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Airline Industry Carbon Proposal May Help Save U.N. Deal
By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON | Mon Jun 3, 2013 7:19pm EDT (Reuters) – A proposal agreed to this week by major airlines could rescue U.N. efforts for a deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the aviation sector, but the industry still needs to lean on governments for the plan to move ahead, industry observers said. Following its annual meeting in South Africa on Monday, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it will ask governments to create a system through which airlines would offset any increase in emissions after 2020 by buying carbon credits from projects that reduce emissions in other sectors. The proposal is meant to give governments that are parties to the United Nations ‘ International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) a blueprint for a global agreement. It is also a move to prevent the European Union from applying a law that would force airlines to pay for each ton of carbon dioxide they emit on flights to and from EU airports through Europe’s emissions-trading scheme. Implementation of the law was postponed in 2012 after a global outcry. Under IATA’s proposed offsetting system, either air carriers or countries would have to purchase credits to cover each ton of carbon emitted over a set baseline. “The worldwide airline industry sent a strong message that it is moving forward with its commitments and has offered governments a proposed way forward,” said Nancy Young, vice president for environmental affairs for the lobby group Airlines for America, whose members also belong to IATA. The airlines who agreed to the proposal represent about 85 percent of global commercial air traffic. Some environmentalists doubted that governments will be ready to ink a deal in time for ICAO’s triennial general assembly in Montreal, which runs from September 24 to October 4. “The question is whether it’s just a resolution or will IATA now put their undoubted muscle behind wavering governments, starting with the United States,” said Bill Hemmings, aviation manager at Brussels-based group Transport and Environment. Officials from 17 countries tapped to work on the global agreement have been bogged down by issues such as whether states or airlines would be pay for emissions, and whether less-developed countries should have different goals. Annie Petsonk, international council for the Environmental Defense Fund, said her organization does not support all elements of the IATA resolution but the plan sends a strong signal to feet-dragging governments. “We may not agree with every ingredient to bake into this cake but we agree that it’s time to bake the cake,” she said. “The fact that the industry is saying ‘this can be done this September’ … really puts the spotlight on whether governments will get into the kitchen and get it done.” Some green groups totally rejected IATA’s approach, arguing that it will not lead to real emission reductions. “Only a cap-and-trade scheme with a stringent cap and a limit on the use of offsets will create sufficient incentives for essential emission reductions,” said Eva Filzmoser, director of Carbon Market Watch, a watchdog group. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; editing by Andrew Hay) Continue reading
Estover Toasts Sandwich Biomass Plant
£65m combined heat and power plant at Local Enterprise Zone in Kent could start construction next year By Jessica Shankleman 28 May 2013 Renewable power developer Estover Energy has taken a major step forward with plans to build a £65m combined heat and power plant in Kent, powered by biomass. The company announced last week that it would shortly apply to Dover District Council to build the CHP plant at the Discovery science and technology park in Sandwich, from which it will be able to supply 11MW of electricity and 8MW of heat. The Discovery Park is a former Pfizer research site that also used to operate a CHP plant. Estover hopes to be able to plug its new plant into the existing infrastructure to provide heat and power to the other businesses on the site via a power purchase agreement, as well as supply power to the National Grid. As the Park is also within an Local Enterprise Zone, it benefits from simplified planning regulations and improved infrastructure, designed to help boost development. If consent is secured, Estover aims to start construction in 2014, potentially bringing £80m into the local economy, while helping to create a stable market for low-grade wood in the area. Estover said the plant would use locally source low-grade wood fuel to generate power for both the park and to feed into the National Grid. “We believe that using the by-product from woodland management and harvesting to generate energy is a positive alternative to fossil fuels, and one that is supported by government and many environmental and rural campaigning groups,” said Andrew Troup, development director of Estover Energy. “Low-grade wood fuel is clean, has low emissions and is good for the local area, both providing rural jobs, and stimulating investment in local woodland and forestry.” The plans were also welcomed by Communities and Local Government Secretary of State Eric Pickles, as the plant would be based in an Enterprise Zone. “I’m delighted that Estover Energy is taking advantage of these changes. Their ambitious plan for a new £65m biomass plant at Discovery Park will boost employment and growth in Kent,” he said. Continue reading
SSE and Forth Ports Win Consent for $710 Million Biomass Plant
SSE and Forth Ports Win Consent for $710 Million Biomass Plant By Louise Downing – Jun 3, 2013 SSE Plc (SSE) , the U.K.’s second-biggest energy supplier, and Forth Ports Ltd. won Scottish government approval to build a 465 million-pound ($710 million) plant to generate electricity and heat from wood. The facility in the Port of Grangemouth, central Scotland , will be the largest of its kind in the country, Forth Energy, a joint venture between SSE and Forth Ports, said in a statement on its website. It will have capacity of 120 megawatts of power and 200 megawatts of heat using imported wood. The project will help Scotland in obtaining a target for all of its electricity to come from clean sources by 2020, from about 39 percent now. Only biomass facilities of more than 15 megawatts that produce both electricity as well as heat are eligible for subsidy support from the region’s government. Construction of the plant will take three years and create about 300 jobs. It’s expected to start working in 2017 and is forecast to deliver about 26 million pounds of economic growth a year to the area, according to the statement. Electricity will be fed into the grid and heat supplied to industry. To contact the reporter on this story: Louise Downing in London at ldowning4@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net Continue reading
