EU Carbon Rises, Has Biggest Weekly Gain in Two Years on Outages

European Union carbon permits for December rose, posting their biggest weekly gain for two years, after Germany decided to close 7 gigawatts of nuclear capacity.
Carbon allowances for December rose 2.6 percent to close at 17.22 euros ($24.41) a metric ton on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London. They had a weekly gain of 9.5 percent, the biggest jump since March 2009.
Lower generation of nuclear power will require power utilities to burn more fossil fuels, boosting emissions and demand for permits. Japan upgraded its warning for parts of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant from a four to a five on a seven-level international scale, the International Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday. The five rating is for accidents with wider consequences. The worst nuclear accident, Chernobyl in 1986, rated seven.
“The longer the situation in Japan remains critical, the greater political pressure in Germany to keep the 7 gigawatts offline,” Mark Lewis, an analyst in Paris with Deutsche Bank AG, said today by phone. “I think it is now looking increasingly likely that at least 1 to 2 gigawatts of the 7 gigawatts will not be brought back into service.”

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Diversified investors should look to have 40 per cent of their portfolios in Carbon

Climate change forces new look at investor risk

Diversified investors should look to have 40 per cent of their portfolios in assets that are primed for the impacts of climate change, according to an advisory report to the investment industry.

The report, Climate Change Scenarios: Implications for Strategic Asset Allocation, was drafted by asset consultants Mercer, which advises big institutional investors, such as pension funds. Mercer concluded that climate change will force these highly diversified investors to re-balance their portfolios according to sources of risk, rather than the traditional approach purely according to asset classes.

Mercer says investors should bear in mind three areas of change: energy efficiency and technology; societal shifts, such as in health and food security; and shifts in policy, particularly in carbon emissions reduction.

In light of this, a range of “climate sensitive” areas were identified for returns and risk management potential emerging from the most likely climate change scenarios emerging over the next two decades. The report identifies listed shares, infrastructure and private equity as the best asset classes for investment in the recommended areas of timberland, renewable energy, energy efficiency and other sustainable assets. Investment opportunities in low-carbon technology could be as high as $5 trillion by 2030, the report states.

The report warns that weather extremes expected in a warming world, such as drought, floods and storms, could contribute 10 per to portfolio risk by 2030. But investors must not only take account of environmental damage, but anticipate policy changes designed to tackle the climate problem.

In the most likely of four global policy settings to emerge by 2030, action on climate change would be in place on a regionally divergent basis with some nations taking stronger measures to cut emissions than others, but no more than medium ambition overall. A carbon price of $110 per tonne could be expected in this scenario by 2030, the report says.

 

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News source : Carbon Positive

First Green Climate Fund meeting will take place next mo

UN climate chief urges governments to deliver on Cancun pledges

Christiana Figueres confirms first Green Climate Fund meeting will take place next month.

The UN's top climate change official has issued a timely call for governments to accelerate efforts to deliver on last year's Cancun Accords, ahead of the year's first official round of international climate negotiations in Bangkok next month.

Diplomats are scheduled to recommence negotiations at a meeting in Bangkok scheduled to run from April 3 to 8. The conference is intended to provide an update on progress against the Cancun Accords and agree a work-plan for this year's negotiations, which will culminate in December at the COP 17 summit in Durban, South Africa.

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source of article: Business green

Nairobi opens new carbon credit exchange - 360investgroup

Nairobi opens new carbon credit exchange

Kenya is better placed to emerge as a regional carbon emission trading hub.

The exchange is modelled after the Chicago and Australia carbon exchanges but several aspects of the two have been domesticated.

The exchange has put Kenya on the global map of advance in the trading of carbon credits and will trigger more investments in development of clean, efficient energy and afforestation projects.

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In the news this week.....

Korea unveils carbon scheme rules
South Korea has outlined detailed rules for a scheme that will impose emission targets on over 1,500 facilities this year.

Nefco buys post-2012 CERs from Laos hydro project
Nefco has signed a deal to buy 140,000 CDM credits from a project in Laos that aims to generate carbon credits eligible for the EU ETS after 2012.

EU steel production rises 7.5%
Steel production in the 27-nation bloc rose 7.5 per cent in the first two months of 2011 compared with the same period a year ago, industry data showed on Monday.

Hungary should donate AAUs to Japan, opposition says
Hungary’s main opposition party has urged the government to donate 10 million emission rights to quake-stricken Japan to help Tokyo meet its Kyoto target.



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Major UK retailer to buy 1 million voluntary offsets

Major UK retailer to buy 1 million voluntary offsets

Published: 22 Feb 2011 17:29 CET Last updated: 22 Feb 2011 18:07 CET

Source - point Carbon

 The UK’s Co-operative Group could buy around 1 million voluntary credits by the end of 2012.
 The group, which is owned by its members and is a major player in UK food retail and financial services, said Tuesday it may have to buy around 1 million offsets in order to meet a target announced last Friday to become carbon neutral by the end of 2012.

“Our emissions were around 1.1 million in 2009 and we reckon we will need something near that number to be carbon neutral,” said Ben Norbury of the Co-operative.

The Co-op’s move to become carbon neutral in such a short space of time – part of a multi-pronged ‘Ethical Operating Plan’ – means it will become one of the UK’s biggest buyers of voluntary offset credits.

Co-op, which employs 120,000 in the UK, also aims to double its support for clean energy to £1 billion ($1.62 billion), cut the group's operational carbon emissions 35 per cent by 2017 and ensure that financial products offered by the company are not involved in funding fossil fuels.

Previously, Co-op has only bought tens of thousands of offsets, but is now ramping up its purchase plan to offset emissions across the group’s operations, particularly energy consumption at its stores and offices, as well as distribution and transport.

Projects

Co-op buys credits from the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), one of the main industry standards in the voluntary market.

The offsets are sourced by JP Morgan Climate Care from projects that can demonstrate wider environmental and sustainable development benefits, such as treadle pumps in India and efficient cooking stoves in Cambodia.

“The use of treadle pumps in India, rather than diesel-based generators, cuts emissions and helps farmers in other ways, such as improving harvests and delivering greater income,” Norbury said.

Co-op will buy from similar projects in the future but on a much larger scale, Norbury said, providing a much-needed boon for the voluntary carbon market.

Since 2008, the non-compliance market has been struggling in the face of the economic downturn and lack of a future US trading scheme, where voluntary credits might have been eligible.

Carbon Neutrality

Edward Hanrahan, a spokesman for the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (Icroa), said that demand from UK companies for voluntary market offsets was likely 12 million tonnes last year, catapulting the Co-op into the upper tier of buyers.

Other major UK-based buyers of voluntary offsets include the London-based operations of HSBC bank, Barclays Bank, and US-owned Land Rover, a UK brand of offroad vehicles.

Despite the lingering impact of the economic downturn on the willingness of companies and consumers to offset, demand in the UK’s voluntary market, Europe’s largest, may pick up this year as companies aim to meet carbon neutral targets, said Hanrahan, who is also head of sales at JP Morgan Climate Care.

Marks and Spencer, one of the UK’s biggest food and clothing retailers, may have to buy voluntary credits by the end of next year to meet a £200 million commitment made in 2007 to become carbon neutral by 2012.

Source - Point Carbon

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EUAs up 5% on German nuke closures, energy prices

EUAs up 5% on German nuke closures, energy prices
Front-year EUAs gained 85 cents on Monday, ending at their highest level in over 10 months on surging gas and power prices and reports of looming German nuclear plant closures.

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