Huhne opens UK’s first CCS plant

Plans to commercialise carbon capture storage (CCS) technology took a major step forward today, after Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne formally opened a £21m pilot project in West Yorkshire.

Energy giant SSE launched the UK's first live trial of a CCS system at its Ferrybridge power station today, in collaboration with Swedish utility Vattenfall and engineering firm Doosan Power Systems.
BusinessGreen

Deutsche Bank Lowers Carbon Price

Deutsche Bank said its previous carbon price forecasts the EU ETS's year-ends from 2011-14 are too optimistic.  The bank now predicts the price of carbon will be:

• 2011 -  €12/t rather than €17/t, 
• 2012 - €15/t instead of €19/t 
• 2014 - €22/t rather than €24/t.

Business Green

Australian Carbon Farming Initiative

The Australian Government has introduced a scheme to encourage farmers to take advantage of carbon from land use credits from reforestatoin and also includes biochar.
The Carbon Farming Initiative includes:

• Legislation to establish a carbon crediting mechanism
• Fast-tracked development of methodologies for offset projects, and
• Information and tools to help farmers and landholders benefit from carbon markets

Aus Gov |  Offset Methodologies  |  Fact Sheet

China's Toe in the Water for an Emissions Trading Scheme

China has ambitious plans to reduce the carbon intensity of it economy by 40~45% by 2020 against 2005 levels. The country (where nearly 70 percent of the power supply comes from coal) is taking this commitment serious.

China has made significant progress in specifying the targets, incorporating them into national development strategies and notably, laying the foundation for pilot emission reduction incentive or trading schemes. China’s first steps to the establishment of a national carbon emission trading scheme are becoming visible.

Funding has been given for Tianjin to launch a pilot carbon market in 2013.  Tianjin Municipality alone has a population of around 13 million and had a nominal GDP of US$110 billion in 2009.

Tianjin is just one of seven cities and five provinces selected by the central government to launch pilot. 
China has comitted to having a fully functional Emissions Trading Scheme in place by 2015.

NY Times  |   Climate Focus  | Piloting Carbon Trading in China - Karla Lieberg and Jelmer Hoogzaad

Carbon Market Prices Tumbles

U.N.-backed carbon prices fell to a new record low on Wednesday, taking a cue from a 7-percent drop in European Union carbon permits amid growing worries about a slowing economy.

• EU Allowances (EUA's ) hit a fresh 33-month low of 8.45 euros.
• Certified Emissions Reduction (CERs) contract traded at a record 5.99 euros ($8.08), down 6.4 percent from the previous day's settlement.

In the same week a United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report showed that Greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 could rise more than forecast to between 6 billion and 11 billion tons above what is needed to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius.

"To stay within the 2 degree limit, global emissions will have to peak soon (and) total greenhouse gas emissions in 2050 must be about 46 percent lower than their 1990 level, or about 53 percent lower than their 2005 level," the report said.


Reuters - EU CO2 underperfomance strains traders' faith
Reuters- Emissions cuts off course to halt global warming: UNEP

6 US States withdraw from WCI

Six U.S. states have abandoned the planned Western Climate Initiative greenhouse gas trading program leaving only California and four Canadian provinces involved in the program’s development.   New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Montana and Utah have formally declared their withdrawal from the WCI.

Instead they have joined the North America 2050 Climate Initiative which aims to collaborate on topics such as exploring carbon capture and sequestration and developing high quality offsets that may be used in emissions trading programmes.


Environmental Finance
Environmental Leader
NA 2050 Factsheet Download on WCI's website