This Week in V-Carbon

The Western Climate Initiative (WCI) is striking out for new territory, announcing plans to create a new non-profit corporation. WCI, Inc. will offer technical and administrative services for state and provincial emissions trading and support ongoing integration of the participating jurisdictions’ trading programs. Initial plans are to develop a compliance tracking system that covers both offset certificates and allowances, and conduct market monitoring of allowance and offset trades. WCI, Inc.’s inaugural Board of Directors includes officials from Quebec and British Columbia provinces and the State of California.

– Read WCI’s Inc.’s press release/a>

Coal plants applying for CDM credits have come under fire after a report from the Stockholm Institute has shown that plants are inflating the benefits of switching from subcritical to supercritical technology (supercritial plants run their biolers at much higher temperature). The criticism centers on coal plant’s claim that they’ll only switch to supercritical technology given an incentive like the opportunity to generate CERs, however, the report finds that plants switch for a number of reasons, putting the additionality component of CDM validation into question. The Sierra Club and CDM Watch pointed out this, as well as other problems with coal plant methodologies this last summer, but the CDM Methodology Panel has been slow to act since then. This new study (PDF) could be the straw to break the coal camel’s back. Meanwhile, criticism is also being leveled at South Africa’s plan to employ CCS technology to reduce carbon emissions from its many coal plants. Advocates of CCS in the country were pointing to it as the only realistic solution in a country primarily powered by coal, while critics said that utilizing CCS would put coal power at about the same price as renewables and was an unproven technology that helped utilities justify the construction of more coal plants.

– Read about the Stockholm Institute’s findings
– Read about South Africa’s CCS debate

Good news for clean-tech in Mexico: recent developments announced in Melbourne will enable Mexico to earn royalties on carbon credits generated by the wide-spread installation of energy-efficient light bulbs in low-income households. . Australian project develop Cool NRG International, supported by Bank of America Merril Lynch will distribute 45 million light bulbs – this massive retrofit is projected to cut 16 million tonnes of CO2 over 10 years. CERs generated will be sold to climate investors in developed nations (with an eye on Australian investors), and Mexico will receive a royalty that is partially fixed and partially market-based. The project is viewed as a potential model for other developing countries to fund their own emissions reducing technologies.

– Read more from Reuters

Now that Australia’s Clean Energy Future legislation is officially on the books after passing a vote in the Senate last week, activity around the carbon pricing mechanism is taking off. Australian prime minister Julia Gillard was already mentioning ongoing talks to link Australia’s carbon market with New Zealand and the European Union. While some businesses seem wary of building up portfolios of carbon credits given the opposition party’s pledge to overturn the law after elections in 2013, carbon brokers and project developers had a bullish view of the market post-2015, when the scheme transitions from a flat tax to a cap-and-trade program.

When that cap-and-trade program begins, businesses will have the option of meeting 50% of their obligations with offsets generated abroad (the other 50% will be generated domestically under programs like the Carbon Farming Initiative, as well as other project methodologies being developed by the Australian government), with companies like the Netherlands-based utility Eneco teaming up with an Australia-based project developer Ramp Carbon to capitalize on the new market for foreign offsets. Meanwhile, the ASX Group, who operate Australia’s main stock exchange, announced that they will be offering secondary and futures markets for carbon allowances in advance of the 2015 cap-and-trade program – likely a good move, given the current low prices of international offsets, such as CERs, which are eligible under the law.

– Read more about developers’ and brokers’ outlook
– Read about Australia’s plan to link up with New Zealand and the EU
– Read more about Australia’s upcoming secondary and carbon futures market

Australia has approved its first methodology for the Climate Farming Initiative, which aims to reduce emissions from the agriculture and land-use sector by offering opportunities to generate offsets for Australia’s new carbon market as well as international carbon markets. More than 680 commercial piggeries are eligible to utilize the methodology. The “Methodology for the Destruction of Methane Generated from Manure in Piggeries”, will soon be joined by methodologies to reduce emissions from savanna burning, landfill gas capture, and forest carbon projects.

– Read about the methodology

With an ongoing slump in the EU ETS and European and Japanese support for CDM on the wane, some are declaring carbon trading a failure. Not so fast, say market watchers, who point to a new wave of markets coming online that have paid close attention to the lessons of the early models. “The carbon market is not dead,” said Wolfgang Sterk of Germany’s Wuppertal Institute. “It is still seen by many as the most flexible way to cut emissions. Australia and California don’t care how low prices are in the E.U.” In the second generation, says the New York Times, expect a more unified widespread market to replace project-based crediting as under the CDM. Australia and California will both allow relatively high levels of offsets, driving demand for international credits and capital into developing countries for offsets. The Australian market, for example, is expected to generate demand for 100 million credits a year.

– Read more at the New York Times

The UK Government’s Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) league table has been released, ranking energy-intensive organizations on their carbon management. Its data will used to calculate the UK carbon levy (right?) but for the most part impacts will be reputational, since it’s no longer a basis for carbon credits allocation under the now-defunct credit scheme. The CRC League Table so far has had an uneven reception; a major criticism has been that its metrics – which must accommodate a wide variety of sectors and firm type– aren’t very useful. The table measures emissions just over the last year, and also considers factors like participation in the Carbon Trust Standard.

– Read the KPMG article
– Read more from Data Center Dynamics

Japan will present its proposal for an emissions trading scheme at the East Asia Summit taking place in Indonesia this weekend. They have been pursuing a bilateral mechanism that would act alongside the current CDM but expand opportunities for developing nations to access Japanese low-carbon technologies in order to generate carbon credits. The announcement is likely a pre-COP 17 attempt to bolster support for the bilateral ETS among East Asian countries, many of whom would stand to benefit from a more flexible mechanism than the CDM.

– Read more

Following a full investigation by BBC Trust into its own BBC World News’ sponsorship practices, the international media organization has been banned from buying certain programmes and accepting some sponsorship deals. What does this have to do with carbon, you ask? A focus of the investigation were alleged breaches of BBC’s editorial guidelines in shows about carbon trading, among 15 other programmes. The investigation found that BBC accepted programming on Malaysia from FBC Media – whose parent company has financial ties to the Malaysian government. Another show, Taking the Credit, was funded by a company called the Africa Carbon Livelihood Trust, which had links to Envirotrade, an offset project developer featured in the documentary. According to the BBC Trust there was a conflict of interest because “there was an inextricable link between the funder organisation and a project featured in the programme.” A spokesperson for BBC World News countered, “There were breaches of BBC guidelines though we note that the trust report found no breaches of impartiality in any of the programmes.”

– Read more from the Guardian

Last week the State Council approved a plan to cut emissions that includes a commitment toward developing carbon markets in China. Five cities and two provinces were selected to test carbon emissions controls, including Shanghai, which will pilot an emissions trading market beginning in 2013. A nationwide trading program could go live by 2015. According to Mei Dewen, president of the China Beijing Environment Exchange, “China can adopt both an absolute carbon cap and voluntary carbon trading in the beginning to test the waters, then gradually consolidate the two measures.” The Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange has already inked a deal with Industrial Bank to finance trading activities on the exchange’s planned platform; Industrial Bank will manage funds transacted and provide liquidity for the Shanghai exchange.

– Read coverage on the emissions control work program at China Daily
– Read the Bloomberg Businessweek article on Shanghai’s emissions trading platform

Indian IT giant Infosys is taking a major step toward carbon neutrality by announcing plans to rely exclusively on renewable sources for its energy requirements by 2017. At the present, renewable energy accounts for 20% of Infosys’ total energy use. Increases in renewable energy combined with implementation of energy efficiency technologies will help Infosys meet its sustainability targets, even as the company expands at a rapid pace (Infosys adds about 2-3 million square feet of infrastructure space per year). Large-scale renewable energy use in India is a growing trend – Tulsi R. Tanti, Chariman of Suzlon Energy, says that ‘50 percent of India’s energy requirements [will] be met by renewable energy by 2017.’

– Read more

The China Carbon Forum seeks a General Manager for a year long, part-time position in fund raising and and management.

– Read more about the position here

– Read more about the position here

The ICF London office seeks a manager to attract and manage climate policy, carbon market, renewable energy and adaptation contracts for European Commission.

– Read more about the position here

The World Resources Institute’s Climate and Energy Program seeks an Associate or Senior Associate to undertake project planning and management, research, analysis and writing, and outreach and communications for the Collective Climate Action Obj

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