Falling Prices For Emissions Credits

One of the interesting phenomena of this early stage of the development of carbon trading markets is the long-term price trend. On the European market, there are forecasts that carbon offsets for the 2007-2012 period will fall to 8 Euros per ton from about 21 Euros per ton today. See article here. On the Chicago Climate Exchange, prices have fallen from over $4.50 last year to under $3.50 this year. While falling prices may be bad for the carbon trading markets, on a global level they are encouraging. These prices apparently reflect the ease with which industries are finding low cost methods of reducing and/or offsetting CO2 emissions. This price signal, together with the large flow of investment dollars into "green" climate change projects (see BBC article), will likely encourage further and more vigorous government action to reduce GHG emissions. As mandatory reductions take hold in California and elsewhere in the U.S., it will be interesting to watch the price signal, whether rising or falling, and to see whether and how government reacts to it.

Cap-and-Trade Is Whack-A-Mole Until Everyone's Bound By The Cap

It may not be news, but now it's scientifically documented:  when we export manufacturing to China and import the resulting goods back here, the net result is to increase greenhouse gas emissions.  See the June 2007 paper by Carnegie Mellon University engineers Christopher L. Weber and Scott H. Matthews, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.  Here's a link to a press release about the paper:  http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/cmu-cmr061407.php.

This phenomenon is likely to accelerate as less-than-global cap-and-trade schemes are enacted. 

--Brian

CCX announces formation of California Climate Exchange

The Chicago Climate Exchange has announced that it is forming a California-specific exchange to handle any trading scheme that may develop under AB 32. Here's the press release:

http://www.chicagoclimateexchange.com/news.jsf?story=1401

Morgan

Climate Change & CEQA

The California Attorney General has urged local officials to reject the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Yuba Highlands development project because the EIR failed to address greenhouse gas emissions. The Attorney General asserted that this failure constituted a violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/yuba_48418___article.html/county_letter.html

Chief Energy Officer?

According to a report by Hill & Knowlton, 82 percent of senior technology leaders from around the world said they "closely monitor" global warming news, but only 35 percent have an energy strategy to deal with it. The report suggests the creation of a corporate Chief Energy Officer position.

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/news_third.cfm?NewsID=35038

Morgan

More on the Climate Registry

Following up on yesterday's news, here is the Climate Registry's press release on its new members:

http://www.theclimateregistry.org/The_Climate_Registry_Press_Release.pdf

Morgan

Led by California, 31 states with over 70% of the U.S. population
announced a nearly-national greenhouse gas registry today.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-greenhouse9may09,0,3341341.story
?coll=la-home-headlines

Morgan