

Canadian Prime Minister Lobbies U.S. for Pipeline
The Wall Street Journal
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper took his case for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. on Thursday, burnishing Canada’s environmental credentials and saying the arguments for the project are “overwhelmingly on the side of approval.”
http://jlne.ws/16CNlIy

Hansen Says Tar-Sands Oil Makes Climate Change Unsolvable
Bloomberg
Exploiting oil and gas trapped in tar sands and shale threatens to make climate change “unsolvable,” said James Hansen, the former NASA scientist who raised concerns about global warming in the 1980s.
http://jlne.ws/13zRREy

Power

Tata Power May Sell Shares in Clean-Energy Unit Next Year
Bloomberg
Tata Power Co. (TPWR), the utility business of India’s largest business group, is considering an initial public offering of its clean-energy unit next financial year.
http://jlne.ws/16n0ENH

Goldman Sachs to Finance $500 Million for SolarCity Roofs
Bloomberg
SolarCity Corp. (SCTY), a solar-energy developer chaired by billionaire Elon Musk, won financing from Goldman Sachs (GS) Group Inc. for more than $500 million in rooftop solar systems that the company will complete this year.
http://jlne.ws/105bJLp

Clean Energy Learns to Compete
The New York Times
Europe used to be nirvana for companies in the clean-energy business, but in the past couple of years it has become a much tougher place. With economies anemic, electricity demand is down; and, not surprisingly, once-generous subsidies that encouraged installing swaths of solar collectors in sun-poor Germany or wind farms in relatively calm areas of France are either being reduced or look as if they could be.
http://jlne.ws/10vsti3

CleanTech

Some light in clean tech investing, despite the gloom
GreenBiz.com
For more than a year, media outlets have posted stories on various major venture capital firms throwing their arms up in frustration and feeling woe over their cleantech investment portfolios. These down-and-out VC stories have been coupled with broader reporting on the drop in the total VC funds issued for cleantech after two years of growth in 2010 and 2011.
http://jlne.ws/10ITICM

Water

China Machinery Agrees to $229.5 Million Sri Lanka Water Project
Bloomberg
China Machinery Engineering Corp. (1829), a Beijing-based builder, signed a $229.5 million contract for a water-supply project north of the Sri Lanka capital of Colombo, the company said today in a Hong Kong exchange filing.
http://jlne.ws/107PeJh

Reports

Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind April 2013 (Posted May 1, 2013)
Yale Project on Climate Change
http://jlne.ws/ZWPD1Z

Clearing the Air: Reducing Upstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Natural Gas Systems (Posted April 8, 2013)
World Resources Institute
http://jlne.ws/10M9Um3

The State of Green Business 2013 (Posted February 12, 2013)
GreenBiz.com
http://jlne.ws/12K3WYL

Can the US Get There from Here? (Posted February 6, 2013)
WRI
http://jlne.ws/X5PgyQ

The Billion Euro Aviation Bonanza – Aviation’s Participation in the EU ETS (Posted January 22, 2013)
http://jlne.ws/WHQez7

View all reports >

Quote of the Day:

“If there are no ambitious targets, there will be no demand. So what’s the purpose of starting a new market mechanism?”

–Chinese climate negotiator Su Wei in Bloomberg’s “China Unlikely to Stimulate New Carbon Credit Supply Efforts”

Lead Stories

China Unlikely to Stimulate New Carbon Credit Supply Efforts
Bloomberg
China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gas, will probably avoid importing carbon credits for two decades, challenging diplomats as they craft a new emissions market that will increase supply, a government official said.
http://jlne.ws/10Ys03T
**RKB — Su says focus will be on internal offsetting credits absent a global agreement and more progress on global markets.

Water security threatens China
Financial Times
China’s water resources are running scarce. Farming and other human activities are turning large parts of the country into deserts and forcing residents to migrate.
http://jlne.ws/1436xLB
**RKB — Interesting vantage point in quick 3-minute video.

China holds key to cleaner skies
China Daily.com.cn
China has done well in terms of regional cooperation on the economic front, but it is time for tighter laws and more regional efforts to fight air pollution through market mechanisms such as the carbon trading system, said Fred Krupp, president of the US-based Environmental Defense Fund.
http://jlne.ws/102h06t

Gov. Brown chided for plan to borrow from cap-and-trade funds
Los Angeles Times
Gov. Jerry Brown sparked controversy Tuesday when he proposed to shift $500 million out of the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and loan it to the state general fund as part of the effort to balance the budget.
http://jlne.ws/12c8YJB

U.S. Energy Policy Should Take a Lesson From Germany’s Energiewende
Bloomberg
“Energiewende” may not be a household word in the United States today, but U.S. citizens and policymakers are likely to hear more about it. It’s the name of Germany’s ambitious energy transformation, which aims to move the country to at least 80 percent of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2050.
http://jlne.ws/11FLmCq
**RKB — Contributor Rainer Baake is director of Agora Energiewende and former State Secretary in Germany’s Ministry of the Environment, where he led the drafting of the Renewable Energy Act. Contributor Jennifer Morgan is director of the Climate and Energy Program at World Resources Institute.

Merkel’s Greens Challenger Seeks CO2 Price Rises to Ditch Coal
Bloomberg
Chancellor Angela Merkel must ditch coal in favor of cleaner gas power plants to protect the climate, said the co-leader of Germany’s Greens party, urging a redoubling of efforts to raise carbon prices in the world’s biggest cap-and-trade program.
http://jlne.ws/14pPGCo

For Insurers, No Doubts on Climate Change
The New York Times
If there were one American industry that would be particularly worried about climate change it would have to be insurance, right?
http://jlne.ws/1029p7Y

Clean Energy Learns to Compete
The New York Times
Europe used to be nirvana for companies in the clean-energy business, but in the past couple of years it has become a much tougher place. With economies anemic, electricity demand is down; and, not surprisingly, once-generous subsidies that encouraged installing swaths of solar collectors in sun-poor Germany or wind farms in relatively calm areas of France are either being reduced or look as if they could be.
http://jlne.ws/14pGM7O

Legislation would give clean energy more access to investment tool
Inside Climate News
Congressional lawmakers from both parties are taking a step to catalyze the nation’s clean energy economy: After 32 years of restricting a crucial investment tool to expanding fossil fuels, they’re pushing to open it to renewables.
http://jlne.ws/11FD1P8

Events

Navigating Our Water Future: A Course for Industry
Ecolab Chairman Doug Baker
Chicago
May 16
http://jlne.ws/16kYUDB

World Environmental & Water Resources Congress
Cincinnati, Ohio
May 19-23
http://jlne.ws/ZnwHsU

2013 Rising Seas Summit
Association of Climate Change Officers
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
June 18-20
http://jlne.ws/16i3JOk

New York Energy Week
New York, NY
June 24 -28
http://jlne.ws/ZB89bL

Carbon

Statoil to call tender for carbon capture technology
Reuters
Norwegian oil and gas firm Statoil will call a tender in the coming weeks to acquire technology for a full-scale carbon capture plant at a power plant at Mongstad in west Norway, a company official said.
http://jlne.ws/14pQvLt

COLUMN-Property rights hamper CO2 storage in Texas: Kemp
Reuters
Texas may fall behind states such as Louisiana in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, even though it has some of the best geological potential in the United States, unless it enacts a law allowing compulsory unitisation of oil fields.
http://jlne.ws/16ABlY4

Offsetters Climate Solutions Inc., A Leading Canadian Carbon Offsets Project Developer, is Ready to Foray into the Compliance Carbon Credit Trading Market
Press Release
Ubika Research has issued a new initiation report on Offsetters Climate Solutions Inc. (TSXV: COO), a leading carbon offsets developer in Canada.
http://jlne.ws/10Qhm4U

Natural Gas/Coal/Alternative Fuels

A look at EU investigation of oil price fixing
AP
The European Union‘s executive arm, the Commission, on Tuesday said it had raided the offices of a number of oil industry companies for possible price-fixing.
http://jlne.ws/1029NmU

EU oil price probe puts Platts in spotlight
Reuters
A European investigation into alleged price rigging by major oil companies has drawn attention to leading price agency Platts and the way it sets oil price benchmarks.
http://jlne.ws/14pPVgO

Arctic states open council to China, India, SKorea
AP
Arctic states agreed Wednesday to let nations that are located nowhere near the Earth’s north to become observers to their diplomatic council, boosting rising superpowers China, India and South Korea that are seeking to mine the region for its untapped energy and other natural resources.
http://jlne.ws/10rds0A

RWE gas trading improves, sees boost from Gazprom deal
Reuters
Reduced losses at its gas trading business helped RWE to post a smaller-than-expected fall in quarterly earnings and Germany’s No.2 utility predicted “significant” benefits from a new deal with main supplier Gazprom by mid-year.
http://jlne.ws/12vUd68

SunGard Helps Natural Gas Market Participants Attain Agile Growth & Smarter Operations Amid Evolving Market Trends
Press Release
The natural gas market is undergoing rapid change, fueled by abundant natural gas supply, improved recovery technologies and lower gas prices. While this change will offer substantial opportunity for gas producers, traders, and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) merchants, the complexity of this evolving global market will require market participants to adapt their business models to manage new risks, implement smarter more efficient operations and develop agility for global growth.
http://jlne.ws/10XrqDo

Power

Japan government takes aim at electricity monopolies
Reuters
Japan is embarking on its most ambitious attempt at electricity industry reform since 1951, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe well-positioned for victory in a battle to break up powerful regional monopolies that is seen as a test of his political agenda.
http://jlne.ws/10zly3j

UK, Norway agree to press on with $2.6 bln power link project
Reuters
Britain and Norway agreed on Wednesday to continue work on a project to link up their electricity grids by 2020 with what would be the world’s longest subsea power cable, giving Britain access to Norway’s vast reserves of carbon-free hydropower.
http://jlne.ws/14pQnLU

Brazil Auction Rules May Boost Price of Cheap Wind Power
Bloomberg
Prices for wind energy in Brazil, currently the lowest in the world, may rise at least 15 percent due to government policies designed to make the nation’s power grid more reliable.
http://jlne.ws/YWYX6A

Water

Kuwait-Led Group in Takeover Approach for U.K. Water Firm
Bloomberg
Severn Trent Plc (SVT), the U.K.’s second-largest publicly traded water company, rejected a takeover approach from Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund and a Canadian infrastructure investor.
http://jlne.ws/144xdf3

Water security threatens China
Financial Times
China’s water resources are running scarce. Farming and other human activities are turning large parts of the country into deserts and forcing residents to migrate.
http://jlne.ws/1436xLB
**RKB — Repeats from Lead stories

Brazil Plans $252 Billion Water-Stimulus Package: Estado
Bloomberg
Brazil is planning a 508.5 billion-real ($252 billion) stimulus package aimed at providing universal access to water and sewage treatment nationwide by 2033, O Estado de S. Paulo said, citing an interview with Cities Minister Aguinaldo Ribeiro.
http://jlne.ws/18MaiIv

From Kenya To China:The Spread Of Innovative Water Solutions
Ecosystem Marketplace
Green Water Credits, were first used in 2007 in Kenya’s Tana River Basin, and in many ways they laid the groundwork for WWF’s ground-breaking payments for watershed services now underway in the Lake Naivasha watershed. They work by compensating upstream farmers for incorporating soil and water conservation activities into their farming, and their use has since spread to Morocco and Malawi.
http://jlne.ws/144B9fY

Reports

Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind April 2013 (Posted May 1, 2013)
Yale Project on Climate Change
http://jlne.ws/ZWPD1Z

Clearing the Air: Reducing Upstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Natural Gas Systems (Posted April 8, 2013)
World Resources Institute
http://jlne.ws/10M9Um3

The State of Green Business 2013 (Posted February 12, 2013)
GreenBiz.com
http://jlne.ws/12K3WYL

Can the US Get There from Here? (Posted February 6, 2013)
WRI
http://jlne.ws/X5PgyQ

The Billion Euro Aviation Bonanza – Aviation’s Participation in the EU ETS (Posted January 22, 2013)
http://jlne.ws/WHQez7

View all reports >

Quote of the Day:

“What we are clearly saying is that there is a problem with the ETS that needs to be fixed and that requires a structural change to the ETS, something we have put on the table.”

–EU climate negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger in Argus’ “July vote may be backloading’s last chance – EU”

Lead Stories

July vote may be back-loading’s last chance – EU
Argus
The European Commission will have to consider if the back-loading measure is worth pursuing any further if the European Parliament rejects the proposal for a second time at the beginning of July, the EU’s international climate change negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger has told Argus.
http://jlne.ws/16cspse

Energy costs require rethink for EU heavy industry-IEA
Reuters
Europe faces higher fuel costs than the United States and China for the foreseeable future and therefore needs to reconsider its reliance on energy-intensive industry, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency said.
http://jlne.ws/13jduVW

Visiting Sweden, Kerry offers ‘regret’ that US hasn’t done more on climate
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday in Sweden that he wishes the United States had made more progress in battling climate change.
http://jlne.ws/12t605c

More on a Sensitive Climate Question
The New York Times Dot Earth blog
Justin Gillis’s latest “By Degrees” report is focused on the recent flurry of findings and discussion related to one of the most important and enduring questions in climate science: How much warming will result from a given buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases?
http://jlne.ws/14ldKGs

Geothermal Fights Back
Environmental Finance
Many renewables investors have shied away from the geothermal sector because of the risk of their investments going south if the wells come up empty. But development banks and US government agencies that are bullish about the potential of geothermal – both as a source of clean energy and an economic development tool – are attempting to ease the financing crunch that has so far prevented the sector from reaching its potential.
http://jlne.ws/129aGLL

Environmental Review to Delay Two Engineered Crops
The New York Times
Genetically engineered crops that could sharply increase the use of two powerful herbicides are now unlikely to reach the market until at least 2015 because the Department of Agriculture has decided to subject the crops to more stringent environmental reviews than it had originally intended.
http://jlne.ws/103lRI3

Events

Navigating Our Water Future: A Course for Industry
Ecolab Chairman Doug Baker
Chicago
May 16
http://jlne.ws/16kYUDB

World Environmental & Water Resources Congress
Cincinnati, Ohio
May 19-23
http://jlne.ws/ZnwHsU

2013 Rising Seas Summit
Association of Climate Change Officers
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
June 18-20
http://jlne.ws/16i3JOk

New York Energy Week
New York, NY
June 24 -28
http://jlne.ws/ZB89bL

Carbon

Australia Cuts Carbon Price Forecast for 2015 by More Than Half
Bloomberg
Australia more than halved its projection for carbon prices in the year starting July 2015 to A$12.10 ($12) a metric ton as the European Union, its planned partner in a cap-and-trade system, struggles with low prices.
http://jlne.ws/YHMXnc

RGGI Still Falls Short of Real Carbon Pricing
Sieren Ernst, environmental consultant to global carbon funds, blogging for The Energy Collective
Last February, The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) announced changes to its rules (known as “The Model Rule”). The most significant change was the lowering of the system’s cap 45% in 2014 to 91 million tons per year in 2014. The cap will steadily decrease at 2.5% per annum thereafter. Other changes included measures for dealing with excess bank permits, minor changes to offset provisions, price triggers for the cost containment reserve (CCR), and the ability to retire unsold permits.
http://jlne.ws/10FJymc

Cutting Carbon Dioxide Isn’t Enough
Slate
According to data being gathered at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, which has been monitoring atmospheric carbon dioxide since 1958, the CO₂ concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere officially exceeded the 400 parts per million mark last week, a value not attained on Earth since humans were first human.
http://jlne.ws/16cBgKp

Natural Gas/Coal/Alternative Fuels

Oil majors under EU investigation over alleged oil and biofuel price fixing
Business Green
The EU is understood to be investigating Shell, BP and Statoil, along with price reporting agency Platts, as part of a probe into oil and biofuel price benchmarks that echoes last year’s Libor scandal.
http://jlne.ws/10MN9Uk

Chinese Energy Firm Names New President
The Wall Street Journal
China National Petroleum Corp., the country’s largest oil and gas producer, promoted a vice president known for his focus on natural gas to the role of president, reflecting the rising importance of the cleaner-burning fuel in China’s energy mix.
http://jlne.ws/16y21IR

Chesapeake thinks it has 342 million barrels in Eagle Ford
Fuel Fix Statoil’s blog
The Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. has drilled 600 Eagle Ford wells so far. How good are they?
The company thinks it might ultimately recover an average of about 570,000 barrels of oil equivalent from each.
http://jlne.ws/17rUcEJ

Power

Suzlon Gets $117 Million Turbine Order for German Wind Projects
Bloomberg
Suzlon Energy Ltd. (SUEL), the wind-turbine maker involved in India’s biggest convertible bond default in October, sold 90 million euros ($117 million) of systems in Germany.
http://jlne.ws/19pLi7p

COLUMN-WTO rules on one solar dispute, bigger lurk: Wynn
Reuters
Rejection by the world’s trade body last week of preferential support for domestic solar panel makers in Canadian province Ontario brings helpful but limited guidance in a growing number of other disputes.
http://jlne.ws/YUbY0M

Acting DOE chief: US not backing down on Indian solar practices
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Acting Energy Department (DOE) Secretary Daniel Poneman said the Obama administration is not backing down from requests that India eschew solar policies that it says might violate international trade rules.
http://jlne.ws/10Wufod

Senate energy chief seeks May floor action for efficiency bill
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Tuesday that he’s hopeful a big energy efficiency bill that cleared his panel last week will reach the Senate floor before Memorial Day.
http://jlne.ws/140geKU

RECs

REC markets: the case for standardisation
Environmental Finance
Renewable energy certificate markets cover two-thirds of the US power grid – but, with dozens of different instruments traded, are hobbled by a lack of contract standardisation, says Christian Hofer
http://jlne.ws/129b9h9

Water

Kuwait-Led Group in Takeover Approach for U.K. Water Firm
Bloomberg
Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund and a Canadian infrastructure investor are discussing a bid for Severn Trent Plc (SVT), the U.K.’s second-largest publicly traded water company that’s valued at almost 5 billion pounds ($7.6 billion).
http://jlne.ws/10MLRc6

Senate advances amendments to water infrastructure bill
The Hill’s E2 Wire
The Senate advanced the water infrastructure bill Tuesday by voting on three more amendments.
http://jlne.ws/ZZcfe3

Reports

Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind April 2013 (Posted May 1, 2013)
Yale Project on Climate Change
http://jlne.ws/ZWPD1Z

Clearing the Air: Reducing Upstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Natural Gas Systems (Posted April 8, 2013)
World Resources Institute
http://jlne.ws/10M9Um3

The State of Green Business 2013 (Posted February 12, 2013)
GreenBiz.com
http://jlne.ws/12K3WYL

Can the US Get There from Here? (Posted February 6, 2013)
WRI
http://jlne.ws/X5PgyQ

The Billion Euro Aviation Bonanza – Aviation’s Participation in the EU ETS (Posted January 22, 2013)
http://jlne.ws/WHQez7

View all reports >

Correction: A comment in the March 13 E/E incorrectly linked RIN contracts to ISE, the International Securities Exchange. RIN contracts are traded on ICE, the IntercontintentalExchange.

Quote of the Day:

“We could see offset demand from the aviation sector growing to more than 100 megatonnes of CO2 per year by 2020, which would provide a significant boost to the carbon markets. This is more than one quarter of the CERs (Certified Emission Reductions) issued in 2012.”

–PwC auditors in Reuters’ “Airline industry leans toward global carbon offset scheme”

Lead Stories

Airline industry leans toward global carbon offset scheme
Allison Martell and Valerie Volcovici – Reuters
MONTREAL/WASHINGTON – The global airline industry favors offsetting carbon emissions by buying carbon credits rather than participating in an industry-wide cap-and-trade system, the head of the trade association for global airlines said Monday.
http://jlne.ws/16v52d5

It’s not all about CO2: A plan to help reduce short-term climate pollutants
David Roberts – Grist.org
People are always lamenting the lack of small-scale, practical legislation that can address climate change without getting mired in polarized culture wars. Problem is, when legislators introduce bills like that, they’re often completely ignored. It’s the sexy, controversial stuff that gets attention.
http://jlne.ws/18GC2yc

Is Canada’s Oil Too Dirty for Europe?
International Herald Tribune
As the debate over the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline continues in the United States, a Canadian trade delegation is insisting that Canadian oil extracted from tar sands — the product that would be transported by an expanded pipeline — should not be classified as being dirtier than other types of oil.
http://jlne.ws/16vtlHA

Ted Turner Taking Coal Funds to Create Solar Odd Couple: Energy
Bloomberg
They’re unlikely business partners: a billionaire environmentalist and one of the largest coal-burners in the U.S.
http://jlne.ws/YFxxj6

Green goes mainstream in the hunt for yield
Financial Times
It’s not very often you hear the manager of a “green” investing vehicle say that “personally, I am pro-nuclear.” But there again, Stephen Lilley is not your typical dyed-in-the-wool green.
http://jlne.ws/14ifKzl

Melting Ice Cap Draws China, Japan to Seek Arctic Riches
Bloomberg
Japan, China and South Korea are seeking to expand their influence in the Arctic as melting ice caused by global warming offers potentially lucrative access to resources and shipping shortcuts in the region.
http://jlne.ws/10mnctc

Fewer Rain Forests Mean Less Energy for Developing Nations, Study Finds
The New York Times
The loss of tropical rain forests is likely to reduce the energy output of hydroelectric projects in countries like Brazil that are investing billions of dollars to create power to support economic growth.
http://jlne.ws/14ihEQo

Mark Tercek in conversation with Joel Makower
GreenBiz.com
I first met Mark Tercek several years ago when he headed Goldman Sachs’ environmental strategy, a capstone to more than two decades as an investment banker heading various business units for the company. This was pre-economic meltdown — Tercek fortuitously left the firm in 2008 just ahead of the crash — and Goldman still was seen as a pillar of the economy. As such, the fact that Goldman had a Center for Environmental Markets, which Tercek ran, was a bit of a phenomenon.
http://jlne.ws/YFzBYt

Events

Navigating Our Water Future: A Course for Industry
Ecolab Chairman Doug Baker
Chicago
May 16
http://jlne.ws/16kYUDB

World Environmental & Water Resources Congress
Cincinnati, Ohio
May 19-23
http://jlne.ws/ZnwHsU

2013 Rising Seas Summit
Association of Climate Change Officers
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
June 18-20
http://jlne.ws/16i3JOk

New York Energy Week
New York, NY
June 24 -28
http://jlne.ws/ZB89bL

Carbon

Project aims to track big city carbon footprints
AP
Every time Los Angeles exhales, odd-looking gadgets anchored in the mountains above the city trace the invisible puffs of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that waft skyward.
http://jlne.ws/12q4OQb

Oh Frack, B.C.’s Carbon Footprint Likely Greater Than Reported
Huff Post Canada
Methane emissions from British Columbia’s natural gas industry are likely at least seven times greater than what’s been reported — blowing numbers in B.C.’s Climate Action Plan out of the water. Natural gas is nearly all methane and since methane is such a powerful climate warming gas these unreported emissions mean the total CO2 equivalent emissions for the entire province are nearly 25 per cent higher than what’s being reported.
http://jlne.ws/11zDP7X

Natural Gas/Coal/Alternative Fuels

Clock is ticking, slowly, on rules for coal-fired power plants
Los Angeles Times
On a curve of the Potomac River 37 miles northwest of Washington, the Dickerson power plant has stood sentry over small villages, crop fields and horse farms for more than half a century.
http://jlne.ws/126Rqyz

New Fracking Rules Have Environmental Groups Worried
National Journal
The Obama administration is set to unveil major new regulations on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial method of extracting oil and gas, possibly as soon as Tuesday.
http://jlne.ws/ZVLHuc

Airbus to Work With Air Canada to Study Renewable Jet Fuel
Bloomberg
Airbus SAS, Air Canada (AC/A) and BioFuelNet Canada agreed to work together to study clean jet fuel with the aim of eventually supplying the Canadian carrier as the aviation industry seeks to cut emissions in half.
http://jlne.ws/10mlJmz

Viewpoints: Bid to halt fracking in state builds momentum
Sacramento Bee
The risks are sinking in. For months, discussions about fracking in California have focused mostly on public disclosure. Should people living near fracked oil and gas wells, for example, be notified about this controversial procedure, which involves blasting huge volumes of water mixed with toxic chemicals underground?
http://jlne.ws/126S3YV
**RKB — Contributor is Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, which is based in San Francisco.

Global shale revolution threatens Gulf petrochemicals expansion
Financial Times
Middle East energy producers have long bet on petrochemicals as a way to diversify their economies away from reliance on oil and gas revenue.
http://jlne.ws/11zxGsA

Power

Reliance Power Solar-Thermal Plant Stalled by Water Delay
Bloomberg
A Reliance Power Ltd. (RPWR) solar-thermal plant should start up next month after missing a May deadline because Indian authorities failed to lay a water pipeline to the site in time, Chief Executive Officer Jayaram P. Chalasani said.
http://jlne.ws/YFybgC

The solar paradox: boom, bust or both?
Reuters
Planned European levies on Chinese solar panels will only go some way to halt a rout among equipment makers who face the paradox of a booming market but falling revenues – and could suffer even more if a trade war erupts.
http://jlne.ws/ZScgAu

Water

Water Utilities to Spend $2 Billion on Smart Meters Through 2020
Bloomberg
U.S. water utilities will spend $2 billion on smart meters in infrastructure upgrades this year through 2020, almost matching all previous investment in the leak-finding devices, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
http://jlne.ws/18GCqg6

Beijing to Speed Up Building Reclaimed Water Plants, Xinhua Says
Xinhua/Bloomberg
Beijing will accelerate the construction of sewage treatment and reclaimed water facilties, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.
http://jlne.ws/19kE9oQ

Why Federal Efforts to Ensure Clean Tap Water Fail to Reach Faucets Nationwide
The New York Times
Laura Garcia was halfway through the breakfast dishes when the spigot went dry. The small white tank beneath the sink that purified her undrinkable water had run out. Still, as annoying as that was, it was an improvement over the days before Ms. Garcia got her water filter, when she had to do her dishes using water from five-gallon containers she bought at a local store.
http://jlne.ws/19kLwfO

Reports

Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind April 2013 (Posted May 1, 2013)
Yale Project on Climate Change
http://jlne.ws/ZWPD1Z

Clearing the Air: Reducing Upstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Natural Gas Systems (Posted April 8, 2013)
World Resources Institute
http://jlne.ws/10M9Um3

The State of Green Business 2013 (Posted February 12, 2013)
GreenBiz.com
http://jlne.ws/12K3WYL

Can the US Get There from Here? (Posted February 6, 2013)
WRI
http://jlne.ws/X5PgyQ

The Billion Euro Aviation Bonanza – Aviation’s Participation in the EU ETS (Posted January 22, 2013)
http://jlne.ws/WHQez7

View all reports >

Quote of the Day:

China, New Zealand, and some U.S. states have formed an informal group, “kind of the champions of the carbon market. It’s that club that’s going to set international standards.”

–European Climate Negotiator Artur Runge-Metzger in Bloomberg’s “Carbon Champions Undeterred by Kyoto Dead-End, EU Envoy Says”

Lead Stories

Carbon Champions Undeterred by Kyoto Dead-End, EU Envoy Says
Bloomberg
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.
http://jlne.ws/10uJOEN

EU’s carbon crisis blows back on Australia
Brisbane Times
The unprecedented collapse in European carbon prices is shattering Australia’s budget assumptions just as corporate resistance to the market weakens in the developed world’s biggest per capita polluter.
http://jlne.ws/10Jv0kl

Energy Journal: Bad News For EU Policy Goals
The Wall Street Journal
Barely a week goes by without another piece of news that undermines Europe’s long-held ambition to lead the world on clean energy and carbon-emissions reduction. In recent weeks the continent’s carbon trading scheme has lost credibility, its energy chief has called for more modest emissions targets and a study revealed that trillions of dollars of spending on renewable energy has failed to make energy supplies much cleaner.
http://jlne.ws/147RX4Z

Foes Suggest a Tradeoff if Pipeline Is Approved
The New York Times
President Obama’s first major environmental decision of his second term could be to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, profoundly disappointing environmental advocates who have made the project a symbolic test of the president’s seriousness on climate change.
http://jlne.ws/131ezBJ

Republicans Block Vote on Nominee to Lead E.P.A.
The New York Times
Republican members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee boycotted a meeting of the panel on Thursday, blocking a vote on President Obama’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
http://jlne.ws/ZLe525

Companies end co-operation with gas price agencies
Financial Times
European natural gas quotes to price-reporting agencies, raising questions about the benchmarks that underpin billions of dollars in trading and household energy bills.
http://jlne.ws/13kVAFR

Agriculture and Livestock Remain Major Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
WorldWatch Institute
In 2010, global greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector totaled 4.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalent, up 13 percent over 1990. Agriculture is the third largest contributor to global emissions by sector, following the burning of fossil fuels for power and heat, and transportation. In 2010, emissions from electricity and heat production reached 12.5 billion tons, and emissions from transport totaled 6.7 billion tons.
http://jlne.ws/ZLdhdo

Resource Strain Pushes Coca-Cola, Dow to Put Price Tags on Nature
Bloomberg/BNA
Companies are starting to consider the value of natural resources in making business decisions, a practice that will become increasingly important as those resources become further constrained, corporate representatives say.
http://jlne.ws/10uNYME

U.K. Solar Group Urges EU to Oppose China Anti-Dumping Tariffs
Bloomberg
European Union member nations should oppose proposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar panels that may hinder free trade and market growth, the U.K.’s Solar Trade Association said.
http://jlne.ws/16knnte
**RKB — additional coverage on tariff news in Power section

REDD+ Talks Marks America’s First Symposium on Global Warming and the Vital Role of REDD+
CSR Wire
Corporate leaders and experts on global warming and climate change policy came together on Earth Day, 2013, in Sausalito, California for REDD+ Talks, an inaugural event, which addressed business leaders on how emissions from deforestation contribute to global warming and how this will affect their businesses.
http://jlne.ws/15u17xm

NIB Lends Money to Sweden to Build Waste Wood-to-Power Plant
Bloomberg
The Nordic Investment Bank will lend 20 million euros ($26 million) to Sweden’s Vimmerby Energi & Miljo AB to build a facility in the southeast that will use bark, wood chips and forest waste to produce heat and power.
http://jlne.ws/17OZ4l4

A Fossil Fuel Saves Lives, Money and CO2 in Darfur
Bloomberg
Fossil fuels typically don’t leap to mind as carbon-cutting alternative energy sources. Yet in Sudan’s North Darfur region, liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG, is helping reduce carbon emissions, plus saving lives and money.
http://jlne.ws/10uNKoP

Events

Navigating Our Water Future: A Course for Industry
Ecolab Chairman Doug Baker
Chicago
May 16
http://jlne.ws/16kYUDB

World Environmental & Water Resources Congress
Cincinnati, Ohio
May 19-23
http://jlne.ws/ZnwHsU

2013 Rising Seas Summit
Association of Climate Change Officers
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
June 18-20
http://jlne.ws/16i3JOk

New York Energy Week
New York, NY
June 24 -28
http://jlne.ws/ZB89bL

Carbon

UN Carbon Has Biggest Jump Since 2011 as EU Factories Tap Quota
Bloomberg
United Nations Certified Emission Reduction credits had their biggest one-day gain since Dec. 20, 2011 amid speculation factories and utilities are using the carbon offsets to meet European Union pollution targets.
http://jlne.ws/17OZRT2

Carbon Capture Projects Won’t Get Cash Until They Hit Targets, Says Energy Minister
Calgary Herald
Alberta’s two surviving carbon capture and storage programs will reduce carbon emissions by nearly 2.8 million tonnes annually when they begin operating within three years, but they don’t receive the bulk of their provincial funding until they hit performance targets, says Energy Minister Ken Hughes.
http://jlne.ws/10uMuSE

Natural Gas/Coal/Alternative Fuels

Talisman withdrawal deals blow to Poland’s hopes for shale gas industry
Calgary Herald/AP
News that Talisman Energy Inc. is pulling out of exploration for shale gas in Poland is a blow to the country’s hopes that its deposits of the hydrocarbon will soon cut its dependence on Russian supplies and support the weakening economy.
http://jlne.ws/10uMPoA

UC-Davis publishes Calif. low carbon fuel standard status update
Biodiesel Magazine
The University of California-Davis Institute of Transportation Studies has published a new status review of the state’s low carbon fuel standard (LCFS). The review is the second in a series of periodic status reports. According to information published by the ITS, the status reports review data, analyze trends and identify potential challenges associated with the program. However, the status reports do not make predictions.
http://jlne.ws/10wuPik

Joe Biden kinda sorta maybe opposes Keystone XL pipeline
Grist.org
Vice President Joe Biden told an activist on Friday that he doesn’t support the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, according to a post on the Sierra Club website.
http://jlne.ws/ZSa4w3

Oil companies target America for investment
CNN Money
Here’s an intriguing switch in the energy market: U.S. oil firms have been selling off their assets overseas and investing the money in America’s domestic fields.
http://jlne.ws/ZLE3CD

Power

EU Said to Plan Duties Up to 67.9% on China Solar Panels
Bloomberg
The European Union is planning to impose tariffs of as much as 67.9 percent on solar panels from China to counter unfair pricing in the largest EU trade dispute of its kind, according to a commerce official from the bloc.
http://jlne.ws/ZS7eHw

Chinese Solar Firms Face Crunch From EU Tariffs
The Wall Street Journal
China’s solar companies, already reeling from a collapse in product prices, will face an even tougher road ahead if the European Union follows through with a plan to impose steep tariffs.
http://jlne.ws/10uRK8Z

Yingli to Supply 220 Megawatts of Solar Modules to China Power
Bloomberg
Yingli Green Energy Holding Co., the largest solar-panel maker, agreed to supply 220 megawatts of photovoltaic modules to China Power Investment Corp. for five power projects.
http://jlne.ws/YIoIaA

Renewable Power Could Be Stored as Liquid Air, U.K. Lobby Says
Bloomberg
Turning air into liquid using surplus energy from wind and solar could be a way to store power from intermittent sources and open up an industry worth 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) a year to the U.K., a report showed.
http://jlne.ws/175HlYI

Brazil Gets Applications for $6 Billion in Clean-Energy Funding
Bloomberg
Brazil received applications from 373 companies and organizations seeking 12.3 billion reais ($6.13 billion) in funding to research renewable power and energy efficiency through a government program.
http://jlne.ws/194yy5M

Patent filing claims solar energy ‘breakthrough’
McClatchy
In a U.S. patent application, a little-known Maryland inventor claims a stunning solar energy breakthrough that promises to end the planet’s reliance on fossil fuels at a fraction of the current cost – a transformation that also could blunt global warming.
http://jlne.ws/175NC6P

Japan’s Energy Costs Rise as Yen Weakens
The Wall Street Journal
The fall in the yen may be good news for Japan’s exporters, but with energy users facing higher costs, small businesses and consumers may end up with less money for other purchases, exactly what the government wants to avoid in its plans to beat deflation.
http://jlne.ws/13kV36I

Miscellaneous

Tesla earns first profit — $11 million in Q1
USA Today
Tesla, maker of high-dollar electric cars, reported its first quarterly profit Wednesday — $11 million.
http://jlne.ws/ZLexNJ

Turncoats? Moving from Greenpeace to the corporate world
GreenBiz.com
I love talking to the iconoclasts who make drastic career changes, like those who leave a grassroots nonprofit for the halls of a corporation. That’s what Jonathan Wootliff and Danny Kennedy did when they went to the private sector from Greenpeace. I wouldn’t call them turncoats, but rather people who took their passion to a different side of the equation. The way I see it, businesses need pressure to do the right thing coming from the outside as well as the inside. These guys agree. What I was most curious to ask them was, why go into the private sector after publicly damning companies, and how is the work different?
http://jlne.ws/YxgsrI

Reports

Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind April 2013 (Posted May 1, 2013)
Yale Project on Climate Change
http://jlne.ws/ZWPD1Z

Clearing the Air: Reducing Upstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Natural Gas Systems (Posted April 8, 2013)
World Resources Institute
http://jlne.ws/10M9Um3

The State of Green Business 2013 (Posted February 12, 2013)
GreenBiz.com
http://jlne.ws/12K3WYL

Can the US Get There from Here? (Posted February 6, 2013)
WRI
http://jlne.ws/X5PgyQ

The Billion Euro Aviation Bonanza – Aviation’s Participation in the EU ETS (Posted January 22, 2013)
http://jlne.ws/WHQez7

View all reports >

Quote of the Day:

“This is a moment when we should be moving away from European policy-making rather than linking ourselves with it – no wonder our budget’s a mess, and no wonder the carbon revenues are guessable.”

–Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbot in AAP’s “Govt is ‘holding budget hostage to Europe’”

 

Lead Stories

New emissions plan could energise global climate talks, says US envoy
The Guardian
The United States‘ proposal to let countries draft their own emissions reduction plans rather than working toward a common target can unlock languishing UN climate negotiations, the US climate change envoy said on Tuesday.
http://jlne.ws/18Z3qoi
**RKB — Stern speaks out on individual country policy over Kyoto re-do–billed as anything to break the stalemate ahead of 2015 meetings.

Govt is ‘holding budget hostage to Europe’
AAP
The federal government is holding Australian policy hostage to European decisions when it should be looking toward Asia, the coalition says.
http://jlne.ws/10r20Uu
**RKB — additional coverage in Carbon section

EU leaders to square the circle of cheap energy
EurActiv
EU leaders will grapple with controversial issues including shale gas development and climate change mitigation at an energy summit on 22 May, documents obtained by EurActiv show.
http://jlne.ws/17Mekzd

UPDATE 1-First RIN futures trade completed on ICE
Reuters
The IntercontinentalExchange on Tuesday saw the first trade for renewable identification number (RIN) futures since the contracts’ listing last Monday, according to a spokeswoman.
http://jlne.ws/18ZfuG1

A Call for Quid Pro Quo on Keystone Pipeline Approval
The New York Times
President Obama’s first major environmental decision of his second term could be to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, profoundly disappointing environmental advocates who have made the project a symbolic test of the president’s seriousness on climate change.
http://jlne.ws/10qxx3Y

The Emerging Interlocking Climate Solution
Ecosystem Marketplace
Global climate talks have been stalled for years, but regional efforts are moving forward – often in tandem with each other. Here’s a look at some of the programs that are emerging – and merging – around the world.
http://jlne.ws/YFIDXK

Indonesia: it’s not easy being green
Financial Times
As a major emitter of greenhouse gasses from deforestation and the caretaker of a large chunk of the world’s remaining tropical forest, Indonesia finds itself at the top of the United Nations’ climate change agenda.
http://jlne.ws/ZIcqub
**RKB — Barking up the wrong tree? The government is trying to draw up a single national map that all ministries, local government officials and other stakeholders can use to identify protected forests, reduce disputes and ensure more sustainable land use. However, the process has got bogged down. “There is one map but many different people want to fill it in,” said Hassan, the forestry head.

Can Nutrient Trading Shrink The Gulf Of Mexico’s Dead Zone?
Ecosystem Marketplace
The Gulf of Mexico has the largest dead zone in the United States and the second-largest in the world. Dead zones form when excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous wash into waterways and spur algal blooms, depleting the water of oxygen and killing fish, shrimp, and other marine life. The Gulf of Mexico dead zone can range between an astounding 3,000 and 8,000 square miles. At its largest, it’s about the size of Massachusetts.
http://jlne.ws/ZI2Ibd

Do green businesses really want corporate dinosaurs acting in their name?
James Murray – Business Green blog
BusinessEurope’s increasingly blatant lobbying against ambitious action on climate change cannot be allowed to pass unchallenged
http://jlne.ws/YuJNTC

INCR propose listing standards for stock exchanges
GreenBiz.com
For years, sustainable investors and other advocates for corporate responsibility have been hammering away at companies, emphasizing the necessity of producing sustainability reports. Not only do sustainability reports account for environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors, increasingly, analyses are finding that corporate reporting on measures addressing sustainability helps yield long-term financial benefits as well.
http://jlne.ws/10bAJnc

Events

Navigating Our Water Future: A Course for Industry
Ecolab Chairman Doug Baker
Chicago
May 16
http://jlne.ws/16kYUDB

World Environmental & Water Resources Congress
Cincinnati, Ohio
May 19-23
http://jlne.ws/ZnwHsU

2013 Rising Seas Summit
Association of Climate Change Officers
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
June 18-20
http://jlne.ws/16i3JOk

New York Energy Week
New York, NY
June 24 -28
http://jlne.ws/ZB89bL

Carbon

Carbon Rout Roiling Australia as Polluters Win: Energy Markets
Bloomberg
The unprecedented collapse in European carbon prices is shattering Australia’s budget assumptions just as corporate resistance to the market weakens in the developed world’s biggest per capita polluter.
http://jlne.ws/1444JkT

Britain Proposes Incentives for Low-Carbon Investment
Bloomberg
The U.K. government outlined plans to encourage 110 billion pounds ($170 billion) of investment in the electricity sector needed to replace aging power stations and upgrade the power grid by 2020.
http://jlne.ws/ZPZea3

Natural Gas/Coal/Alternative Fuels

Shale Boom a Bust for Europe’s Gas Plants
The Wall Street Journal
The ripples of the North American shale boom continue to spread, as a growing number of European utilities are forced to mothball modern gas-fired power plants that can’t compete with growing imports of cheap coal dislodged from the U.S.
http://jlne.ws/10rgCmB

GranBio to Get $150 Million BNDES Loan for Brazil Ethanol Plant
Bloomberg
Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico & Social, Brazil’s development bank, will loan a division of GranBio Investimentos SA 300.3 million reais ($149.6 million) to build the world’s second plant that produces ethanol from crop waste.
http://jlne.ws/13zOIDN

Power

India May Defer Fines on $1 Billion Solar Thermal Plants
Bloomberg
India plans to defer fines for solar- thermal power developers that failed to complete $1 billion of plants in time as it seeks to spur investment in the industry.
http://jlne.ws/13ihwRW

COLUMN-Morocco is paying too much for solar power: Wynn
Reuters
Morocco is set to pay more for its solar power than far richer countries such as Germany and should switch tack to cheaper solar technologies that can compete better with wind, oil and coal.
http://jlne.ws/ZIa8ey

Editorial: Call a truce in the no-winners solar war
Financial Times
Europe is on the brink of a trade war with China in one of the fastest-growing global industries. America and China are already engaged in battle. The job-rich and emissions-low solar photovoltaics industry is heading for severe impairment, at best.
http://jlne.ws/12eBLyO

Queen’s Speech promises renewed push to drive green investment
Business Green
The coalition has today underlined its commitment to delivering action on climate change and accelerating investment in new low carbon energy and infrastructure projects, after the Queen’s Speech confirmed plans to bring forward new bills to support spending on energy, water, and rail projects.
http://jlne.ws/18u2k6I

CleanTech

How GE and a leading utility are changing the smart-grid game
GreenBiz.com
It’s no small feat to fully revamp an electrical operating system as large as Florida Power and Light, whose presence stretches long across the Sunshine State.
http://jlne.ws/10qsz7i

Water

KKR to Goldman Breach Water Deal Dam in U.S.: Commodities
Bloomberg
Brandon Freiman was sizing up water investments for KKR & Co. (KKR)’s $4.6 billion infrastructure fund in 2011 when he came across a debt-burdened New Jersey city that Tony Soprano skirts by to open the Time Warner Inc. HBO series.
http://jlne.ws/YFK1JV

KKR Acquires Central England Water Group From Alinda Capital
Bloomberg
KKR & Co. (KKR) acquired South Staffordshire Plc, a central England water supplier, from Alinda Capital Partners LLC, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based infrastructure fund manager said today. Terms weren’t disclosed.
http://jlne.ws/16Zqu9S

Germans Water Consumption Remains at a Two-Decade Low
Bloomberg
German water consumption in 2012 remained at its lowest in more than two decades for a third year, the BDEW utility lobby said.
http://jlne.ws/10bA3yb

Reports

Extreme Weather and Climate Change in the American Mind April 2013 (Posted May 1, 2013)
Yale Project on Climate Change
http://jlne.ws/ZWPD1Z

Clearing the Air: Reducing Upstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Natural Gas Systems (Posted April 8, 2013)
World Resources Institute
http://jlne.ws/10M9Um3

The State of Green Business 2013 (Posted February 12, 2013)
GreenBiz.com
http://jlne.ws/12K3WYL

Can the US Get There from Here? (Posted February 6, 2013)
WRI
http://jlne.ws/X5PgyQ

The Billion Euro Aviation Bonanza – Aviation’s Participation in the EU ETS (Posted January 22, 2013)
http://jlne.ws/WHQez7

View all reports >