Popularly, China is a villain in climate change. Many people who attended last year’s chaotic U.N. climate-change talks in Copenhagen — especially those who belonged to the U.S. delegation — singled out China as the main reason the summit nearly collapsed. Chinese diplomats fought hard against any form of emissions regulation, even though their country is now the world’s No. 1 national carbon emitter, and will emit far more carbon in the future than any other. In Washington, opponents of carbon cap-and-trade also point to China, which is unlikely to take on a carbon cap of its own, and wonder why the U.S. should have to restrain its emissions.
Continue Reading at Time
Posted on March 17, 2010
· in Asia
In my blog last week on the attack campaigns against the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), an innovative policy tool for reducing the global warming pollution in our fuels, I wrote about the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) and its affiliated “organizations.” While it portrays itself as a consumer organization, it is in reality a front group run by a lobby group and backed by the American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and other titans of the status quo, bent on keeping America addicted to oil. And not just any oil but the dirtiest oil on the planet.
Continue Reading at Switchboard.Nrdc
Posted on March 15, 2010
· in USA
(Reuters) — U.S. energy reform has stalled now that the Democrats have lost their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and Republicans drift to a more negative position, a top industry executive said on Saturday.
Continue Reading at ChicagoBusiness
Posted on March 15, 2010
· in USA
March 5 (Bloomberg) — Carbon trading programs for high- polluting industries may fill the void as broader cap-and-trade systems for entire economies face opposition in emerging nations, according to the International Emissions Trading Association.
Continue Reading at BusinessWeek
Posted on March 13, 2010
· in Global
(KCPW News) The Utah Senate has shot down a bill that would allow cities, counties and special districts to trade carbon credits if they convert garbage otherwise bound for the landfill into fertilizer. Some Utah facilities already participate in a voluntary program called the Chicago Climate Exchange, but it’s unclear whether state code allows it. On the Senate floor yesterday, Republican Senator Curt Bramble argued that passing a bill clarifying its legality would send the wrong message.
Continue Reading at News.Xinhuanet
Posted on March 10, 2010
· in USA
China may start its first carbon cap-and-trade system for energy use in buildings in Tianjin by June, Bloomberg reports.
The northeast port city of Tianjin plans to impose a mandatory limit on energy used to heat buildings, John Shi, chief executive officer of the carbon credit trader Arreon Carbon U.K. Ltd., said in an interview with Bloomberg. Property managers able to reduce energy use to below the limit will earn credits they can then sell, he said.
Continue Reading at CiobInternational
Posted on March 9, 2010
· in Asia
The world’s first carbon trading scheme should be used as a model for global cap-and-trade says leading American economist
Continue Reading at TheEcologist
Posted on March 2, 2010
· in Europe
Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) — Calpine Corp., the largest U.S. generator of electricity fueled by natural gas, opposes the settlement of a lawsuit that could overturn the Northeast’s cap- and-trade program for carbon dioxide from power plants
Continue Reading at BusinessWeek
Posted on March 1, 2010
· in USA
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) — Carbon dioxide permits in the U.S. Northeast’s cap-and-trade program for power plants fell to their lowest level this year on waning public concern over emissions that scientists blame for global warming.
Continue Reading at BusinessWeek
Posted on February 25, 2010
· in USA
The campaign to reform the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) will secure an important new ally today with the release of a major report from the Environmental Audit Committee of MPs that will urge the government to consider introducing a carbon tax designed to guarantee a minimum price for carbon.
Continue Reading at BusinessGreen
Posted on February 15, 2010
· in Europe
Arizona governor Janice Brewer issued an executive order on February 11, announcing the state would not implement the greenhouse gas (GHG) cap-and-trade proposal advanced by the WCI, which is set to begin on January 1, 2012.
Continue Reading at Risk
Posted on February 13, 2010
· in USA
A “cap and dividend” bill introduced in the U.S. Senate last week would reduce the role of Wall Street in carbon markets by returning money raised from emissions credit auctions to the public.
Continue Reading at EnergyTribune
Posted on February 11, 2010
· in Global
While a bill to establish a cap-and-trade system has stalled in the US Senate, individuals keen to tackle carbon emissions should consider the example of Tami and Randy Wilson.
The Pennsylvania couple has sold the world’s first carbon credit awarded for a reduction in personal carbon emissions. About 1,800 others have signed up to follow suit – underlining the US public’s readiness to press ahead on the issue.
Continue Reading at FT
Posted on February 11, 2010
· in USA
The campaign to reform the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) will secure an important new ally today with the release of a major report from the Environmental Audit Committee of MPs that will urge the government to consider introducing a carbon tax designed to guarantee a minimum price for carbon.
Continue Reading at BusinessGreen
Posted on February 11, 2010
· in UK
There have been a slew of surveys coming out lately showing what Americans supposedly want or don’t want in terms of energy policy, climate policy and about climate change more broadly. I say supposedly, because the results of these different surveys don’t always jive with one another. This latest one, by the US Climate Task Force, and highlighted by The Energy Collective, says that US voters think a straight carbon tax is a better idea than the current only option on the table, cap-and-trade:
Continue Reading at TreeHugger
Posted on February 11, 2010
· in USA
