Tag Archives: european
E.ON Urges Action To Save European Carbon Trade: Paper
FRANKFURT | Sat Apr 27, 2013 12:31pm EDT (Reuters) – Europe’s effort to protect the climate faces “a decade of stagnation” without quick action to save the EU carbon market, the chief executive of German utility E.ON said in a newspaper interview on Saturday. “European emissions trading is a patient on his deathbed; either we cure him quickly, or he dies,” Johannes Teyssen told Sueddeutsche Zeitung. “And that would have unpredictable negative consequences, not only for climate protection,” he added. The European Parliament on April 16 rejected a Commission proposal to temporarily remove some of the oversupply that has overwhelmed the $148 billion market for permits to emit carbon dioxide, sending the market to a record low and raising questions about its survival. As a result, investors will find it no longer profitable to put their money into clean technologies, Teyssen said. “Money will start flowing back into an economic activity that should have been consigned to history,” he added. While utility companies supported the Commission proposal, energy intensive industries opposed it, arguing it would push up energy costs when Europe is already suffering a competitive disadvantage compared with the United States, which has benefited from abundant supplies of shale gas. In the interview Teyssen denied that his stance was in part aimed at making energy from brown coal , such as that produced by rival utility RWE, more expensive. “Nonsense. It’s not about hurting the competition. We are all having a hard enough time as it is,” he said. “Carbon dioxide must have a price and if emissions trading is irreparable, then we will need a tax that countries can introduce on their own,” he said, adding that the UK was already moving in this direction. (Reporting by Jonathan Gould; Editing by Greg Mahlich) Continue reading
Investment: Czechs Reap Benefits Of Poland’s Slowing Economy
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c8812ae2-8666-11e2-ad73-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2Rx5WNGO8 By Katka Krosnar In recent years Poland has attracted most of the commercial property investment in central Europe, accounting for more than 75 per cent of the total volume in some years. This is partly because of the size of the market compared with its counterparts and its success at avoiding recession. Poland has become a core investment market for some western European property funds. Over the past few months, however, there has been a shift, with the Czech Republic gaining popularity as Poland’s market becomes static and concerns grow that some sections of the Polish property market may have overheated, says James Chapman, a partner at Cushman & Wakefield in Prague. The total investment volume in the Czech market is expected to double this year compared with 2012 and will reach €1bn, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s statistics. While total investment in central Europe’s property is forecast to rise this year, Poland’s share is expected to fall slightly, from €2.8bn to €2.5bn. Hungary is expected to see about €300m of investment while Slovakia should receive some €140m, less than elsewhere but a big improvement on last year’s mere €17m. “The current development in Prague of four city centre projects that had not been pre-leased before the launch of construction is an important indication of current confidence in the market,” says Omar Sattar, managing director at property brokerage Colliers International in Prague. After a sluggish 2012, caused by lingering fears about the eurozone crisis and uncertainty after the closure of some German open-ended funds, commercial property is expected to pick up significantly in 2013, with several large office transactions set to close in the first half. The Czech Republic has always been popular with international investors, who consider it a stable market and a “nice place to do business”, adds Mr Chapman. One key to its popularity is a dynamic capital city, in which many wealthy people are making property investments, says Mr Chapman. According to Colliers, Prague accounted for almost half of the value of domestic transactions in 2012. For example, CPI, the Czech investor, acquired 18 retail properties in 2012, while CTP, a Czech Republic-based business park developer, bought Belgium company WDP’s Czech portfolio and the Honeywell facility in Brno. While western Europeans, particularly the Germans and UK-managed funds, continue to be core investors, the region has attracted money from Qatar, South Korea, the US and Canada. Investors have focused on prime assets since the crisis. At the 2007 peak, many were happy to buy new buildings in almost any location but now projects have to be in a good location or be top quality to attract investment. In recent months there has been a noticeable shift, with investors showing interest in higher-risk assets, such as those needing reconstruction, says Kinga Barchon, leader of the property team at PwC in Warsaw. Strong macroeconomic indicators and the availability of good-quality assets will still attract investors to Poland, says Ms Barchon. As in other markets, limited access to credit has narrowed the field of investors and developers. Often only those who can fund early stage construction themselves, and find credit later, can start projects that are not pre-leased, Mr Sattar of Colliers says. Office developments accounted for 61 per cent of the total value of investment transactions in the Czech Republic and almost 40 per cent in Poland. These have focused mainly on capital cities, accounting for 90 per cent or more of commercial property investment. In the first three months of this year, some €646m was invested in office developments, with significant transactions including the purchase of New City in Warsaw by Hines, which has its base in Texas. Ms Barchon says Polish cities Wroclaw, Krakow, Gdansk and Poznan are attracting a lot of developer interest. However, residential property investment in Poland is expected to decline following the end of government support for people buying smaller apartments. Continue reading
Cap and Trade Collapses
EVIEW & OUTLOOK EUROPE April 17, 2013 Cap and Trade Collapses Even the European Parliament rejects carbon price-fixing. One of the great policy bubbles of our times has been cap and trade for carbon emissions, and on Tuesday it may have popped for good. The European Parliament refused to save the EU’s failing program, which is the true-believer equivalent of the pope renouncing celibacy. The Parliament in Strasbourg voted 334-315 (with 63 abstentions) against propping up the price of carbon credits in the EU Emissions Trading System. The failed proposal would have delayed the scheduled sale of 900 million ETS permits over the next seven years, thereby suppressing supply. After carbon traders realized they weren’t getting more artificial scarcity, they drove the price of emissions permits down by 40% at one point on Tuesday. EU carbon permit prices have collapsed as the Continent’s economic crisis curbs energy demand. Utilities and industrial firms have less need to emit CO2 above their statutory limits. Total emissions in the EU fell by nearly 10% between 2007-2011, according the most recent data. The low price of carbon allowances is good for consumers who don’t have to absorb the extra regulatory cost in what they pay for energy. Anticarbon crusaders never give up, however, so they wanted the Parliament to intervene to prop up permit prices. They want higher-than-market prices for fossil fuels because they know that is only way they can force the production of renewable energy that is otherwise uncompetitive. The Parliament majority rightly judged that raising energy prices for companies and households is ludicrous when Europe is barely growing as it is. This failed political intervention also gives the lie to the claim that cap and trade is a “market solution” to climate change. Proponents only like the market in permits when it keeps carbon emissions prices high. Cap and trade is an attempt to use brute political force to limit the supply of carbon energy. All of which vindicates the Bush Administration and others who opposed cap and trade in the Kyoto Protocol. Aided by Al Gore, Europe tried to turn cap and trade into a global policy. The hot air started to go out of Kyoto after its early backers refused to implement job-killing legislation to meet emissions targets. It lost further support when it became clear that financial firms were gaming the system. With the U.S. shale fracking revolution, it’s now clear that the fastest way to reduce greenhouse gases is to let private drillers expand natural gas production. When even Europe recognizes the folly of artificially raising energy prices, the anticarbon obsessives have lost in their own climate-change temple. Continue reading
