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Airbus, Air Canada Partner With BioFuelNet Canada On Biojet Fuel
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China Reveals Details Of First Carbon Trading Scheme
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9221daf4-c221-11e2-ab66-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2U1lYNuu9 By Leslie Hook in Beijing Operating details of China’s first pilot carbon-trading scheme, in Shenzhen, have been released as it gets ready to launch next month, and as the country prepares to roll out seven pilot schemes by 2014. The world’s biggest carbon emitter, China is planning to experiment with carbon trading schemes during the next three years as it seeks to cut emissions. Beijing is targeting a 40 per cent reduction in emissions relative to economic output by 2020, from 2005 levels, but hasn’t identified what means it will use to reach that goal. The Shenzhen Carbon Exchange, the smallest of the seven in terms of total emissions, announced on Tuesday that its trading scheme would cover 635 industrial and construction companies, accounting for 38 per cent of Shenzhen’s total emissions in 2010. The exchange will launch on June 18. “Shenzhen, with it being the first exchange to officially launch, is going to be looked at very closely,” said Richard Chatterton, analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The exchange said it will add transportation to its scheme soon, and eventually include all major companies that consume oil, coal, gas and power. Emissions trading schemes encourage companies to curb their carbon dioxide emissions by setting a limit, or cap, on the level of carbon dioxide that can be emitted in a country or region, and then distributing permits equal to one tonne of carbon to each emitter. Cleaner companies can sell their permits to firms that pollute more, and therefore need more permits to meet their individual cap. This sets a price on carbon dioxide, the main manmade greenhouse gas scientists say is responsible for climate change. Although carbon trading schemes elsewhere have faltered, most recently with the near collapse of the carbon market in the EU, Beijing’s plans to test out carbon trading are still forging ahead. South Korea is also planning to implement a trading scheme that will be tested next year and go into force in 2015. Despite the setbacks in the EU, whose carbon trading scheme is by far the world’s largest, California launched an emissions trading scheme at the start of this year and is due to link it with a similar system in Quebec, Canada. Australia passed legislation in 2011 for an emissions trading scheme, which the government says will be linked with the EU scheme in 2015. China’s seven pilot schemes – in the cities of Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing, and the provinces of Guangdong and Hubei – represent the first step towards what might become a nationwide carbon trading scheme after 2015. By 2015, trading schemes will cover around seven per cent of China’s total carbon emissions, according to estimates from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Beijing hasn’t clearly identified its plans for the exchanges after 2015. The Shenzhen exchange took pains to describe how it would avoid corruption and human error during the quota allocation process by using automatic calculations to assign the quotas. It also said the initial quota allocation will be flexible, varying each year according to a company’s revenue growth and that the overall quota can be raised if need be. One of the most thorny issues for China’s exchanges is that prices for electricity – which accounts for the bulk of carbon emissions – are tightly controlled by the state. Without freely floating electricity prices, imposing a carbon price on electricity producers becomes meaningless. A press officer for the Shenzhen exchange said that coal-fired power plants would be included in its trading scheme but this was not detailed in Tuesday’s press conference. Shenzhen, a manufacturing hub, draws much of its power from nearby nuclear plants on the coast and has fewer coal-fired power plants than cities such as Beijing or Shanghai. China’s new leaders, who took the helm in March, have promised to try to clean up the toxic pollution that has become a growing social issue across the country. Beijing also issued carbon emissions targets to every province under the 2011–2015 five-year plan. It is unclear how these provincial goals will be monitored or met. China’s biggest source of carbon emissions is coal-burning power plants, which account for more than 60 per cent of its electricity supply. The Shanghai pilot exchange is expected to launch before the end of June and Beijing shortly thereafter. David Tang, board secretary of the Tianjin Carbon Exchange, told the FT the exchange there would start trading before the end of the year, without identifying a date. Continue reading
The Winners And Losers In Overseas Property Game
Exotic, obscure locations were the place to buy in 2006 but the game has changed. By Graham Norwood GRAHAM NORWOOD SATURDAY 18 MAY 2013 Ah, the good times. Back in 2006 the insatiable British appetite for buy-to-let and holiday home investment meant we did not settle for Brighton or the Costa del Sol but sought ever-more exotic locations in which to sink our spare cash. Remember those “emerging markets”? Property supplements and estate agency windows extolled the virtues of buying in places many Britons could not even find on a map. The reasons given for investing in out-of-the-way locations then are almost the complete reverse of criteria investors might adopt now. European cities looked tempting, especially in countries poised to adopt the euro; off-the-beaten-track US locations were no-brainers as America’s economy grew 5.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2006; and you could invest easily by remortgaging your UK home. That was then. In the seven downturn years most emerging property market capital values and rents have crashed and burned. A mortgage famine and poor exchange rates deter new British purchasers from snapping up the homes of those wishing to bail out. For example, a €200,000 apartment in 2006 would have cost you £136,000 whereas today it would be £170,000; a US$250,000 villa in December 2006 would have been £127,250 but today it’s up to £163,000. So what has become of five of the most-hyped emerging markets from 2006? 1. Dubai At first sight, this looks a success story. The respected property consultancy CBRE says house prices are up 16 per cent and rents up 17 per cent in the year to March 2013, while high-end estate agent Knight Frank says Dubai is the world’s second-most booming market (behind Hong Kong) following a 19 per cent rise in 2012. That sounds a steal until you realise prices crashed an average 50 per cent between 2008 and 2011 and the city’s property market required a $10bn bailout from Abu Dhabi, a neighbouring member of the United Arab Emirates. Therefore many values are still 35 per cent below 2006 levels. Building work has resumed and analysts say 15,000 to 18,000 new homes will go on sale both this year and next, so there is a worry about a crash if supply exceeds demand again. As a result, mortgages are difficult to obtain. Even so, excess remains Dubai’s defining characteristic: Chesterton Humberts is selling a four-bedroom flat in Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest residential tower, for £4,993,940. 2. Bulgaria In 2006 this was THE place to buy. UK estate agents like Savills and Knight Frank were selling flats in Bansko ski resort and on the Black Sea coast. Even renowned designer Philippe Starck fashioned the interiors for one scheme. There was a construction surge in 2006 with a pipeline of 22,000 new holiday apartments in the Black Sea region alone according to international estate agency Colliers. But demand for resort properties plummeted from 500 a month in 2006 to 30 in 2008 and prices followed suit. Nothing much has changed since. Some Britons sold their apartments to vulture funds, which were buying properties in 2008, but those who held on have seen only modest rental returns and significant capital depreciation. Rightmove is advertising one-bedroom flats in Bansko for £30,615. Seven years ago similar units were on sale for £50,000. 3. Las Vegas An international buy-to-let market built in a town laden with casinos was always going to be a gamble but perhaps unexpectedly, it may be about to pay off. In 2005 Colliers was selling one, two and three-bedroom apartments to Britons from £140,000 but Las Vegas values collapsed 59 per cent between 2006 and 2012, according to Zillow, a house sales website that analyses price changes. Yet the city’s economy is improving and mortgage foreclosures are down 17 per cent since spring 2012. Average house prices are up 22.3 per cent in the past year. The wider US housing market is showing sustained recovery. Some US mortgage lenders offer overseas investors 15 or 30-year mortgages on Las Vegas homes with up to 70 per cent loan-to-value, although individuals may have to put a hefty sum in a US bank account first. 4. Turkey Buyers here may have been luckier than elsewhere as prices in holiday home hotspots dipped only 10 per cent in the global downturn. The country’s unsophisticated mortgage system did not overstretch its banks to the degree seen elsewhere. Most purchases have been cash because house values are low by UK standards and the few mortgages that exist for foreign buyers typically have rates of seven per cent or more. In 2006 villas were on sale for under £120,000 and flats for £35,000 in Bodrum, Alanya and Antalya, three key tourist spots. They are much the same now. supply exceeds demand in most resorts. However, the market is looking up again. Construction sites mothballed five years ago are resuming work and Turkish house prices rose 10.5 per cent in 2012, says Knight Frank. 5. Montenegro Tourist havens like Kotor, Budva and Sveti Stefan suddenly became must-have places to buy apartments in the booming 12 months after this tiny but strikingly attractive country gained independence from Serbia in 2006. Prices were high: new-build inland villas were £700,000 while coastal apartments hit £1m or more and some agents claimed 100 per cent price rises in 12 months. But prices “dropped about 30 per cent after the crisis and have since come back circa 10 per cent”, according to John Kennedy of developer Boka Group. It has become hugely dependent on just one source – there are 50 flights a day from Russian cities. Continue reading
