[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
European carbon prices down after temporary boost
Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:29am EST
LONDON (Reuters) - Prices for benchmark European Union carbon emission permits fell 2 percent on Friday, as traders viewed the previous session's gains as short-lived.
EU Allowances for December delivery were down 26 cents or 2.01 percent at 12.67 euros ($18.91) a tonne at 0747 GMT, with light volume at 340 lots.
News this week that the United States and China both tabled emission targets boosted prices on Thursday, while other commodities prices fell.
"That boost was short-lived and now we are back with the fundamentals. It was a bit of a dead cat bounce," an emissions trader said.
Falling oil on Friday was not supporting carbon prices. U.S. crude for January delivery extended losses to $74 a barrel on Friday, as nervous investors, roiled by debt problems in Dubai, pared positions and shifted to safe-haven assets.
Firmer German spot power prices are seen early next week when less wind power and steady temperatures are forecast, which could prevent EUAs from testing the 12.50 level, traders said.
German Calendar 2010 baseload power traded at 44.50 euros per megawatt hour.
Certified emissions reductions were slow to trade.
Australia's parliament delayed a final vote on a government carbon trade plan on Friday, missing a key deadline, throwing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's climate change policy into doubt and raising the possibility of a snap election.
(Reporting by Nina Chestney; editing by James Jukwey)
[Green Business]
China climate goal faces test of trust
Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:29am EST
By Chris Buckley - Analysis
BEIJING (Reuters) - Three little letters could spell big trouble for global climate change negotiations even after China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, announced its first firm goals to curb emissions.
MRV, climate treaty negotiators' shorthand for "measurable, reportable and verifiable," sums up environmentalists' concern now China has taken up an emissions target. How will the world know if it is telling the truth about any emissions reductions?
China stressed on Thursday that its goal of reducing "carbon intensity" by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, compared to 2005 levels -- reducing the carbon dioxide released to generate each yuan of economic activity -- is a domestic policy, not to be picked over by foreigners as part of a new international pact.
Negotiators hope to agree on the basics of that pact when they meet in Copenhagen from December 7.
Trust us, was the message of Xie Zhenhua, the Chinese climate policy envoy who gave a news briefing to explain the policy.
"Although this is a domestic voluntary action, it is binding," said Xie. "As we've made this commitment, well, Chinese people stick to their word."
But garnering enough international trust to fix a new legally binding climate treaty will not be easy when there is so much wider Western unease about Chinese intentions on trade, security and the environment.
Another worry is the quality of data in a country that has ingrained habits of secrecy, with officials tempted to bend statistics that can decide chances of promotion and demotion.
"I think that, unfortunately, this is one of those cultural clashes that could be difficult," said Charles McElwee, an environmental and energy lawyer with Squire Sanders in Shanghai, who follows China's climate change policies.
"China has this deep-seated desire not to have other countries poking around into what it considers its internal affairs ... Westerners tend to think, 'If this is your commitment, then put your money where your mouth is'."
To get a climate bill passed into law, President Barack Obama must persuade many in the U.S. Senate that China is doing enough to curb emissions, and being held accountable, he added.
China has long rejected calls to open other areas to outside monitoring, such as legal rights and disease outbreaks.
DEAL BREAKER?
So while climate policy experts welcomed China's goal as a boost for the Copenhagen climate talks, they said governments face tough talks over how that goal will be checked and by whom.
"It certainly is a potential deal breaker on the mitigation element of the negotiations," Julian Wong, an expert on Chinese climate policy at the Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington D.C., wrote in emailed comment. Mitigation refers to actions to eradicate or reduce the threat of global warming.
"The best way to do that is for the rest of the world to help China with important capacity-building initiatives in greenhouse gas reporting and monitoring," he wrote.
Beijing's reluctance to turn its domestic vow into a treaty obligation also reflects its own fears that rich nations will not live up to any vows to give poor nations more emissions-cutting technology and money to cope with global warming, said Zou Ji, an expert on the issue at Renmin University in Beijing.
But without that help, China will find it difficult to cut carbon intensity by 40 percent within a decade, he said.
"The further we go in reducing carbon intensity, the harder it will be," said Zou, until recently a member of China's negotiating team for the U.N. climate talks. "This path is not a level plane, it gets steeper and steeper."
Zou said he also worried that China's energy efficiency numbers reflected "padding" by officials, and carbon efficiency data could also be distorted by local governments and businesses.
"We don't want games with numbers on pieces of paper," he said. "We want to see real reductions."
MUTUAL MISTRUST
At talks leading up to Copenhagen, negotiators from rich and poor countries have wrangled over how -- and how closely -- to link their respective efforts to combat global warming.
At the core of the dispute are poor nations' worries that rich nations are trying to impose binding emissions goals by stealth that could hinder growth.
Industrialized powers say if they are making costly adjustments to their economies, big developing nations, such as China, should open their emissions books to outside scrutiny, under a deal made two years ago.
But China and other developing countries say that commitment to accept "measurement, reporting and verification" refers only to checking emissions steps made with technology or cash from rich nations, such as shutting belching power plants or encouraging cleaner vehicles.
The Copenhagen talks are likely to leave efforts to agree on bridging this forbidding "MRV" gap until after Copenhagen, which instead will seek a broad political agreement, several analysts said.
"This is still uncharted territory for the negotiators," said McElwee, the lawyer. "I don't think they have much precedent to draw on."
(Editing by Emma Graham-Harrison and David Fogarty)
[Green Business]
China says no emissions checks without foreign funds
Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:33am EST
BEIJING (Reuters) - A top Chinese climate envoy said on Friday only emissions curbs carried out under its newly announced carbon intensity targets that have international financial support will be open to outside scrutiny.
Yu Qingtai, China's climate change ambassador, added that most of the country's emissions-curbing plans would likely not fall into the category of "measurable, reportable and verifiable."
The phrase, agreed in international talks three years ago, implies third-party checks would be made on any reported reductions.
"Actions would be measurable, reportable and verifiable if (international) support is measurable, reportable and verifiable," Yu told reporters at a briefing.
"If you look at the magnitude of the measures that were announced yesterday, I would assume only a very small proportion would come under this particular provision.
"You cannot apply the same kind of standards for actions that we take on our own, with our own resources, (as you do) for actions that we take with international support."
China announced on Thursday that it would cut 2005 carbon intensity levels -- the amount of CO2 produced per unit of GDP growth -- by 40-45 percent by 2020.
The move boosted hopes for an agreement on a new pact to fight climate change at U.N.-led talks in Copenhagen next month.
China, however, has emphasized that the target is a voluntary, domestically binding policy goal, raising the specter of a dispute at Copenhagen over whether and how reported Chinese emissions reductions will be checked.
Beijing insists that rich, industrialized countries should continue bearing most of the burden in reducing greenhouse gases and that developing nations like China and India must not be subject to mandatory emission reduction targets in any new deal.
China also said any new accord should include more financial and technological support for developing countries.
(Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison, writing by David Stanway, Editing by Ron Popeski)
[Green Business]
European carbon prices down after temporary boost
Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:29am EST
LONDON (Reuters) - Prices for benchmark European Union carbon emission permits fell 2 percent on Friday, as traders viewed the previous session's gains as short-lived.
EU Allowances for December delivery were down 26 cents or 2.01 percent at 12.67 euros ($18.91) a tonne at 0747 GMT, with light volume at 340 lots.
News this week that the United States and China both tabled emission targets boosted prices on Thursday, while other commodities prices fell.
"That boost was short-lived and now we are back with the fundamentals. It was a bit of a dead cat bounce," an emissions trader said.
Falling oil on Friday was not supporting carbon prices. U.S. crude for January delivery extended losses to $74 a barrel on Friday, as nervous investors, roiled by debt problems in Dubai, pared positions and shifted to safe-haven assets.
Firmer German spot power prices are seen early next week when less wind power and steady temperatures are forecast, which could prevent EUAs from testing the 12.50 level, traders said.
German Calendar 2010 baseload power traded at 44.50 euros per megawatt hour.
Certified emissions reductions were slow to trade.
Australia's parliament delayed a final vote on a government carbon trade plan on Friday, missing a key deadline, throwing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's climate change policy into doubt and raising the possibility of a snap election.
(Reporting by Nina Chestney; editing by James Jukwey)
[Green Business]
China climate goal faces test of trust
Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:29am EST
By Chris Buckley - Analysis
BEIJING (Reuters) - Three little letters could spell big trouble for global climate change negotiations even after China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, announced its first firm goals to curb emissions.
MRV, climate treaty negotiators' shorthand for "measurable, reportable and verifiable," sums up environmentalists' concern now China has taken up an emissions target. How will the world know if it is telling the truth about any emissions reductions?
China stressed on Thursday that its goal of reducing "carbon intensity" by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, compared to 2005 levels -- reducing the carbon dioxide released to generate each yuan of economic activity -- is a domestic policy, not to be picked over by foreigners as part of a new international pact.
Negotiators hope to agree on the basics of that pact when they meet in Copenhagen from December 7.
Trust us, was the message of Xie Zhenhua, the Chinese climate policy envoy who gave a news briefing to explain the policy.
"Although this is a domestic voluntary action, it is binding," said Xie. "As we've made this commitment, well, Chinese people stick to their word."
But garnering enough international trust to fix a new legally binding climate treaty will not be easy when there is so much wider Western unease about Chinese intentions on trade, security and the environment.
Another worry is the quality of data in a country that has ingrained habits of secrecy, with officials tempted to bend statistics that can decide chances of promotion and demotion.
"I think that, unfortunately, this is one of those cultural clashes that could be difficult," said Charles McElwee, an environmental and energy lawyer with Squire Sanders in Shanghai, who follows China's climate change policies.
"China has this deep-seated desire not to have other countries poking around into what it considers its internal affairs ... Westerners tend to think, 'If this is your commitment, then put your money where your mouth is'."
To get a climate bill passed into law, President Barack Obama must persuade many in the U.S. Senate that China is doing enough to curb emissions, and being held accountable, he added.
China has long rejected calls to open other areas to outside monitoring, such as legal rights and disease outbreaks.
DEAL BREAKER?
So while climate policy experts welcomed China's goal as a boost for the Copenhagen climate talks, they said governments face tough talks over how that goal will be checked and by whom.
"It certainly is a potential deal breaker on the mitigation element of the negotiations," Julian Wong, an expert on Chinese climate policy at the Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington D.C., wrote in emailed comment. Mitigation refers to actions to eradicate or reduce the threat of global warming.
"The best way to do that is for the rest of the world to help China with important capacity-building initiatives in greenhouse gas reporting and monitoring," he wrote.
Beijing's reluctance to turn its domestic vow into a treaty obligation also reflects its own fears that rich nations will not live up to any vows to give poor nations more emissions-cutting technology and money to cope with global warming, said Zou Ji, an expert on the issue at Renmin University in Beijing.
But without that help, China will find it difficult to cut carbon intensity by 40 percent within a decade, he said.
"The further we go in reducing carbon intensity, the harder it will be," said Zou, until recently a member of China's negotiating team for the U.N. climate talks. "This path is not a level plane, it gets steeper and steeper."
Zou said he also worried that China's energy efficiency numbers reflected "padding" by officials, and carbon efficiency data could also be distorted by local governments and businesses.
"We don't want games with numbers on pieces of paper," he said. "We want to see real reductions."
MUTUAL MISTRUST
At talks leading up to Copenhagen, negotiators from rich and poor countries have wrangled over how -- and how closely -- to link their respective efforts to combat global warming.
At the core of the dispute are poor nations' worries that rich nations are trying to impose binding emissions goals by stealth that could hinder growth.
Industrialized powers say if they are making costly adjustments to their economies, big developing nations, such as China, should open their emissions books to outside scrutiny, under a deal made two years ago.
But China and other developing countries say that commitment to accept "measurement, reporting and verification" refers only to checking emissions steps made with technology or cash from rich nations, such as shutting belching power plants or encouraging cleaner vehicles.
The Copenhagen talks are likely to leave efforts to agree on bridging this forbidding "MRV" gap until after Copenhagen, which instead will seek a broad political agreement, several analysts said.
"This is still uncharted territory for the negotiators," said McElwee, the lawyer. "I don't think they have much precedent to draw on."
(Editing by Emma Graham-Harrison and David Fogarty)
[Green Business]
China says no emissions checks without foreign funds
Fri Nov 27, 2009 7:33am EST
BEIJING (Reuters) - A top Chinese climate envoy said on Friday only emissions curbs carried out under its newly announced carbon intensity targets that have international financial support will be open to outside scrutiny.
Yu Qingtai, China's climate change ambassador, added that most of the country's emissions-curbing plans would likely not fall into the category of "measurable, reportable and verifiable."
The phrase, agreed in international talks three years ago, implies third-party checks would be made on any reported reductions.
"Actions would be measurable, reportable and verifiable if (international) support is measurable, reportable and verifiable," Yu told reporters at a briefing.
"If you look at the magnitude of the measures that were announced yesterday, I would assume only a very small proportion would come under this particular provision.
"You cannot apply the same kind of standards for actions that we take on our own, with our own resources, (as you do) for actions that we take with international support."
China announced on Thursday that it would cut 2005 carbon intensity levels -- the amount of CO2 produced per unit of GDP growth -- by 40-45 percent by 2020.
The move boosted hopes for an agreement on a new pact to fight climate change at U.N.-led talks in Copenhagen next month.
China, however, has emphasized that the target is a voluntary, domestically binding policy goal, raising the specter of a dispute at Copenhagen over whether and how reported Chinese emissions reductions will be checked.
Beijing insists that rich, industrialized countries should continue bearing most of the burden in reducing greenhouse gases and that developing nations like China and India must not be subject to mandatory emission reduction targets in any new deal.
China also said any new accord should include more financial and technological support for developing countries.
(Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison, writing by David Stanway, Editing by Ron Popeski)