CARBON IN THE NEWS
WEEK 5 2012
'Himachal to be carbon neutral by 2020'
New Delhi: Himachal Pradesh will be the first state in the country to become carbon neutral by 2020 by undertaking "carbon smart growth", Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said here Thursday. "The government has inventorised greenhouse gas emission for assessing the carbon footprints. The carbon footprint per capita in the state has been assessed at 1.4 tonne per capita against the national average of 1.57 tonne per capita," Dhumal said at the 12th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit organised by The Energy and Resource Institute. The state has signed a pact with the World Bank for harnessing carbon credits to generate carbon revenue amounting to Rs.20 crores for 20 years under "Bio Carbon Projects" in 10 districts of the state. The Rs.365-crore Himachal Pradesh Mid-Himalayan Watershed Project being co-funded by the World Bank, is the first project in India registered for carbon credits. The chief minister advocated the market-based instrument "payment for eco-system services" for maintenance, conservation and expansion of pristine Himalayan flora and fauna. To read this article in full click here
What carbon price is right to bite into, not bark at, climate change?
The carbon price represents the value that, we as a society, place on averting the worst climate damages. A $21 price [per tonne of carbon dioxide] says that we are not too concerned about it; the problem seems fairly small and most of its costs will be borne by future generations…
A $200 or higher carbon price sends a very different message and would result in a very different outcome… If applied world-wide in every economic sector, a $200-$500 per tonne carbon price would provide enough incentive to bring emissions down to levels consistent with a 50/50 chance of keeping long-term temperatures under 20 C. The carbon price has been introduced as a central element of the Federal's Government's plan to move Australia to a clean energy future. A focus for action for climate change is a new carbon-trading system that uses a two-stage pathway for pricing carbon. To read this article in full click here
Uh-Oh! Government Motors Buys Carbon Offsets!
In a move that almost seems calculated to enrage the Right with its Fox- and Rush-driven rage against the Volt, Chevy has announced it will voluntarily buy “8 million tonnes” worth of carbon offsets for $40 million to help it meet “voluntary emission reduction goals” within five years.
Even the spelling in the announcement is sissified. These are not even American tons! (Actually – I quoted European “tonnes” because the news came from the Norwegian-based Point Carbon, that covers carbon trading news from the European Commission’s European Trading Scheme (ETS), its cap & trade program.) So, the money will just go to fatten Al Gore / big gummint wallets, right? No, actually, the money generated by the sale of the carbon credits will go directly to buy clean energy. (That is how carbon credits in cap & trade plans work; polluters pay for the switch to cleaner energy so you don’t have to. Chevy is volunteering here, but under a cap & trade plan they would have to buy carbon credits to offset their SUV emissions.) To read this article in full click here25 top UK stores show they mean business in meeting green targets
John Lewis, Tesco, Boots and Asda are among 25 of the UK’s best-known retailers that have met all but one of 14 environmental targets.The British Retail Consortium (BRC) report shows stores have reduced waste sent to landfill from 45 per cent in 2005 to 14 per cent in 2011. They have cut delivery emissions by almost a quarter and have reduced greenhouse gases from buildings by a fifth. Carrier-bag use has been slashed by 40 per cent, and they have hit or exceeded targets on packaging, palm oil and refrigeration. The one target the retailers are failing to meet is on reducing waste in the supply chain. They signed up to a commitment to cut waste, such as packaging, in the supply chain by 5 per cent by the end of 2012, but have achieved only 0.4 per cent. The pledges, set by the BRC, were agreed in 2008 on a voluntary basis by retailers from the food, fashion, online, health and beauty and home improvement sectors. The BRC does not record the performances of individual retailers, but monitors all 25 as a group. Bob Gordon, the BRC’s head of environment, said: “Despite current economic difficulties, retailers are continuing to work with their suppliers to meet tougher sustainability goals. To read this article in full click here
Blue Sphere Signs an Emissions Reduction Purchase Agreement With Vattenfall, One of Europe's Largest Producers of Power and Heat
a company in the Cleantech sector as an emission reduction and renewable energy project integrator, is pleased to announce that Vattenfall Energy Trading, the trading unit of one of Europe's biggest power and heat producers ("Vattenfall"), has signed an emissions reduction purchase agreement ("ERPA") with the Company's subsidiary, Puresphere Ltd., to purchase carbon credits from the Company's landfill projects in Ghana and Nigeria through the end of 2020. The ERPA also includes confirmation of the inclusion of the Company's first landfill site - the Oti Sanitary Landfill in Kumasi, Ghana. The Company is in the process of adding another landfill site to the ERPA - the Sofokrom Landfill Site in Takoradi, Ghana. Vattenfall will also advance the costs for the registration expenses of the Company's landfill gas programme of activities and the inclusion of up to nine individual landfill sites in Ghana and Nigeria. To read this article in full click here
EU Partially Activates Single Carbon Registry for Airlines
The European Union’s executive arm said it partially activated a single regional database for carbon transactions to enable the transfer of free allowances to airlines, which joined the bloc’s emissions market this year. “From today onwards, aircraft operators can open accounts in the Union registry,” the European Commission said in a statement in Brussels today. The single carbon registry will replace a system of national databases that track transactions in the EU cap-and- trade system, the world’s largest. No transfers will be possible within the registry until it’s fully operational, a step that won’t take place before June, according to the commission. The EU emissions trading system, or the EU ETS, was started in 2005 and imposes pollution quotas on more than 11,000 manufacturers and power producers. As of this year it was expanded to cover flights from and to Europe, with airlines becoming the second-largest industry in the program after utilities. One EU general permit, also known as an EUA, is equivalent to one metric ton of carbon dioxide. While aircraft operators can buy EUAs issued to manufacturers and power producers to cover their discharges, EU aviation allowances, or EUAAs, can only be used for compliance by airlines. To read this article in full click here
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