The Katoomba Group's Ecosystem Marketplace

California Forest Protocols hit the Retail Sector

It’s now possible to buy offsets from a project registered under the California Forest Protocols. The Van Eck Forest Project is a 2,200 redwood forest in Humboldt County, CA, and is the first project to have been registered and independently verified under the Protocols. The Van Eck Forest is managed by the Pacific Forest Trust, and the offsets are available online through the website of BeGreen website, a division of Green Mountain Energy Company.

– Link to the press release

Tokyo on the Forefront of Japanese Cap-and-Trade System

Despite having ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the Japanese central government has been unable to reach consensus on an emissions trading system, and its largest city is no longer willing to wait. Tokyo’s legislative assembly may pass a bill enacting a cap-and-trade regime as early as next week. If the bill is passed, major companies with operations in Tokyo, including Toshiba and All Nippon Airways, will be expected to participate. Said Kimo Hirata, a member of the city’s environment council: “The Tokyo Metropolitan government is using its power to influence other local governments to act on this issue. But it's still important for the national government to look at what Tokyo is doing and reach a decision.''

– Read the Bloomberg article

Postal Industry Launches Own Carbon Metric

Amidst the buzz of carbon footprints and sustainability, have you thought about the impact of your mail? Well, the postal industry has. Earlier this week, the International Post Corporation announced it had created a measurement standard for postal carriers. The standard aims to help the postal industry rate its carbon management policies against international carbon-reporting standards, like the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and FTSE4Good Index.

– Read the Business Green article

Pulling for Payments for Carbon Services in Uganda

The Katoomba Group, an international network of leaders working to develop markets and payments for ecosystem services (PES), and the Uganda Carbon Bureau, a carbon consulting group focused on Uganda, have teamed up to explore opportunities for developing payments for carbon services in the East African nation. The organizations will select two Uganda-based sites to develop carbon-focused PES projects, with the aim of facilitating the projects’ market entry and serving as a prototype for similar projects in developing countries.

– Link to the Katoomba Group website
– Link to the Uganda Carbon Bureau website

California Considers Regulating Voluntary Offsets

Late last month, two bills aimed at tightening marketing standards for voluntary carbon offsets passed one of two California legislative bodies. Each now awaits a vote in the opposite body. The bills seek to set requirements for truthful marketing and limit the types of projects eligible to generate offset credits, respectively. Offset retailers and others whose business may be hurt by the regulation reacted soon after the bills’ passage, calling the legislation hastily crafted.

– Link to the Ecosystem Marketplace article

REDUCE & RETIRE: THE LATEST ON CARBON NEUTRAL

“Kicking the CO2 Habit”: World Environment Day Celebrated Around the World

New Zealand was the host of this year’s World Environment Day, in recognition of its efforts toward carbon neutrality, but it was not the only country to honor the planet that day. On June 5, countries around the world hosted events to draw awareness to humanity’s impact on the earth, mostly notably the damage inflicted by anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Regarding the world’s carbon addiction, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said, “It consumes and controls us, makes us deny important truths, and blinds us to the consequences of our actions.” World Environment Day is the UN’s primary holiday designated to spread awareness of global environmental issues.

– Read the Environment News Service article
– Visit the UNEP World Environment Day 2008 website

Smarty Pants? No, Smart Panties!

Sri Lankan apparel company MAS Holdings claims it has built the first carbon neutral factory in the world. The factory features energy-saving design elements that enable the building to use 40% less energy than a regular factory of the same size. Why the green move? Marks & Spencer, Britain’s biggest clothier, shelled out nearly half a million US dollars for its green design, as part of the company’s portfolio of efforts to become carbon neutral within five years. The underwear that MAS Holdings produces for Marks & Spencer is slated to reach British stores later this month.

–Read the Economist article

CLIMATE NORTH AMERICA

US Climate Bill Falters in Senate

After months of debate, the Climate Security Act bill, more commonly known among political wonks as “Lieberman-Warner,” fell short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster in the US Senate. The landmark bill sought to create, among other environmental ends, a national cap-and-trade system and billions of dollars of Federal funds to clean energy. Not all environmentalists are grumbling, however. "Any bill that does not set us on track to reduce atmospheric carbon levels to 350 parts per million is wishful and dangerous thinking," wrote Kieran Suckling, of the Center for Biological Diversity, in an e-mail. "We're thankful the bill was introduced, but more thankful that it did not pass."

– Read the Washington Post article
– Read the Associated Free Press article

Quebec, Ontario Sign Emissions Trading Deal

As Canada considers the pros and cons of a carbon tax, the country’s two biggest provinces have signed an MOU to establish a cap-and-trade system for GHG emissions by 2010. The system would limit the emissions of regulated entities and require them to pay a fee to companies who stay within their compliance limits. The Canadian federal government is against a cap-and-trade system that imposes absolute limits, saying there is “no way” it can meet its Kyoto obligations by 2012. Critics of the provinces’ agreement say it lacks a plan to actually reduce emissions.

– Read the Reuters article

Brookings Study Ranks US Cities for Carbon Emissions

If you live in a city east of St. Louis, chances are good that you live in one of the most carbon intensive cities in the United States. A study released by the Brookings Institution and the New-York based Regional Plan this week found that nine of the ten US metropolitan areas that release the most greenhouse gas emissions are located east of the Mississippi River. Lexington-Fayette, KY and Indianapolis, IN ranked as the first and second worst polluters. The report also noted a north-south divide, with seven of the largest city emitters located in the South. However, per capita urban citizens release less CO2 than their rural counterparts, indicating that city living is greener than rural living – from a climate standpoint at least.

– Read the Business Green article
– Read the Reuters News article

Study: $35 Carbon Fee Would Trigger 10% Emissions Cut in US

A price of $35 per metric ton of carbon in the United States would result in a 10% emissions cut in the US, according to a study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon and Penn State Universities. Moreover, this level of emission cuts would occur without additional investment in clean technologies. "Our findings indicate that significant reductions in CO2 can and would be observed in the near-term, even before more efficient power generation technologies are deployed on a wide scale," said Jay Apt, associate professor at Carnegie Mellon and co-author of the study.

– Read the Sustainable Business article

A TOUCH OF KYOTO

Turkey Readies to Ratify Kyoto

The Turkish government has endorsed the Kyoto Protocol and will send the protocol to the country’s parliament for approval. "Turkey had not signed this protocol for its own reasons but not signing it means that it was excluded from the discussions," said Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek after a cabinet meeting. Turkey had been one of only a few countries who have not ratified Kyoto, including the United States.

– Read the Reuters article

BBC Investigation Reveals CDM Additionality Slips

A BBC World Service investigation has uncovered “serious flaws” in Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), according to an article published on the media service’s website earlier this week. The BBC investigation sheds light on three Indian projects that may have been realized without CDM funds, which would violate the requirement of “additionality.” Referring to the mechanism’s framework for verifying additionality, Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, responded, “At the end of the day it's always a matter of judgment. And no, it's not watertight."

– Read the BBC News article

Carbon Credit Prices Forecasted to Rise Substantially Between Now and 2012

Prices for Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) and EU Allowances (EUAs) are expected to rise significantly by the end of Kyoto’s first commitment period in 2012, analysts have projected. On June 3, CER prices hit just over 19 euro per metric ton, the highest price they’d commanded until then. Carbon analysis firm New Carbon Finance predicts that EUAs could garner as much as 38 euro per metric ton by 2012.

– Read the Business Green article
– Read the Carbon Positive article

Russia Lifts Curtain on Anti-Kyoto Stance

Since taking office in May, Russia’s new president Dmitry Medvedev has made clear that he intends to take a different path than his predecessor with regard to environmental action. "I cannot neglect the necessity of overhauling the system of ecological responsibility," Medvedev said earlier this week. The speaker of the parliament agrees, saying he is “absolutely convinced that both the Kyoto Protocol and the post-Kyoto process are vitally important," and that without the participation of the US, China, and India, the post-Kyoto process will not be effective.

– Read the Guardian article

CARBON FINANCE

PNG Running Out of Forests to Protect, Despite Push for Conservation Payments

Papua New Guinea and Australia may have entered a forest carbon partnership in March, but according to a study released by the University of Papua New Guinea and the Australian National University, there may not be much forest left to finance. The report uses high-resolution imagery to show the extent of forest coverage loss between 1972 and 2002. The report claims that, at current rates of deforestation and degradation, half of the country’s forests will be gone or severely damaged.

– Read The Age article
– Read the Forest Newswire article

Montreal Climate Exchange Opens

Last week saw the launch of Canada’s first exchange for greenhouse gas emissions. The Montreal Climate Exchange (MCeX) is a joint venture between the Chicago Climate Exchange and The Montreal Exchange, Inc. Though voluntary to join, the MCeX is the country’s first regulated environmental market. Canada does not yet have a cap-and-trade system, but Environment Minister John Baird has remarked that carbon trading is part of the country’s plan to cut GHG emissions 20% by 2020.

– Read the Associated Free Press article
– Read the Bloomberg article

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Algae: the Big Idea for Future Energy

The rise of global food prices has prompted skepticism from the international community over biofuels. The critics point to improper land use, and claim fertile land traditionally used to produce food is now being used to produce biofuel. Innovators are now looking to algae, which takes little land produce and grows several times faster than traditional crops. The central problem with algae is its scalability. It cannot be produced on the mass scale needed to serve as a reliable substitute for conventional fuels. Government’s can hasten the process of developing a reliable substitute for oil by either subsidizing specific alternative energy industries or placing a price on carbon. Either way, the future role of algae could, “at the very least, power one person to the shops without taking someone else’s food off the table.”

– Read the Forbes article
– Read the Times Online article