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For Immediate Release Contact:Emilee Pierce
April 13, 2009 212-417-3179
(New York, NY) — The ten Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) today released the Auction Notice, Qualification Application and Intent to Bid for RGGI’s fourth carbon dioxide (CO2) allowance auction, scheduled for June 17, 2009. The release initiates the bidder qualification process and publicizes auction details, including reserve price and number of allowances offered for sale.
The June auction will be the second held since compliance obligations under the 10-state RGGI CO2 Budget Trading Programs took effect on January 1, 2009 and the second to offer allowances from current (2009-2011) and future (2012-2014) control periods. States will offer for sale 30,887,620 million current control period allowances (all for the 2009 vintage) and 2,172,540 million allowances for the future control period (all for the 2012 vintage).
Given the early stage of the RGGI CO2 allowance market, the Participating States (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont) will continue to use a reserve price of $1.86 for all allowances. Before CO2 Allowance Auction 5, the Participating States will consider whether there is enough data available to justify the calculation of a current market reserve price.
As summarized in the Auction Notice, potential bidders must successfully complete the qualification process to participate in the June CO2 allowance auction. The ten RGGI states urge prospective bidders to apply to qualify for, and participate in, the auction by downloading the auction documents from the RGGI website at:
Potential bidders are also encouraged to participate in a free webinar hosted from 2:00 PM ET to 4:00 PM ET on Wednesday, April 15, 2009. The webinar, open to all parties interested in participating in Auction 4, will review the auction format, forms that need to be submitted and the complete qualification process.
Instructions to participate in the webinar are available below and at:
Auction History
The June 17th auction will be the second held since compliance obligations under the 10-state RGGI CO2 Budget Trading Programs took effect on January 1, 2009. In addition to the first compliance auction, held March 18, 2009, RGGI’s Participating States also held two “pre-compliance” auctions in the fall of 2008. In each auction all allowances offered were sold and demand for allowances exceeded supply. Clearing prices of $3.07 in September, $3.38 in December, and $3.51 in March led the independent market monitor to describe all auctions as “robust.”
The March auction was the first to offer allowances from the second three-year control period beginning in 2012. All of 2012 vintage allowances cleared at a price of $3.05, providing a first-look at future market prices for RGGI CO2 allowances. By the end of 2009, the RGGI states will have offered for sale 5% of the total supply of 2012 vintage allowances.
Webinar Details
More information about the auction will be available through a webinar to be held from 2:00 PM ET to 4:00 PM ET on Wednesday, April 15, 2009.
To access the webinar audio, call the teleconference access number, (888) 875-4624 and enter the participant code, 555661#. To access the webinar slides, go to the Auction Website and download them. The slides for the webinar will be posted on the Auction Website no later than 8:00 AM ET on Tuesday, April 14, 2009. Alternatively, to view the slides as they are presented in real time, please go to
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Select the participant option and then enter participant code 555661 and the following information: name, company, email address, and title.
About the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
The 10 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states participating in RGGI (Connecticut,Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, RhodeIsland and Vermont) have designed the first market-based, mandatory cap-and-trade program in the U.S. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The participating states have regulations in place to cap and then reduce the amount of CO2 that power plants in their region are allowed to emit, limiting the region’s total contribution to atmospheric greenhouse gas levels. Power sector CO2 emissions are capped at current levels through 2014. The cap will then be reduced by 2.5 percent in each of the four years 2015 through 2018, for a total reduction of 10 percent.
A CO2 allowance represents a permit to emit one ton of CO2, as issued by a respective participating state. A regulated power plant must hold CO2 allowances equal to its emissions to demonstrate compliance at the end of each compliance period. Because CO2 allowances issued by any participating state will be usable across all state programs, the ten individual state CO2 Budget Trading Programs, in aggregate, will form one regional compliance market for CO2 emissions. For more information about RGGI, turn to: www.rggi.org
About Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Inc.
RGGI, Inc. was created in September 2007 to provide technical and administrative services to the states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. RGGI, Inc. is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization. For more information please visit: