Tag Archives: china
Carbon Market ‘Champions’ Undeterred: EU Climate Chief
10 May 2013 Carbon-market supporters from China to California will push for emissions trading even as they prepare for the end of the United Nations Kyoto Protocol in seven years, Europe’s top climate negotiator said. Nations including China and New Zealand and some US states have formed an informal group, “kind of the champions of the carbon market,” Artur Runge-Metzger said in a May 2 interview in Bonn, Germany. “It’s that club that’s going to set international standards” rather than UN talks, he said. Countries are increasing links between markets outside of the climate-protection targets set by the UN, which has led global efforts to reduce emissions since 1992. California last month approved rules that allow companies in the world’s ninth largest economy to trade pollution rights in Quebec, while Australia in 2012 agreed to use European permits to cut costs. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol sets market-based emission- reduction targets for the EU and 37 countries. The US and China, the biggest polluters, never signed, making the agreement “something that ended up in a kind of cul-de-sac,” Runge- Metzger said during the climate talks last week. Under the EU’s cap-and-trade system, designed to meet the bloc’s Kyoto targets, tradable permits are allocated to polluters that must surrender enough of them to cover their emissions or pay a fine. The euro area’s second recession since 2008 cut demand for allowances and UN credits, sending prices to record lows last month and reducing incentives to invest in low- carbon technologies. US scepticism Future agreements under the UN’s 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change may never be implemented in “the real world,” US climate negotiators led by Todd Stern, said in a March 11 submission ahead of the Bonn talks. China has joined the World Bank’s Partnership for Market Readiness, a program which seeks to cut emissions at a faster pace than set out by existing national targets. The biggest energy user is preparing seven domestic carbon markets, covering 28 per cent of its economy. China is unlikely to link its existing and proposed carbon markets to those with emissions targets set by the UN, including the EU market, Su Wei, the nation’s lead climate negotiator, said May 2 in Bonn. “It’s too early to talk of a linkage with the EU market because that is a failed market,” Wei said in an interview. “If there are no ambitious targets there will be no demand. The carbon markets aren’t running very well.” Step back The UN has effectively “stepped back” from managing emissions programs partly because of resistance from countries against market-based climate strategies such as Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba, Runge-Metzger said. Both international and national efforts to combat climate change are “absolutely critical” because efforts by countries and industries don’t match what’s required to stop temperatures from rising 2 degrees celsius, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, told reporters in Bonn. Governments are seeking to keep any increase in global average temperatures below that level. Climate envoys are debating whether allowances and credits used to comply with the Kyoto treaty can be used under a new market system beyond 2020 that may include more nations. Russia has the biggest stockpile of Kyoto units, according to UN data on Bloomberg. The debate over the use of the credits is “going to be quite political,” Runge-Metzger said. “The majority of countries don’t have them.” Price drop EU carbon for December plunged to a record 2.46 euros ($3.20) on April 17 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London after the European Parliament rejected a proposal to enable the reduction of the surplus of allowances. They slid 44 per cent in the past year and closed at 3.79 euros today. The EU’s change in emphasis toward nation-led markets is a “sensible shift in policy,” Daniel Rossetto, the London-based managing director of emissions markets adviser Climate Mundial Ltd., said in a May 7 interview. The UN approach “is probably destined to fail, while bilateral negotiations between like- minded countries is more likely to proceed,” he said. Bloomberg Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/carbon-economy/carbon-market-champions-undeterred-eu-climate-chief-20130510-2jbgu.html#ixzz2TGXtvt6E Continue reading
Power Plant: Bamboo
Power plant: bamboo English.news.cn 2013-05-05 Photo source: ChinaDaily.com.cn BEIJING, May 5 (Xinhuanet) — Bamboo may technically be a member of the grass family, but its potential is not so lowly. Growers in China are using it to create building materials and fabrics, revitalize forests, and rejuvenate rural economies, Erik Nilsson reports in Anji county, Zhejiang. Bamboo’s alchemic ability to be manufactured into nearly anything – from car speakers to calculators, and buildings to beer – is conjuring a gold mine in China. The country produces about 80 percent of the world’s fastest-growing plant, hailed by many as “the next super-material” and the “timber of the 21st century”. There are more than 1,500 uses for the “great grass”. The World Bamboo Organization estimates the industry generates about 10 billion U.S. dollars a year, which could double by 2018. Bamboo’s magic is enhanced by its organic production, rapid harvest cycles and ability to grow on mountainsides. “Chinese culture is bamboo culture,” says Xuan Taotao, an expert with Tianhuangping town’s agricultural department in Zhejiang province’s Anji county. “Bamboo can make farmers rich and our environment healthy, so we must preserve bamboo forests and industries.” Anji creates 20 percent of China’s bamboo products, generating about 12.5 billion yuan (2.03 billion U.S. dollars) annually, though it contains fewer than 2 percent of the country’s bamboo forests. The county is covered by about 66,667 hectares of bamboo, about 57,333 hectares of which is moso bamboo, Xuan says. Anji has been producing the plant since its founding 60 years ago. It traded bamboo for rice with Shanghai, where the timber was used to build homes. By the 1950s, the local trees had been logged off, so only bamboo was left. When people started using concrete to build houses in the 1980s, the government introduced processing plants to make low-end products, such as chopsticks and toothpicks, from bamboo. The industry evolved to include flooring and other higher-end goods and supported 90 percent of local GDP. It’s currently about 30 percent, since more locals migrate to other cities. “The bamboo price is rising, because young people want to work in urban areas rather than cut bamboo,” Xuan explains. “The industry could disappear here.” About 50 species produce more than 3,000 products in Anji. There are more than 3,000 bamboo-processing factories in the county of 250,000 residents. “Nearly everyone is involved in bamboo,” Xuan says. “But because it requires virtually no care and is harvested every two or six years, the farmers don’t have to work hard.” Yuan Guochang works only 10 days annually on his 1.33 hectares of bamboo, which brings in 36,000 yuan every two years. “I hire other farmers to do the cutting, and the buyers come to me,” Yuan says. “It’s easy money. I hope I can get higher yields to earn more money,” Yuan says. “Bamboo is the spirit of Anji and of China.” Anji Cheng Feng Bamboo Products Co Ltd’s founder Hu Gongnian demonstrates bamboo’s impact on poor farmers. Hu never went to school but became rich and successful from bamboo. His company produced the pillars for the German pavilion at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Hu’s career development mirrors that of Anji’s bamboo industry. “I’ve loved bamboo since I was a child,” he says. (Source: ChinaDaily.com.cn) Continue reading
Demand for incense pushes up prices for Agarwood
The surging demand for incense has seen the price of Agarwood, its main ingredient, hit an all time high. Farmers near Hong Kong are being encouraged to plant more trees, but so far, only a few seem to be in it for the long haul. Across Asia, people prefer the natural scent of incense than more modern items like air fresheners or sprays. Seen burning in temples all across the continent, the unique aroma is created when a fungus infects aqularia trees, resulting in a darkening of the wood, which is called agarwood. Joey Yuen runs an incense store in Hong Kong. Her supplies were harvested a number of decades ago. “As agarwood became popular, a lot of people in China’s mainland would come over and log the trees and sell them. ” Agarwood is measured using the traditional Chinese unit of weight, the catty, which equals 600 grams. A pack of incense sticks can range anywhere from US$260 to even US$10000 per catty. But there’s a reason behind the high prices. “Only about 10% of the trees can have this fungal invasion, therefore development of the highly priced agarwood. So with such a surge in demand while the supply is declining all the time, it is natural to see the price going up and up all the time. That is why you now have a lot of people investing into incense tree farms because they see an opportunity for making a quick profit,” said Prof. Chi Yung Jim, University of Hong Kong. Chan Koon Wing has been growing and harvesting incense trees with his grandfather since childhood. Four years ago, Chan opened an incense tree farm, home to nearly 10,000 incense trees. But harvesting the cash crop is a slow process. “It’s like planting a normal tree, after eight years, you have to hurt the tree to force it to produce oil. Then you have to wait another five years for the oil to reach a high quality. Only then can it be harvested.” Despite the growth in tree farms, they are unlikely to satisfy the growing demand for agarwood. With natural supplies diminishing and farmed products requiring many years before they can hit the market, demand will continue to outstrip supply. Continue reading
