Tag Archives: green
Europe In Danger Of Losing Race To Commercialise CCS
12 July 2013 Europe must urgently find extra support for carbon capture and storage (CCS) or lose all claim to lead the world on climate action, a regulatory expert has warned. Just one CCS project – the UK’s White Rose – has been submitted for the latest round of European Union funding. That means no scheme will be running by 2015, by which time the EU was aiming to have 10 to 12 projects active. “It is a sign that Europe is losing the race for CCS commercialisation, which will be a major missed economic opportunity,” said Stephen Tindale, associate fellow of the Centre for European Reform. In a draft report seen by Utility Week, Tindale said CCS should be mandatory for all new coal power stations and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme reformed to boost the carbon price. Following the latest news, he said the European Commission also had to find alternative sources of funding. The White Rose project, at Drax power station in North Yorkshire, is competing with 32 renewables projects for a share of an estimated €700 million (£606 million) under phase two of the NER300 programme. If White Rose is awarded European money, it is expected to displace rather than supplement cash from the UK government’s £1 billion CCS competition. When NER300 was set up in 2008, it was expected to raise €9 billion to support CCS from the sale of 300 million EU emissions allowances (EUAs). However, the EUA price has since collapsed from above €30/tonne of carbon dioxide to just over €4/tonne, slashing the funds available. Source: Utility Week Continue reading
Scrapping Of Carbon Tax Threatens Carbon Farming
ABC Rural By Caitlyn Gribbin Updated Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:25pm AEST PHOTO: Henbury Station in Central Australia, site of a failed attempt to establish the world’s biggest carbon farm. (ABC: Caddie Brain) AUDIO: Fears over future of carbon farming (ABC Rural) MAP: Sydney 2000 Research and lobby group, the Australian Farm Institute, says carbon farming won’t be profitable for years, if an emissions trading scheme is fast tracked. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will scrap the carbon tax and move to an emissions trading scheme next year – one year earlier than originally planned. The fixed carbon price of $24.15 a tonne will be removed in favour of a floating price, thought to be between $6 and $10 a tonne. Mick Keogh, from the Australian Farm Institute, says that price is too low for farmers to make profits from the Carbon Farming Initiative, a scheme where farmers earned carbon credits and sell to people and businesses wanting to offset their emissions. “If you’re in the market to sell carbon credits, you’re now looking at the potential next year that those credits will be worth $6 a tonne, rather than the $24.15 a tonne,” he said. “That obviously has a big impact on the potential profitability of a project you might be looking to undertake. “It would be very limited numbers of projects that would likely to be viable.” Farmers say the carbon tax has significantly pushed up their bills, especially electricity. Australian Dairy Farmers president Noel Campbell says a lower carbon price is a win for agriculture. “It’s positive compared to where we have been, certainly it will make a difference,” Mr Campbell said. “But still we will need to make sure that with whatever situation we’ve got, we’re in a competitive situation with the people that we trade against.” Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the Prime Minister has not truly abolished the carbon tax, but is merely changing its name. The Greens leader Christine Milne says the decision to scrap the carbon tax is “cowardly”. The Australian Industry Group says Mr Rudd’s move is positive and will cut costs for businesses once the floating price begins next July. Continue reading
AfDB Continues To Support Low-Carbon Development Pathways For Africa
By: SEM Contributor on July 13, 2013. AfDB, co-organizer of the 5th Africa Carbon Forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire TUNIS, Tunisia, July 11, 2013/ – For the fifth time the African Development Bank ( http://www.afdb.org ) was a co-organizer of the Africa Carbon Forum (ACF) along with UN agencies, the World Bank and the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA). This important forum was held from July 3-5, 2013 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Given the challenges of the current carbon market, ACF reflected on how the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and other mitigation and financing mechanisms have performed to date ad discussed how those mechanisms could continue to be successfully applied on the African continent. As the premier financing and development institution for Africa, committed to promoting viable financing solutions for climate-friendly development on the continent, the AfDB strongly supports the continuation and the scaling up of those mechanisms. Over 400 participants took part in the three-day program opened by Daniel Kablan Duncan, Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, who expressed his support for low carbon development as a viable option for his country. “To date Africa has the lowest number of registered CDM projects representing a little more than two percent of the overall registered CDM projects worldwide and is not sufficient,” said Kurt Lonsway, Manager of the Energy, Environment and Climate Change Department at the African Development Bank. He added: “We hope that continuation and strengthening of CDM will facilitate the participation of many more on the continent.” During the first Plenary Session on CDM: Achievements and Lessons Learned; The Future of the Mechanism moderated by Lonsway, he polled the audience twice on whether they felt that the CDM had a future in Africa. Just over half were positive demonstrating that important improvements will be required to reduce transaction costs and simplify requirements for African countries to access the mechanism. The AfDB has embarked on an ambitious program at powering a low-carbon pathway in Africa. Through the Energy, Environment and Climate Change Department, the Bank serves as a platform to deliver advisory services necessary to mobilize transformative environment and climate finance, including helping countries and project gain access to carbon markets. Funds channeled through financing windows such as the Climate Investments Funds (CIF), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), a recently created Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), the first phase of African Carbon Support Programme (ACSP), and the new Africa Hub of the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4ALL) are directly invested to support the transport, communications, agriculture, water and energy sectors. The goal is to ensure that climate finance effectively reaches the continent and is tailored to Africa’s needs. During the 5th Africa Carbon Forum, the latest developments of the regulatory framework, including possible new market-based mechanisms to enhance the cost-effectiveness of climate mitigation actions, were discussed and debated. Diverse mitigation instruments such as domestic cap-and-trade, low-emission development strategies and nationally appropriate mitigation actions were highlighted. The Forum also stressed the growing interest in low-carbon development finance opportunities and the commitment of the development partners to support them on the continent. Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the African Development Bank (AfDB). Continue reading
