 |
VOLUNTARY CARBON
An Inconvenient Truth about Carbon Offsets?
Delta Airlines Ramps Up Its Green Efforts with Carbon Offset Program
Delta became the first U.S. airline to offer a carbon offset program to its customers. The company says it will route money to The Conservation Fund, a U.S. nonprofit, on behalf of passengers who want to contribute to efforts addressing climate change. The airline will also up its recycling efforts.
– Read the article
Colleges Go Green
At least 284 colleges and universities in the U.S. pledged to turn carbon neutral as soon as possible, as part of a new initiative called the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. For most of them, it will take decades (if not longer). The institutions plan to rely on energy efficiency and building renovations, among other strategies, and will make periodic reports on their progress.
– Read the New York Times article
CLIMATE NORTH AMERICA
EPA Will Not Even Decide on Whether to Regulate Greenhouse Gases until 2008
EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson testified before the U.S. House of Representatives that his agency would not decide on whether it should regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars until late 2008. It will take that long to evaluate whether such emissions "endanger" human health or not. In the meantime, he also refuses to disclose whether he will allow individual states to proceed with such regulatory plans in the interim, regardless of how endangering they view the problem to be.
– Read the Contra Costa Times story
U.S. Senate to Fund Mandatory GHG Reporting
The U.S. Senate included $2 million in funding for the E.P.A. to begin a mandatory reporting program across the economy.
– Read the story
California Still Faces Steep Climb
A year after passing AB32, the bill that officially flagged California as a pioneer in attempting to slash emissions, sources from around the Golden State report that the road ahead will be a challenging one. While some remain skeptical about carbon trading, others say a market-based approach will be absolutely necessary if the State is to meet its ambitious goals for 2010. To this end, the Secretary for Environmental Protection, Linda Adams, called on the 14-member Market Advisory Committee she created to draft a report on cap-and-trade options for California. The Committee released its draft report on June 1 and will meet next week to discuss its recommendations further. Meanwhile, the Golden State's emission regs continue to stir up debate on Capitol Hill.
– Read the Inside Bay Area story
– Read the report
– Read the article
Quebec Implements Carbon Tax
Premier Jean Charest's will impose one of the world's most comprehensive carbon taxes on energy producers, distributors and refiners in Quebec starting this fall. The proposed plan is expected to raise roughly C$200 million a year in revenue, which will go towards the Canadian province's effort to meet its Kyoto target: a 6 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels. For example, oil companies will pay 0.8 cents per liter of fuel distributed in the Francophone province.
– Read the Globe and Mail article
– Read the Scientific American article
How AEP Plans to Account for All that Coal: Capping Cow Manure
According to the Wall Street Journal, American electric giant AEP has been buying up credits from the capture of methane from animal manure in preparation for the coming age of carbon regulation in the U.S. The electric generator will pay Environmental Credit to spread tarps over waste lagoons and thus capture methane that would otherwise enter the atmosphere.
– Read the Wall Street Journal article (subscription)
GLOBAL POLICY UPDATE
G8 Agrees to Do Something about Climate
It may not be a 50 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, but the eight largest economies in the world agreed to "consider seriously" such a goal and to reach some kind of agreement by the end of 2009. The agreement also calls for developing countries--read India and China--to be involved in whatever solution is ultimately devised. Now to devise a solution at the agreed upon venue: the United Nations! Wait a minute, didn't we do this once before? And, as a side note, ExxonMobil in a stunning move to obfuscate its past funding of climate change contrarians avers it never really doubted the climate change threat. Hmmm, and George Bush signed the Kyoto Protocol...
– Read the New York Times article
– Download the G8 Summit Declaration (pdf)
– Read the Reuters story
China Releases Climate Change Plan
The five-part plan will aim to reduce energy consumption per unit of economic output--a so-called intensity target of 20% reduction by 2010. But, since China relies heavily on coal for its electricity and home heating, reducing energy should also reduce greenhouse emissions. The environmental heavyweight will also aim to increase supplies of renewable energy and replant millions of trees. These efforts may not be enough in light of a new Dutch study suggesting China's emissions have now surpassed those of the U.S.
– Read the Worldwatch Institute article
– Read the article
New Zealand and Australia to Join Forces on Carbon Trading
Prime Ministers Helen Clark and John Howard announced this week in Sydney that they plan to collaborate on a regional carbon trading system in Australia and New Zealand. "We have agreed we should work hard on seeing the systems we are designing be compatible schemes," said Clark. "Who knows where we could lead after that?”
– Read the article
– Read the Ecosystem Marketplace article
CARBON FINANCE
Emission Credits Go Public
Investors have some of their first opportunities to cash in on the global green wave, via public offerings of companies that specialize in emissions trading, the currently preferred solution to climate change. From Toronto to London, exchanges are seeing public offerings from such firms, including the GHG Emission Credit Participation Corp. and Climate Exchange PLC as well as EcoSecurities Group. The question is: What are these companies doing with their new capital reserves?
– Read the Globe and Mail article
World Bank to Save the Amazon, and Other Forests
The World Bank has launched a $250 million investment fund to pay developing countries not to cut down trees in an effort to avoid further greenhouse gas emissions. Such "avoided deforestation" could play a huge role in cutting global warming pollution as well as provide a source of cheap credits for polluting nations (hence U.S.--and G8--support for such a plan).
– Read the Wall Street Journal article (subscription only)
Carbon Opportunities in Africa
In the hunt for carbon offset projects, some in the world of carbon finance are looking to Africa. The International Herald Tribune reports on one such project in Madagascar and explores the idea of carbon ranching.
– Read the article
– Read the article
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
100 Years of Storage and Then What?
Carbon capture and storage continues to be industry's favorite solution to climate change--capturing the carbon dioxide spewed by a power plant and pumping it deep underground. But, according to Sally Benson of Stanford University, at current rates of production the deep earth can provide roughly a century of such storage. Capacity could be anywhere from 2 trillion to 10 trillion tons of carbon dioxide and the world pumps out nearly 30 billion tons a year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. Of course, since it has yet to be demonstrated on a broad scale, such pessimism about the long-term viability of CCS may be a bit premature.
– Read the CarbonFree article
U.S. EPA challenges commercial plankton-seeding plan
The U.S. EPA has spotted problems with the plankton-seeding plan of Planktos, a California company hoping to increase the carbon sequestration potential of the ocean by spreading iron dust in it. Sound crazy? Others think so too, but Planktos CEO Russ George says he's convinced the plan will work and will switch to a non-U.S. ship if need be.
– Read the article
– Read the article
Does Not Compute? Computer Industry To Green Up Its Act
As part of the World Wildlife Fund's Climate Savers program, Google, Intel and a host of other computing heavyweights have pledged to strive for greater energy efficiency. Computer use accounts for an estimated 2 percent of global emissions and about half the energy behind that is wasted as heat. Why it sounds like another business case for fighting climate change.
– Read the San Jose Mercury News article
– Climate Savers Computer Initiative website
|
|
