Will Australia ever implement a carbon price? The debate on the Australian emissions trading scheme continued to rage, following the release of ‘The Garnaut Review 2011’on 31 May. Ross Garnaut, the Australian Government's top climate change adviser, proposed a starting price of A$26 per tonne of carbon for the carbon pricing system starting in July 2012....
Verdantix Blog
Blog posts for the Environmental Policy & Regulation category are listed below.
Garnaut vs Basic Resources: Australia's Carbon Price Battle Enters A New Phase
- Tagged in :
- Environmental Policy & Regulation,
- Carbon Strategy
Energy Market Shake-Up Creates New Low Carbon Investment Opportunities
The UK government has just proposed the biggest shake up in the electricity market in two decades in the Electricity Market Reform White Paper published on July 12, 2011. Regulatory changes will come into effect in 2013. These include the replacement of the Renewable Obligation with a contracts for difference (CfD) feed-in tariff for low-carbon generation, an emissions performance target for new fossil fuel power stations and a capacity mechanism to improve energy supply security. ...
Will The US Smart Grid Policy Framework Channel Utility Investment?
Will power utilities in the United States move beyond smart meter programmes to wider smart grid implementation? Through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, the Obama administration directed $4.5 billion to fund smart grid projects, matched by $5.5 billion in private funding. Almost all of this was channelled into smart meter projects which are considered the first step to implementing a smart grid. In reality, to maximise the grid’s efficiency, reliability and flexibility, they have to form part of a wider smart grid programme including smarter distribution and substation automation systems, grid sensors and controls....
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- Smart Grid,
- Environmental Policy & Regulation
Multinationals Need To Wise Up To Europe’s Carbon Regulations
According to the June 2011 World Bank report ‘State And Trends Of The Carbon Market’, between 2005 and 2010 the value of trade in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) grew from $7.9 bn to $119.8 bn; a CAGR of 72%. By contrast the primary CDM market, representing trade in Certified Emission Reductions from Kyoto projects, has fallen from $2.6bn in 2005 to $1.5bn in 2010; a CAGR of -10%. Back in December 2008 our analysis of the CDM project developers flagged up the risks of a market meltdown. And it happened. Between 2008 and 2010 the primary CDM market fell from $6.5bn to $1.5bn; a 77% fall in traded value....
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- Environmental Policy & Regulation,
- Carbon Strategy
Delay, Delay, Delay. California Puts The Brakes On Carbon Policy
The decision by California's Air Resources Board (ARB) to delay the implementation of California's cap-and-trade programme by a year is symptomatic of carbon policy delays around the world. Even the flagship EU Emissions Trading System has seen constant delays and dilutions since its launch in 2005. What does California's delay mean for US carbon policy?...
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- Environmental Policy & Regulation,
- Carbon Strategy
ISO 50001 Strikes An Early Chord With Strategic Energy Managers
When the International Organization for Standards (ISO) launched its energy management framework, ISO 50001, in June 2011, Verdantix identified several barriers to adoption that needed to be overcome if it was to succeed. But even within the first three months there are signs that certification under ISO 50001 is resonating....
Partnerships Forming To Unlock The UK Green Retrofit Market
The real estate industry in the UK, hindered by woefully limited data, continues to discuss sustainability from the side lines. For instance of the 1204 properties in the Investment Property Databank’s UK Commercial Office Sustainability Index sample, only 61 had sufficient data to be considered sustainable (based on 21 questions only). Without a significant data set with which to justify investment in sustainability, the market has, by and large, remained circumspect....
Regulatory Winds Of Change Won’t Swipe Biomass Out Of The UK Market
On September 29, 2011, the UK government recalled the launch of its Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme for non-domestic generators, which was due the following day. Announced in March 2011, the £860 million subsidy scheme’s aim is to incentivize the installation of renewable heat technologies, including biomass, solar thermal, and ground source heating, to cut a tentative ten of the 38% of the UK emissions that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) ascribes to heat . The RHI was delayed as the European Commission expressed concerns about the tariff for biomass being too high, which is currently placed at 2.6 pence per kilowatt-hour for the next twenty years....
The Midlife Crisis Of Carbon Labels
Large procurers such as BT, McDonalds and Wal-Mart are increasingly requiring evidence of suppliers’ environmental credentials while multinationals such as Apple and Unilever are shifting from a narrow ‘enterprise sustainability’ view to focus on product level sustainability. Both of these developments lead back to thinking about the best use of voluntary environmental product labels....
China’s Mixed Messages On Carbon Are A Precursor To Legislation
The Chinese government continues to send mixed messages over plans for a carbon tax on energy-intensive industries by 2015. The past six months have seen a series of state-backed news agencies suggesting China will introduce a carbon tax....
North American State Governments Take The Lead On GHG Reductions In The Midst Of Central Governments’ Inertia
The central governments of Canada and the US have up to now failed to introduce meaningful greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction legislation, stalling sustainable business spending because of regulatory uncertainty. With Canada officially withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol in December 2011, the renegade continent could seem a hopeless case, unable to provide the necessary legislative incentives for heavy polluters to decrease their GHG emissions. But in the shadows of federal inertia, a pocket of state-level authorities have stepped up to take leadership over GHG reductions....
No More Hiding: US EPA Lifts Lid On GHG Emissions
On January 11, 2012 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publically revealed the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of over 6,700 US emission-intensive facilities and fossil fuel suppliers. This is the first time the US EPA has released comprehensive GHG data accounting for over 80% of the country’s total emissions. Under the US EPA’s GHG Mandatory Report Rule (MRR) facilities emitting more than 25,000 tCO2 per year (as well as entities supplying fossil fuels) have been mandated to monitor and report emissions since January 2010....
South Korea’s Government Sells Carbon Cap-And-Trade As De-Risking The Economy
South Korea’s introduction of a carbon cap-and-trade scheme was derailed at the last minute when, on February 16, 2012, the South Korean Parliament delayed their vote on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that proposed to cap emissions of South Korea's largest polluters from early 2015. This vote was the final hurdle for the ETS which has been in the pipeline since 2009, having been passed by South Korea’s National Assembly on climate change on February 8, 2012. ...
EPA places limits on emissions from coal: Smokescreen or step forward?
Greenhouse gas (GHG) regulation finally seems within the US federal government’s reach. But with US coal production projected to hold steady over the next decade, the US may end up outsourcing global warming....
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- Environmental Policy & Regulation
