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A new research has suggested that “nanodiamonds”, tiny diamond deposits preserved in meteorites, are not much visible in the Universe because they are hidden within “carbon onions”, which are exotic structures made up of concentric layers of graphite.
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The British government has revealed that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) would auction around 85m carbon credits (each equaling a tonne of CO2) over a 4-year period. This would eventually generate revenue of around £2 billion per year for the government. It is expected that the first auction will be held within 2008.
Back in 2005, the government was criticized for disbursing too many credits, which did little to encourage emissions reductions in firms. This time, the government has decided to auction the credits and relatively fewer credits will be given out. Heavy industry and power-generating firms are expected to dominate the auction sales.
It was proposed in a December 2007 report that 23 million permits should be sold in 2008.
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Around 990 farmers and ranchers in North Dakota will receive a total of $2.6 million this week from a program that financially rewards farmers for using environment friendly practices. The scheme, named National Farmers Union Carbon Credit Program, accumulates all the carbon savings in the form of carbon credits sellable at the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX).
Other businesses at CCX can purchase these credits to offset their own carbon footprint. The nationwide farmers program has disbursed approximately $8.5 million to North Dakotans since it came there two years back, mentioned Robert Carlson, head of North Dakota Farmers Union (NDFU).
Overall, around 2,300 farmers and ranchers coming from 20 states are participating in the scheme, which has witnessed a threefold increase in participants over the previous year. Supervisors check farmers’ lands on the spot to confirm sequestration is taking place. Livestock owners and cattle farmers too can benefit from the scheme by reducing methane emissions from manure. The current rate of carbon credits at the CCX is around $4 per metric ton at present.
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South African Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk declared his country is considering implementation of carbon tax and other steps to tackle global warming, and the Treasury will prepare a report on these strategies for the cabinet. The government wants to begin with a low tax, gradually increasing it by 2020.
Although Mr. Schalkwyk did not mention any clear, measurable reduction targets, the announcement was welcomed by the SA Climate Action Network and WWF South Africa. Richard Worthington, a representative of Climate Action Network, predicts the South African government may announce exact targets and time-frames in the upcoming Copenhagen meeting in December 2009.
“If you want to have the edge in any negotiations, you don’t want to play your final cards too early,” stated Worthington.
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Earlier this month Australia unveiled plans to introduce a comprehensive carbon cap-and-trade scheme in 2010 that would cover 75% of its emissions. The plan has however been met with a degree of ambivalence.
Environmentalists such as Greenpeace expect that it "would result in nothing more than paper shuffling" and Brendan Nelson – the leader of the opposition is of the opinion that unless other polluters of the world take serious measures to curb their emissions, carbon trading will have grave consequences for the Australian economy. On the other hand, a recently conducted poll of 1200 people indicates a strong inclination in favor of carbon trading - eight out of ten people voted for carbon trading.
Japan, the world’s fifth largest polluter has also announced that it will begin carbon trading on a trial basis this October – "the first concrete step" towards slashing its carbon emissions, according to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. However, the plan is unlikely to get an across-the-board welcome, what with the country’s emitters viewing the scheme as an impediment to growth.
Despite its critics carbon trading seems to be gaining momentum, with more and more countries resorting to it. What are your views? Do you think carbon trading is a viable solution or should countries concentrate their resources on other means to combat global warming?
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Worldwide growth of carbon trading is attracting several Asian economies to the point that Hong Kong, Beijing, Mumbai and the like are considering establishment of carbon exchanges to facilitate trade of carbon credits in their countries. As Carbon Development Mechanism has gained popularity, Asian firms now appreciate carbon as a soft commodity that has the potential of being traded as carbon credits or in other various forms in carbon exchanges.
However, critics say the idea may not work well unless demand for carbon credits takes a boost in Asia. Liam Salter of WWF Hong Kong asserts carbon exchanges can’t rely solely on CDM projects because of the uncertain future of CDM.
For detailed insight into the Asian Carbon Market, read here.
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Hi everybody,
We have a couple announcements we’d like to share with you. But first, we wanted to extend a thank you to all of our readers and the community that have been supporting this effort. Your support means a great deal. Thank you.
Site Update
Our goal is to provide free ongoing daily news about the exciting carbon market and have found a warm response to our service thus far. Because of this success, we are going to update our site over the coming weeks. The major goal of this update will be to allow us to incorporate more features and services for readers as well as incorporate better sponsorship opportunities. In the near future we hope to begin generating revenue so that we can increase the number of articles that we publish each day.
Our site, RSS feed, and email newsletter may experience a hiccup or two during this transition. So please bear with us over the next couple weeks as we go through this process 
July 28 headlines
We apologize for missing yesterday’s headlines. Our author who writes the headlines was challenged by city-wide power outages that have continued on through to today. We are doing the best we can to keep our service consistent during this time.
If you have any questions about these items or general thoughts we’d love to hear them.
Thanks!
Chris
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Executives from two large US firms have asked a congressional panel to set a price for CO2 emissions so that companies would be motivated to use energy efficiently and the nation would take part in the fight against global warming. George David, Head of United Technologies Corporation, did not stress on any particular approach and said both carbon tax and cap-and-trade would be ok as long as there is a price for CO2. However, John Rice of General Electric recommended cap-and-trade as the most suitable approach to the issue.
“We believe that a cap-and-trade program can provide a reliable market pricing mechanism for carbon,” he stated.
Rice also mentioned that carbon capture and sequestration are technically feasible but cannot be done on a commercial scale. Daniel Esty, an environmental law lecturer, agreed with Rice and asserted cap-and-trade would make firms move towards energy efficiency.
“We have an element of harm that’s not being priced. So when we burn fossil fuels … if you don’t pay for that you end up burning more than you otherwise would,” stated Esty.
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The student duo of Jin Fan and Kevin Muise at the Simon Fraser University in Canada have developed an application that uses Facebook as a platform to propel users towards a greener existence. Aptly named -GreeNet, the application depends on data from electricity providers to establish energy consumption patterns of users and accordingly creates a virtual garden in the user’s profile. Greener habits result in greener gardens with more trees and flowers.
The idea is get users to compare their energy usage with others and feel inspired to adopt a more eco-friendly lifestyle. Muise likens the process to actual gardening,"You see other people’s gardens growing beautifully and get the urge to improve your lawn." The GreeNet application got second position in the ‘Interface Design’ category at the recently held Imagine Cup that is sponsored by Microsoft.
Fan and Muise chose Facebook – a popular social networking site for their application as they are looking to target the youth – "who one day will be the decision makers." However for the application to be successful it will need to be linked directly to energy use, which will require the participation of energy service providers in the project.
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While people may experience a hard time selling carbon credits through exchanges, online auction websites may offer some extra exposure to carbon traders. An auction website Trade Me reports a 71% sell-through rate for carbon credits, which happens to be the highest sell-through rate for any single category on the website.
“It’s partly because we don’t have a lot of listings up there so they tend to get snapped up, and the feedback I’ve had from the guys who are currently doing classifieds is that they’re actually doing a number of sales through those classifieds,” states Christine Turner of Trade Me.
The site claims around 50 carbon credit sales have taken place since September 2007.
Most of the sellers seem to be brokers or firms like Meridian and Energy Mad that have accumulated credits.
At present, the website has more than 2 million active registrants and had more than 4 million visitors last month.
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Carbon Trading Maturing, Going through Different Phases
Australia: Opposition Says Coalition Leaders Will Have United Stance on Emissions Trading Scheme
American Military on Its Way to Reduce Carbon Footprint
Ireland: Green Party Wants Carbon Tax to be Part of December Budget
Truckers to File Suit against LA Ports over Rules Aimed at Cutting Truck Emissions
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After repeated calls from Americans and Australians, the environmental awareness situation in India is taking some twists. A recent story by the Hindustan Times says the State Bank of India (SBI) is on the lookout for greening consultants to cut its power usage and to accumulate some carbon credits.
The bank has requested CDM consultants to submit proposals for power saving projects. The consultants are supposed to recommend eco-friendly devices to SBI so that the bank can acquire carbon credits by taking advantage of Kyoto Protocol’s Carbon Development Mechanism. The bank has set August 5 as the last date for submission of applications.
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As various industries in Australia worry about their fate post emissions trading scheme, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) has asked the government to introduce a special carbon tariff on all imports from firms operating in countries where GHG emissions aren’t monitored and taken care of.
The union wants to ensure that through the proposed carbon tariff, the prices of merchandise coming from such countries would increase so that Australian manufacturers are not negatively affected by the emissions scheme.
In addition to this, the AMWU wants the government to establish and promote alternate eco-friendly industries that would create jobs for those who may be laid off by emissions-intensive firms unable to compete with the emissions scheme in place.
“We need programs to invest in research and development to get energy-efficient technologies and renewable energy up and running in the communities that will be most affected by the changes coming,” stated AMWU’s national secretary Dave Oliver.
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4Offsets.com Offers Commissions, Offsets to Affiliates Bringing Carbon Offsets Sales
5,000 Democratic National Convention Delegates to Purchase Carbon Offsets
Canada: Environment Minister Says Carbon Tax Scheme is ‘Pay and Pollute’ Approach
Dairy Industry Plans to Cut Carbon Footprint
Research Says Livestock Manure Can Become Renewable Fuel, Significant Emissions Reductions Possible
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