India is expected to see a three-fold rise in the number of carbon credits issued for emission reduction projects over the next three years, according to a study by CRISIL Research.
New capacity addition in renewable energy sector will drive the issuance of carbon credits (Certified Emission Reduction units or CERs) to 246 million units by December 2012 from 72 million in November 2009, the study said.
A new study published in Nature Geoscience and conducted by researchers in the UK suggests that despite efforts to cut greenhouse gases,carbon emissions will increase by three percent this year, which is similar to the growth rates seen between the years 2000 and 2008.
The UK needs to triple its efforts towards cutting emissions and moving to a low-carbon economy by 2050, a report has warned.
The Climate Policy Tracker for the European Union by wildlife charity WWF and innovation company Ecofys reveals that EU countries on average are doing only a third of what is needed to cut emissions by between 80 per cent and 95 per cent by mid-century.
The report examines all EU countries on areas such as transport, buildings and renewables, giving them an overall grade of between A and G, and reveals the UK scores only an "E" rating.
The grade means the UK is doing only a third of what is necessary to put the economy on track towards massively slashing greenhouse gases by 2050.
While the country is awarded a "best in class" B rating for its Climate Change Act, which was the first legislation in the world to set legally binding long-term targets for cutting emissions, the report says the UK lags behind other countries in a number of its climate policies.
According to the report, the UK trails behind Germany, Denmark, Ireland and Sweden on the overall steps it is taking to cut its emissions and move to a low-carbon economy.
The four best countries receive only a D rating, meaning they still need to double their efforts to put them on track to cutting emissions by the amount needed.
United Nations Carbon Credit Prices May Rise by 42% by 2012, Barclays Says
Prices of United Nations Certified Emission Reduction credits will increase by as much as 42 percent by 2012 as new rules reduce supplies, Barclays Plc said. CERs under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism program may rise to about 18 euros a metric ton in two years, and to as much as 25 euros in the third phase of the European Union’s carbon- trading plan starting 2013, Trevor Sikorski, a London-based analyst at Barclays Capital, said yesterday. UN CERs for December fell 1.6 percent to 12.69 euros a ton yesterday on London’s European Climate Exchange.
The issuance of as many as 30 million tons of CERs under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism may be delayed to next year, cutting this year’s supplies by about 30 percent,Sikorski said in an interview at the Carbon Asia Forum 2010 conference in Singapore.
Prices of CERs may average 14.5 euros a ton in the first half of 2011, and 16 euros in the second half, according to a Barclays report on Oct. 21. CDM offsets are currently used for compliance in the European carbon market, the world’s biggest.
The UN and the European Union said they may issue new rules on the methodology of issuance and acceptance of carbon credits for hydro-fluorocarbon (HFC) combustion plants and other industrial gases.
The European Commission, regulator of the EU program, plans to publish an impact assessment on offset restrictions by November and said in May that projects related to two industrial gases, HFC-23 and nitrous oxide, create significant windfall profits and may be banned after 2012. A proposed U.S. energy law bans HFC credits.
Prices of CERs, which typically track prices of European Union carbon allowances, will rise as UN restrictions will reduce supplies of HFC-linked CERs and EU rules will force utilities and other users to switch to credits from renewable energy industries, Sikorski said
Green Campaigners welcome new Console game - Fate of the World, a new strategy game launched on Tuesday.
Fate of the World: The video game in which players save the world from catastrophic climate change.
Photograph: Red Redemption
They've previously tackled alien invasions, gang violence in New York and how to raise a happy family, but this week computer games wrestle with an even more pressing issue: climate change.
Arriving on PCs on Tuesday and Macs shortly after, the British-made Fate of the World puts players at the helm of a future World Trade Organisation-style environmental body with a task of saving the world by cutting carbon emissions or damning it by letting soaring temperatures wreak havoc through floods, droughts and fires.
The strategy game is already being hailed by gaming experts as a potential breakthrough for such social change titles, and welcomed by climate campaigners as a way of reaching new audiences.
Fate of the World is released Tuesday for £14.99 via digital download and Oxfam stores across the UK.
