This coverage is provided by the Australian Climate Forum. For a comprehensive coverage of all aspects of climate change in the media see - www.autralianclimateforum.com or our News Archive

Carbon load to be spread

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner says the federal Government cannot offer
widespread exemptions from its proposed emissions trading scheme without
placing excessive pressure on industries that will be covered by the
regime. Mr Tanner told //The Australian// he was being lobbied by
businesses arguing for a one-in, all-in approach to emissions trading,
under which the Government would put a price on carbon emissions to
encourage a transition to a low-emission economy. His warning that the
Government could not exempt economic sectors "left, right and centre",
came as Kevin Rudd savaged the federal Opposition as "an absolute policy
shambles" on the issue, and as Brendan Nelson continued to distance the
Coalition from pre-election promises to include fuel in an emissions
scheme.
27 June The Australian article
27 June The Australian opinion

Liberals back petrol in carbon trading scheme

The Federal Opposition has signalled cautious support for including
petrol in a carbon trading scheme, as long as it does not drive up fuel
prices. Federal Parliament is now in recess for two months after a week
dominated by debate on climate change.
27 June ABC News online article

Heating a fuel tax is explosive politics

Good climate change policy includes more than petrol. Given the level of
public concern over rising petrol prices, it is only natural the
Opposition has decided to play politics with what was once a key part of
its own climate change response. It now says transport fuels, which
account for about 17 per cent of Australia's carbon emissions, should
not automatically be included in any carbon trading scheme. To its
credit, the Rudd Government has not taken the bait. Rather, given the
groundwork already laid with the symbolic ratification of the Kyoto
Protocol, the Government has used the Opposition's U-turn to climb
back onto the high moral ground.
26 June The Australian opinion

Brendan Nelson discusses emissions trading

Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson has discussed emissions trading
in a radio interview on the ABC's AM program.
26 June Liberal Party transcript

Fuel prices could rise under carbon trading scheme: Rudd

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has not been able to rule out a petrol price
rise under the carbon emissions trading scheme. In a rowdy Question
Time, the first half of which was dominated by climate change, Mr Rudd
was challenged to confirm if the scheme would raise the cost of petrol.
Mr Rudd agreed that prices could rise.
25 June ABC News online article

Motorists have had their strongest hint yet to prepare for higher petrol
prices under the Rudd Government's plan to fight climate change.
25 June Herald Sun article

EU deal clinched on capping aircraft emissions

MEPs and national governments, represented by the EU's current Slovenian
Presidency, reached a landmark deal on the details of plans to include
aviation in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme as of 2012. The deal still
needs to be formally approved but, according to reports, it would
require all flights, both within the EU as well as international ones
arriving or leaving the bloc, to participate in the Union's carbon
cap-and-trade scheme as of 2012.
27 June EurActiv article

Mauritius plans to sell first carbon credits

Mauritius is planning a first batch of carbon credit projects aimed at
boosting the use of renewable energy on the Indian Ocean island. The
world's rapidly-developing carbon markets allow polluters to invest in
clean energy projects in poor countries. That way, rich countries earn
carbon credits that help them meet targets on reducing greenhouse gas
emissions blamed for climate change.
25 June Reuters article through The Times of India

Tokyo approves Japan's first greenhouse gas curbs

Tokyo's local government has ordered Japan's first mandatory cuts in
greenhouse gas emissions and set up a carbon market, moving faster than
the national government. Tokyo's metropolitan assembly approved plans to
force 1,300 major businesses to cut emissions blamed for global warming
by 25 percent by 2020 compared with 2000 levels. The requirements will
take effect in 2010 followed the next year by a carbon market, which
gives businesses an incentive to go green by letting them buy and trade
emission credits.
25 June AFP article

Japan to test carbon trade but puts off interim CO2 goal

Japan will start a trial system for carbon trade this year, Prime
Minister Yasuo Fukuda said, unveiling a climate change policy that set a
goal for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but stopped short of
what environmentalists say is key. Japan will aim to cut its emissions
by 60-80 percent by 2050 and announce an interim target sometime next
year, Fukuda said in a speech one month before hosting a G8 summit,
where global warming is high on the agenda.
9 June Reuters article
9 June aap article through Yahoo 7

The top UN official for climate change urged Japan to flesh out an
announcement that it intended to slash carbon emissions blamed for
stoking global warming. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said the announcement
by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, was useful but sketchy.
12 June AFP article through Yahoo News

A Japanese climate policy plan is likely to set a 2050 target to cut
greenhouse gas pollution but it also needs a mid-term emissions goal for
Japan to gain credibility at next month's G8 summit, experts say.
6 June Reuters article

Japan's capital Tokyo is preparing to force industry to make big cuts in
greenhouse gases, an official said, taking the lead in a country
struggling to meet its Kyoto Protocol obligations. Tokyo's outspoken
governor, Shintaro Ishihara, has decided to go it alone and create
Japan's first emissions cap system, an idea that has met resistance
among some in industry and the central government. "If we don't make the
efforts that we should right now, we would regret it after 20 or 30
years," Ishihara told business leaders.
3 June AFP article

Rejected Indian CDM projects head to CCX

Failed Indian Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects are being
registered with the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) for offset credits,
Carbon Finance has learned. Two developers, Bajaj Auto and Carbonyatra,
confirmed that projects they have registered with the exchange were
initially designed to be CDM projects. Such projects are likely to be
controversial, as US legislators mull a federal US cap-and-trade
programme. The role of international offsets in any such programme is
proving vexatious, and some US commentators consider CDM credits to be
suspect, believing many projects to be ‘non-additional’ – that is, that
they would have gone ahead without carbon finance.
25 June Carbon finance article

Stock markets join cleantech index gold rush

Two of the world's biggest stock exchanges, FTSE and NASDAQ announced
plans for new indices designed to serve booming demand from
environmentally conscious investors. FTSE said that it has teamed up
with cleantech-focused investment firm Impax to launch a new index
dedicated to tracking investments in alternative energy and energy
efficiency, water treatment and pollution control, and waste
technologies and resource management.
23 June GreenBiz.com article

Exports to Europe may trip on carbon barrier

Indian goods being exported to the European Union may face higher
barriers if the 27-member grouping goes ahead with a proposal to place a
carbon tax on goods imported from advanced developing countries. While
the EU justifies the proposed tax as a measure to create a level-playing
field between polluting developing countries and countries that have
agreed to cut emissions under the Kyoto protocol, India feels that
the move may be yet another step to render exports from certain
countries non-competitive.
23 June The Economic Times article

Climate change will mean tax pain

There will be pain. Climate change? Think pain. Think the kind of pain
that comes from having your wallet drained, your job threatened and
cherished habits overturned. In fact, brace yourself for complete
head-to-toe pain when we’re finally forced to adapt to the new way of
life in store. How can it be otherwise, given the enormity of even
slowing global warming, never mind stopping it? Except, you’d never know
it from our politicians. Cut through all their rhetoric and you realize
that, almost 11 years on, we’re still paying mere lip service to the
Kyoto Protocol.
22 June The Chronicle Herald opinion

EU heads towards 'carbon leakage' clash

France and Germany are calling on Brussels to identify which sectors
could benefit from special protection measures against foreign
competition under a tightened EU carbon market before wrapping up global
climate talks. But the Commission and a key MEP are insisting on
waiting. The French government, which is set to take over the EU's six
month rotating presidency on 1 July, says the EU should decide now in
favour of imposing special import duties on products made in third
countries with lax climate change regimes. Such duties, to take effect
after 2013, would send a reassuring signal to Europe's heavy industries,
such as cement and steelmakers, who are likely to face tougher emissions
restrictions as the EU tightens its carbon 'belt'.
18 June EurActiv article

European system for cutting carbon dioxide emissions is working well

For the past three years, the European Union has been operating the
world's largest emissions trading system and the first system to limit
and to trade carbon dioxide emissions. An MIT analysis of this initial
" trial" phase finds that—despite its hasty adoption and somewhat rocky
beginning—the European Union cap-and-trade system has operated well and
has had little or no negative impact on the overall EU economy.
12 June ScienceDaily article

New Hampshire signs global warming initiative

New Hampshire has become the 10th US state to participate in a regional
effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The law adds New Hampshire to
the other New England states, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and
Maryland in a market-based, "cap and trade" program to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions from the region's power plants.
11 June The Boston Globe article

Madagascar signs big carbon deal to fund rainforest conservation

Madagascar will sell more than nine million tons of carbon offsets to
fund rainforest conservation in a newly established protected area.
Conservationists say the deal will protect endangered wildlife, promote
sustainable development to improve the economic well-being of people
living in and around the park area, and help fight global warming.
10 June mongabay.com article

Wong warns of climate impact on economy

Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong has warned that an emissions
trading scheme to help combat global warming will have a wide effect on
prices.
6 June AAP article through Finda

Madagascar signs big carbon deal to fund rainforest conservation

Madagascar will sell more than nine million tons of carbon offsets to fund rainforest conservation in a newly established protected area. Conservationists say the deal will protect endangered wildlife, promote sustainable development to improve the economic well-being of people living in and around the park area, and help fight global warming.
10 June mongabay.com article

Carbon prices at two-year high in Europe

Carbon prices in the European Union have hit their highest level in two years on the back of spiralling oil prices. The price is the highest carbon allowances have seen in 25 months, having risen some 40 percent in the last four months alone.
10 June EUobserver article through BusinessWeek

China eyes domestic emissions trading scheme

China's central bank has drawn up a tentative outline for a domestic emissions trading scheme that could cover everything from greenhouse gases to water pollutants, and speed the country's push for greener growth. It is the first sign that Beijing is seriously considering a comprehensive national strategy to force its companies to either control their pollution or pay for their excess, as it struggles to meet its own tough environmental goals.
9 June Reuters article through Planet Ark

Reformed carbon scheme could drive global change, says report

Hopes of a global deal on climate change would be raised by early adoption of the European commission's tough reforms of the region's carbon trading regime, according to a recent report . The Carbon Trust, the company set up to help business curb carbon emissions and develop new, low carbon technologies, said the reforms of the emissions trading scheme (ETS) were a "big, bold stride in the right direction".
9 June The Guardian article

The great carbon bazaar

Evidence of serious flaws in the multi-billion dollar global market for carbon credits has been uncovered by a BBC World Service investigation. The credits are generated by a United Nations-run scheme called the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The mechanism gives firms in developing countries financial incentives to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But in some cases, carbon credits are paid to projects that would have been realised without external funding.
4 June BBC News online article

UN climate chief says cutting fuel taxes a bad idea for the environment

The top U.N. climate official says cutting fuel taxes in the face of rising oil prices would counteract efforts to fight global warming. Yvo de Boer says rich countries must confront their populations with "the environmental consequences of their actions." He says rich governments should encourage consumers to reduce dependence on oil and such fuels that contribute to global warming.
3 June The Associated Press article through International Herald Tribune

Demonstrations in Paris and London over fuel prices

Truckers and taxi drivers slowed traffic around a Paris business district to a crawl in a protest over rising fuel prices, and hundreds of fishermen demonstrated in London to demand government help. Dozens of trucks and taxis in Paris drove slowly toward and around the headquarters of the oil giant Total in La Défense, site of the main financial district on the western edge of the city, to protest a new tax on heavily polluting vehicles.
3 June International Herald Tribune article

Tanzania: Emissions pact pays off

Tanzania, one of the first countries in Africa to sign and ratify the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the mid-1990s, has started to benefit from measures being taken globally to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Recently four villages, two in Morogoro district and one each in Babati and Muheza districts, managed to obtain a total of Sh8 million from a programme under the Kyoto Protocol for sale of carbon dioxide sequestered through participatory management of their village forests.
3 June The Citizen (Dar es Salaam) article

Tokyo City may beat nation in the introduction of carbon trading

Tokyo, the world's most populous city, may introduce carbon-allowance trading as early as 2010, putting the metropolis a step ahead of the national government in efforts to lower greenhouse gases. 2 June Bloomberg article

Oil shock brings cheer at last to EU's carbon market

After slumping to prices that had made it a near-laughing stock, the European Union's carbon market, the Emissions Trading System (ETS), has been given a useful boost by, of all things, oil. In the last three months, the cost of buying a tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) has raced upwards by more than 25 percent, according to Paris-based carbon bourse BlueNext.
1 June Yahoo News article

Scramble for exemption from trading scheme

Major companies and industry bodies in Australia are pushing to be made exempt from the impact of a national carbon emissions trading scheme planned to commence in 2010, claiming they will be hurt by cheap imports or lose out in export markets.
3 May The Australian article

A leading power company has intensified its campaign for compensation for energy producers affected by new climate change laws in Australia, warning the Victorian Premier that following climate adviser Ross Garnaut's plan would cost jobs and jeopardise energy supply. In a letter to Premier John Brumby, TRUenergy managing director Richard McIndoe says Professor Garnaut's vision is impractical and would hurt the economy, threatening private backing for $100 billion in energy infrastructure needed in the next 20 years.
30 April The Age article

Carbon market to boom

Belgian-Dutch financial group Fortis NV expects the global carbon market to expand to about $100 billion in 2008, up two-thirds from last year, an executive at the leading carbon market player said. Shane Spurway, director of Fortis carbon banking in Asia, forecast it could become a $400 billion market as early as 2012, or by 2015, based on the expectation that the United States, alone among major industrialized nations in not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, would join some form of global carbon market in the next couple of years.
24 April Reuters article

Financial houses immersing in carbon trading

Believe in green, trade black and earn greenbacks is the new mantra of brokers and financial services institutions. With carbon trading and clean technologies fast gaining ground as a viable trading instrument, a slew of financial houses are entering the carbon trading segment.
23 April The Economic Times article

Carbon bank pushed at 2020 summit

An independent carbon bank not unlike the Reserve Bank of Australia was among ideas offered to tackle climate change in the 2020 summit's environment stream. Participants focusing on global warming said the bank would be part of a national climate strategy which also included flagship clean energy projects, an independent climate information trust and a dedicated education program.
19 April The Age article

US carbon market is inevitable

A United States market in greenhouse gases is inevitable and President George W. Bush should embrace trading now, so as to sharpen US efforts to slow global warming, European Commissioner Stavros Dimas said.
17 April Reuters article

Greece suspended from carbon trading

Greece has been suspended from United Nations carbon trading in an unprecedented punishment for violating greenhouse gas reporting rules that underpin a fight against global warming, officials said. A group of legal experts enforcing compliance with the Kyoto Protocol also said it was opening proceedings against Canada for alleged violations of rules on accounting for heat-trapping gases.
22 April Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Pacific nations need protection

Safeguards are needed to protect small Pacific nations from environmentally damaging unintended effects of an emissions trading scheme, the Council for International Development says. The Government's Climate Change Bill proposes an emissions trading scheme whereby all sectors of the economy will face limits on how much planet-warming greenhouse gas they emit.
16 April NZPA article

China sells carbon credits

Swedish energy agencies have agreed to pay a total of more than 1 billion yuan to Chinese State-owned energy producers under the clean development mechanism (CDM) project. The CDM is under the Kyoto Protocol, which allows developed countries with a CO2-reduction commitment to buy carbon credits from developing countries.
16 April China Daily article

Japan to buy more carbon credits  

Japan is stepping up efforts to meet its Kyoto Protocol targets by buying more greenhouse gas emissions offsets from abroad than previously planned as its own emissions rise and nuclear power production dwindles.
15 April Reuters article through Planet Ark

Windfall profits for dirty power generators

Polluting electricity generators in Europe are set to reap another round of extraordinary windfall profits from the carbon trading scheme meant to curb their carbon emissions, a new report revealed.
14 April WWF article through Environmental News Network

Climate Action Reserve seeks standards for carbon market

The Climate Action Reserve seeks to provide more certainty, clarity and transparency to a sometimes opaque voluntary carbon reduction market in the United States. The Climate Action Reserve offers a seal of approval for legitimate carbon reduction projects throughout the United States, said Gary Gero, president of the California Climate Registry.
14 April Reuters article

Carbon credit futures launched in India

In a significant development, India's National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited launched its futures contract for Certified Emission Reduction. Forward Markets Commission, chairman, B. C. Khatua inaugurated the launch at NCDEX Exchange Platform. The CER contract of NCDEX will be traded in multiples of one lot of 500 CERs each.
11 April Commodity online article

Carbon credits will save our trees

Using carbon trading to help save trees could generate billions of dollars a year for tropical forest conservation, said Johannes Ebeling, a senior consultant with emissions-credit developer EcoSecurities Group Plc. Polluters seeking to offset harmful emissions and burnish their environmental reputations would buy credits generated by preserving trees in a carbon-trading system. Local villages would receive payments once they demonstrate trees haven't been cleared.
7 April Bloomberg article

Carbon markets could save the Amazon

Global carbon markets could generate billions of dollars each year for developing countries that tackle tropical deforestation, a major source of global warming, according to a new study.  Reducing the rate at which Amazonian rainforests are disappearing by only 10 per cent, for example, would yield 1.5 to 9.1 billion euros, depending on world carbon emission prices, researchers calculated.
6 April AFP article

Markets crucial to climate pact

The British set up a carbon trading market in 2002, followed by the European Union in 2005. New Zealand's system is expected later this year. The United States plans a regional greenhouse gas initiative in the nine Northeast states by 2009, and Australia wants a national system by 2010. All global warming bills in the U.S. Congress include a federal cap-and-trade mechanism. While many people still oppose emissions trading over concerns that it would allow companies to keep polluting, most environmentalists and European governments now view the practice as the easiest and most comprehensive way to regulate industrial emissions.
3 April Associated Press article

Late interest for Thailand in carbon trading

Private companies in Thailand are beginning to pay more attention to benefits from carbon-credit trading, following their investment in projects that save energy and care for the environment. However, since carbon-credit trading began with the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol in February 2005, there has been criticism that they are at least two years behind the action.
2 April The Nation article

Carbon-trading market has an uncertain future

The budding carbon-offsets market could already be on its last legs, industry representatives say, if the latest European proposals are agreed. European negotiators went into a United Nations climate meeting in Bangkok warning developing countries that they need to step up to the challenge of climate change if they are to see additional money flowing into clean-development projects.
2 April Nature article

UNFCCC to regulate emissions

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change can successfully fulfil its role as an emissions-trading regulator, while potential rival watchdogs have conflicts of interest, a United Nation official said.  The UNFCCC regulates projects in developing countries aimed at reducing the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change. The UN credit-trading program is the world's second- biggest carbon market.
1 April Bloomberg article

Emissions trading

EU Emissions Trading 2008 will be held on 7 to 9 July in Brussels. Attend this Environmental Finance conference to hear leading industry and government specialists review the EU Emissions Trading Scheme in depth – in particular how Phase II is working in practice, and their hopes and expectations for Phase III.
Details

New online database on CDM rules

Legal firm Baker & McKenzie has launched a CDM Rulebook website to provide a comprehensive online database for the rules surrounding the Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol .
CDM Rulebook website

Market will resolve problems - Garnaut

Labor's chief adviser on climate change policy believes the market will resolve most problems arising from the introduction of an emissions trading scheme, while power companies claim market forces are likely to cause the greatest disruption. Presenting his blueprint for an emission trading scheme from 2010 to 800 business representatives, Ross Garnaut said he favoured a simple and transparent system with minimal intervention from government.
27 March The Australian article
Link to Garnaut Climate Change Review discussion papers and reports

Cost of climate change more expensive with the exclusion of petrol

Excluding petrol from an Australian emissions trading scheme would only increase the overall cost of moving to a low emissions economy, Professor Ross Garnaut, the Government's chief climate change adviser says.
26 March Herald Sun article

European Union green tax plan

The European Union's environment chief backed a Franco-British proposal to cut sales tax on green products to fight climate change, despite opposition from some countries and within the European Union executive.
25 March Reuters article through Planet Ark

Auctioning of Australian carbon

Australia 's farmers, coal miners and power generators should have to bid at auction for carbon permits when carbon trading starts in 2010, the government's top climate adviser, Ross Garnaut said.
25 March Reuters article through Planet Ark

Joint venture tries to capture carbon market

Pacific Hydro and the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation have formed a carbon services joint venture called Perenia seeking to capture the market before Australia 's emissions trading scheme starts.
24 March The Age article

Trading 'centrepiece of Australian policy'

“An emissions trading scheme will be the centrepiece of Australia ’s climate change policy,” Professor Garnaut said, launching a discussion paper on the topic. “If we get the design right, it will help build a more resilient economy for the long term.”
20 March The Australian article
21 March The Age article
20 March media statement Executive
Summary of the discussion paper
Download the discussion paper (477KB pdf)

Australia needs to look at trading scheme

Australia should establish an emissions trading scheme to tackle climate change before a comprehensive global agreement on carbon trading is reached, the Federal Government's top climate change adviser Ross Garnaut says.
20 March The Daily Telegraph article

Carbon comparisons

Amid ongoing criticism of the voluntary carbon market, World Wildlife Fund and the Stockholm Environment Institute have released the first detailed comparison of the different emerging accreditation schemes for voluntary offsets.
19 March Carbonpositive article

Belarus eagerly awaiting to reap Kyoto Protocol benefits

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus hopes that the European Union will accelerate the ratification of the amendment to the Kyoto Protocol supplement after which Belarus can trade “its emissions quotas”, Minister Alexander Apatsky told a press conference in Minsk .

18 March law.by online article

Australia 's trading system

Australia 's emissions trading system will begin in 2010 and the market will determine the price, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said.
17 March Bloomberg article
17 March ABC News article

United States looking towards carbon trading

Several states in the United States , the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, have recently moved to choose carbon trading, instead of carbon taxation, paving the way for Washington to take similar moves.
17 March Reuters article

Carbon trading guarantee launched

The World Bank has launched a new carbon credit trading guarantee that will allow private-sector firms in developing countries to tap the growing 40 billion euro ($63.11 billion) global carbon market, a senior official said.
17 March Reuters article

Presidential race will decide fate of carbon trading

The outcome of the United States presidential race is likely to play a key role in the future of carbon emissions trading because a federal mandate is needed to kick-start the trading of carbon credits, according to an analyst at market researcher TowerGroup. If a president is elected who favours the Kyoto Protocol process, then a push from the federal government will hasten the acceptance of carbon trading in the United States, said Stephen Bruel.
14 March Financial News article

Domestic carbon emissions trading

Energy-intensive businesses in Britain including supermarkets, banks and hotel chains will have to buy pollution permits from 2010 under a new government emissions trading scheme, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said.
14 March Reuters article through Planet Ark

Greening of Wall Street

On 17 March the first carbon-linked derivatives contracts will begin trading on the Green Exchange, a joint venture between the New York Mercantile Exchange, Evolution Markets, a broker, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and others. America already has a small emissions-trading market in the Chicago Climate Exchange, run by one of the founding fathers of financial derivatives, Richard Sandor. Nevertheless, the NYMEX venture is seen as America 's boldest step yet towards the carbon-trading big league.
13 March The Economist article

Japan seeks to design post-Kyoto program

Japan , one of the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, wants to design an emissions trading program as soon as possible to help it fight climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, the country's Environment Minister, Ichiro Kamoshita said.
11 March Reuters article through International Herald Tribune

Breakthrough in emissions trading

Carbon emissions trading could become the world’s leading derivatives product as businesses in Asia and the United States move to lower their greenhouse gas emissions and competition intensifies between exchanges, according to a senior United States market regulator.
9 March Financial Times article

Leading climate bill to be broadened

A greenhouse emissions business group hopes to shape the United States climate change legislation to include broad use of international carbon offsets, like wind and solar power farms in developing countries that are not currently in the leading climate bill.
6 March Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Nippon Oil Vietnam venture awarded carbon credits

Japan ’s Nippon Oil Corp said that its joint Vietnamese oilfield project had been awarded 4.49 million tons of carbon dioxide emission credits by the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism program.
3 March Reuters article through Thanhnien News

Improved carbon markets

A Federal Trade Commission workshop has highlighted concerns about offset quality and consumer information in the fast-growing voluntary carbon market. Carbon Forum America showcases the response of leaders in the carbon market to develop the necessary standards.
3 March The Economic Times article

Russian firm sells Kyoto credits

Russian power producer OGK-6 has sold some 4.5 million Euros ($6.83 million) of emissions reduction credits under the Kyoto Protocol to the United Kingdom-based Clean Planet Group, its parent firm said.
3 March Reuters article

United Nations criticises European Union proposal

Any European Union requirement for imports to meet the same greenhouse gas emission standards as goods made in the 27-nation bloc would be seen as "acting in bad faith," the top UN climate official said.
3 March Bloomberg article

Brown calls for European carbon bank

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for the creation of an independent European carbon bank to improve the functioning of the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme.
21 February Reuters article

Europe relents on trading reform proposals

The European Commission, bowing to industry concerns, has announced it is ready to exempt Europe's steel, chemical and power sectors from having to purchase crdits for all their carbon dioxide emissions, at least for a while. The EU was keen to see a global deal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, until a deal was in place, the EU would hold back on plans to force more companies to pay to pollute from 2013, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told European business leaders.
21 February Associated Press article through International Herald Tribune

Earlier, France and Germany were among seven countries which wrote to the European Union urging clarity on the overhaul of the Union's emissions trading scheme, saying heavy industries had to be told as soon as possible whether they would continue to receive pollution permits for free.
17 February Financial Times article

Swiss delay levy

Swiss Government proposals to delay the introduction of a levy on carbon dioxide emissions from petrol have prompted mixed responses.
21 February Swissinfo article

New exchange auctions permits

World Green Exchange, an offshoot of an existing electricity and gas trading platform in the United States, has launched a climate exchange in which greenhouse-gas emission permits are auctioned.
21 February Wall Street Journal article

MDG Carbon Facility projects announced

The United Nations Development Programme and Dutch-Belgian finance group Fortis have announced the first project agreements of the new MDG Carbon Facility, a joint effort to support greenhouse-gas-reducing development projects through the carbon-trading mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. The projects are located in Uzbekistan, Macedonia, Yemen and Rwanda.
21 February UNDP media statement

Japan moves closer to cap-and-trade

Japan's government is considering introducing a cap-and-trade system to set limits on greenhouse gas emissions for companies and encourage trading in carbon credits.
20 February Bloomberg article
20 February Guardian article

The Japan Business Federation, a powerful business lobby, has softened its staunch opposition to a cap-and-trade system with mandatory emissions limits.
21 February Reuters article

Carbon tax centrepiece of BC budget

A new carbon tax is the centrepiece of the budget of the government of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The budget is seen as possible the greenest seen in North America. Finance Minister Carole Taylor said the strategy was to "tax something that we know is bad for us," and use the revenue to stimulate wide social change by providing incentives for people and businesses to become more energy efficient.
20 February Globe and Mail article
20 February Vancouver Sun article
20 February Reuters article

Finnish utility to buy 5 million credits

Finnish utility Fortum has signed a dealy to buy more than 5 million carbon dioxide emissions credits from Russian electricity generator TGC-1.
20 February Reuters article

Analysts foresee boom in trading

Analysts foresee a boom in carbon emissions trading by 2020 as the European Union prepares to include new sectors in its Emissions Trading Scheme and the United States' accession to a similar system appears increasingly inevitable.
19 February EurActiv brief

Emissions credits for sale with the groceries

The Stroemmen Storsenter shopping centre outside Oslo in Norway is offering Certified Emissions Reductions for sale along with groceries and the other more usual items for sale at a shopping centre. From a Saturday in mid-February when they begain offering certificates at 165 Norwegian crowns (US$30.58) per tonne until the following Monday they had sold more than 300 certificates, sold to private indivudals and small firms.
18 February Reuters article

US bank chief calls for national cap-and-trade system

Bank of America Corporation Chief Executive Ken Lewis has called on the United States Congress to create a cap-and-trade system to help control carbon emissions. He said the private capital market needed "a stable and predictable regulatory environment with a bias toward clean energy and the green economy."
18 February Associated Press article

Germany to miss deadline

Germany will probably miss a February deadline to issue carbon emissions permits to its industry under the next phase of Europe's carbon trading scheme from 2008-2012, a carbon registry spokeswoman said.
15 February Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Europe proposes to expand trading system

The European Commission has released a set of proposals to expand the current greenhouse gas Emission Trading System to combat global warming and promote renewable energy in the period beyond 2012, when the present trading period ends.
24 January Environment News Service article

Poland is likely to fight to change the European Union's new plan to produce cleaner energy, which it says may hurt its fast-growing emerging economy by forcing coal-fired power companies to raise prices as they seek funds for investments. The European Commission said that the power sector will have to pay fully for carbon credits within the 25-member bloc's emission trading scheme between 2013 and 2020.
24 January Thomson Financial article through Forbes

Carbon market players say the proposed shape of the third phase of the European Union Emissions Trading scheme from 2013 is positive for the price of EU allowances (EUAs) and potentially negative for CERs and ERUs, the carbon credits generated under Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation schemes.
24 January Carbon Positive article

Limit on carbon offsets proposed

The European Union should restrict the availability to heavy industry of cheap carbon offsets to 1.4 billion tonnes from 2008-2020, to meet its greenhouse gas emissions goals, a confidential EU document said. 23 January Reuters article through Planet Ark

Trading 'not enough by itself'

Ken Newcombe, head of Goldman Sachs’ carbon trading division, one of the world’s big global investment houses, says emissions trading will not be enough by itself to achieve the necessary cuts in greenhouse gases .
18 January Reuters article through Carbon Positive

Britain cool on clawing back windfall profits

Britain is focused on making power generators buy more permits to emit greenhouse gases, rather than taking back billions of pounds in windfall carbon profits from utilities, the government says. 18 January Reuters article through Planet Ark

Lawmakers must act now to end a scheme that has handed billions of euros in windfall profits to Europe's biggest polluters, the chief executive of British Gas owner Centrica Sam Laidlaw said.
18 January Reuters article through Planet Ark

Trade up 80 per cent

Trade in the world greenhouse gas credits market rose 80 per cent last year as emissions rules became a concern for more companies, according to carbon analysis group Point Carbon.
18 January Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Slovakia drops suit against Europe

The Slovak government has dropped a law suit it filed against the European Commission over the national allocation of carbon emission allowances for 2008-2012. This followed the Commission's decision to increase Slovakia's limit by 1.7 million tonnes.
16 January Reuters article through The Guardian

Europe allows Bulgaria increased emissions

The European Commission will allow its newest member Bulgaria to increase its greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 per cent by 2020 compared to 2005 levels while its economy catches up, EuroNews reports.
16 January People's Daily article

Japan snaps up credits

The Japanese government and many businesses are scrambling to snap up emissions credits worldwide in a bid to achieve Japan's Kyoto Protocol target.
16 January Asahi Shimbun article

Hong Kong looks to carbon trading

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has hired consultants to look at introducing trades of carbon emissions-related products and is moving to draw up a concrete plan by the year end. According to a new policy direction set forth by its board, it will build on its existing business and expertise in initial public offerings, exchange traded funds and index-linked products to “focus on environmental and greenhouse gases markets.”
16 January Forbes article

Europe to allow poor nations to increase emissions

The European Commission will propose allowing the poorest new central European member states to increase greeenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 per cent by 2020 over 2005 levels under a major energy and climate
change plan to be unveiled next week, European Union sources said. The sources said the 15 old member states would bear the brunt of cuts required to meet the 27-nation European Union's goal of an overall reduction of 20 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels, with national targets set according to GDP per capita.
15 January Reuters article through Planet Ark

India focus on credits from urban projects

Taking a lead in the carbon credit business, India's Urban Development Ministry is going to set up a Clean Development Mechanism facilitation cell for availing carbon credits relating to urban sector projects — energy efficient buildings, mass rapid transportation, solid waste management and sewerage treatment.
14 January Times of India article

CDM puts Japanese technology in Indian subway

Carbon dioxide emissions calculated to be cut through the application of Japanese technology in a subway system built in India with assistance from japan is to be counted as a reduction in Japanese emissions through the Clean Development Mechanism.
11 January Yomiuri Shimbun article

Hungary's plan to cut windfall profits

Hungary's new National Allocations Plan for 2008-2012 will clamp down on windfall profits generated at some firms in the previous allocation period due to oversupply of pollution permits, a ministry official said.
10 January Reuters article through Environmental News Network

Nine sue Europe

Nine member states, including newcomers Bulgaria and Romania, have taken legal action against the European Commission regarding rulings on their national allocation plans.
9 January Novinite Sofia article

Romania has asked for an annulment of a 2007 European Commission
decision to cut its carbon emission quota, a government official said.
6 January Reuters article

Firm seeks carbon credits for GM rice

Arcadia Biosciences says its genetically modified rice requires less nitrogen fertiliser, and so farmers that grow it will lower their emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Swapping global rice supply to the genetically modified  version, the company says, would save the equivalent of 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, and generate £750m in carbon credits for farmers. Arcadia is working with the Chinese Government to reward with carbon credits farmers who grow the firm's genetically modified rice.
8 January Guardian article

Paying for pollution without taxes

Canada's Environment Minister John Baird has rejected introducing a carbon tax, but says new rules to be announced soon will mean that those who do not reduce emissions will pay. Critics suggest his rejection of a tax but embrace of the principle that polluters must pay is based on semantics.
8 January Globe and Mail article

One way or another, Canadians must start paying for carbon dioxide emissions if the country is going to seriously reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, according to a report from the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.
8 January Canadian Press article

First carbon fund payment to Nepal

The World Bank Community Development Carbon Fund has issued its first payment of US$514,786 for carbon emission reductions in Nepal. The Alternative Energy Promotion Centre received its payment for its first delivery of verified Emission Reductions to the Community Development Carbon Fund under the Clean Development Mechanism.
7 January The Rising Nepal article

Malaysia expects boost from credits

Malaysia, which already has 22 registered Clean Development Mechanism projects, anticipates many more, with the Malaysia Energy Centre estimating that the country has up to 100 million tonnes of carbon credit potential.
7 January The Star article

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