[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
LISBON
Wed Jan 6, 2010 9:57am EST
EDP Renewables expects to win UK wind project
LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's EDP Renewables (EDPR) expects to be awarded a 1.3 gigawatts development project in the third offshore wind farm leasing round in the United Kingdom, the company said on Wednesday.
Based on the information the company has received from British authorities, EDPR expects to receive a development agreement for an offshore wind farm located in the northeast of Scotland, it said in a statement.
It said the final decision should be made later in January.
EDPR, the wind energy unit of Energias de Portugal, is the world's fourth-largest wind energy company in terms of installed capacity.
It is bidding in the UK leasing round through a joint venture in which it holds 75 percent. The remainder is owned by SeaEnergy Renewables Limited.
At 1225 GMT shares in EDPR were 0.92 percent lower at 6.9060 euros.
(Reporting by Axel Bugge; Editing by Hans Peters)
[Green Business]
SAN FRANCISCO
Wed Jan 6, 2010 8:18am EST
Think electric carmaker to invest in U.S. plant
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Norwegian electric car maker Think Global said it plans to build vehicles in the United States in 2011 and has picked a site in Indiana for its U.S. manufacturing facility.
Think said on Tuesday it plans to assemble vehicles in Elkhart County and would invest $43.5 million in building improvements and equipment.
The company estimates its investments will support manufacturing capacity for more than 20,000 vehicles a year.
Lithium-ion battery maker Ener1 Inc, which has a 31 percent stake in Think Global, also has a manufacturing site in Indiana.
Think Global, which emerged from court protection last year, said it started delivering the latest generation of its electric car to customers in Europe in December.
The Think City all-electric vehicle can travel more than 100 miles on a single charge, the company said.
In addition to incentives provided by the State of Indiana and Elkhart County, Think said it plans to utilize funding from the U.S. loan program to establish its new production facility.
Think has been in the electric car space since the 1990s but has changed owners and struggled for cash through the years.
It was formerly part of U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co and its Think City electric car was produced after Ford took a major stake in 1999.
(Reporting by Poornima Gupta, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
[Green Business]
WASHINGTON
Wed Jan 6, 2010 6:21pm EST
Greens seek review of carbon offsets on U.S. lands
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservationists urged Obama administration officials on Wednesday to move cautiously on the use of carbon offsets on public lands, saying the mechanisms may interfere with land managers charged with protecting forests and other lands.
Under cap-and-trade legislation being considered by Congress, private carbon offsets could be applied to public forests and other federal lands.
Some federal forests, such as ones in the Pacific Northwest, have some of the highest carbon storage rates per acre of any place on the planet. Private carbon brokers and traders have been anxious to introduce use of offsets in those areas.
Forest carbon offsets allow industrial polluters who chose not to cut their own emissions to get credit for emissions reductions by paying others to protect or grow trees.
Obama administration officials have said they would be open to the use of offsets on public lands. But climate legislation has been delayed in the Senate and its future is unclear.
"Offset markets, if well designed and well-regulated, could steer needed resources into private land protection. However, extending this mechanism into the arena of federal land management raises numerous unexamined issues," six conservation groups said in a letter on Wednesday to Secretaries Ken Salazar, of the Department of the Interior, and Tom Vilsack, of the Department of Agriculture. "
David Moulton, director of climate policy at the Wilderness Society, one of the groups that wrote the letter, said such private contracts could lead to conflicts with public land managers as they are charged with protecting whole ecosystems, not just the parts that store carbon dioxide.
In addition, public lands in many cases are already protected by land managers and laws, so offsets may not add any additional protections.
A spokeswoman at the DOI said the department was reviewing the letter.
The other groups that signed the letter were the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Earthjustice, Defenders of Wildlife and the National Center for Conservation Science and Policy.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio)
[Green Business]
Ed Stoddard
DALLAS
Wed Jan 6, 2010 10:35am EST
U.S. carbon market growth seen without climate bill
DALLAS (Reuters) - Voluntary carbon markets in the United States will grow especially at the regional level even if a stalled federal climate bill fails to impose "cap and trade" on American industry, the chairman of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) said.
"I think we will continue to see interest in voluntary carbon markets ... And I would expect that without a federal law you will continue to see growth in regional initiatives in the United States," Richard Sandor, the exchange's founder, told Reuters in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
He noted regional moves that he said were gaining traction such as the Western Climate Initiative.
"After all, we started CCX when there was virtually no movement in Washington (on mandatory emissions caps) back in 2003," Sandor said.
U.S. lawmakers face an uphill battle enacting a climate bill in 2010 that includes a cap-and-trade market in greenhouse gases after December's U.N. meeting in Copenhagen failed to hammer out a global pact on emissions cuts.
U.S. climate legislation remains likely as lawmakers feel pressure to help the country lead in production of low-carbon energy sources such as wind, solar and nuclear power.
But the Copenhagen Accord did not include mandatory emissions targets. This will make it difficult for lawmakers to argue that the U.S. should have a binding emissions cap.
Political uncertainty has contributed to low carbon prices in the United States. The Carbon Financial Instrument contracts on the Chicago exchange have fallen to about 15 cents per tonne from about $2 early last year. In Europe, carbon allowances are worth about $18.50 a tonne.
But Sandor, an innovative and key figure in the history of the global derivatives industry, said he still saw "momentum" for cap and trade in the United States.
He also said he saw a lot of growth and excitement around a U.N.-backed system to pay poorer nations for saving or replanting their forests, known as the reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation, or REDD.
"I think REDD will continue to grow and capture the imagination of many, many people in and out of the environment movement," he said.
He said he saw regional markets and exchanges being set up in places like Brazil while Africa would begin to benefit from offset projects.
Sandor is executive chairman of Climate Exchange PLC, which owns not only the CCX but the European Climate Exchange, a key part of the European Union's carbon trading scheme put in place after the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol in 1997.
Asked if it was seeking new partners or markets, he replied: "We continue to explore other markets."
(Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Christian Wiessner)
[Green Business]
LISBON
Wed Jan 6, 2010 9:57am EST
EDP Renewables expects to win UK wind project
LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's EDP Renewables (EDPR) expects to be awarded a 1.3 gigawatts development project in the third offshore wind farm leasing round in the United Kingdom, the company said on Wednesday.
Based on the information the company has received from British authorities, EDPR expects to receive a development agreement for an offshore wind farm located in the northeast of Scotland, it said in a statement.
It said the final decision should be made later in January.
EDPR, the wind energy unit of Energias de Portugal, is the world's fourth-largest wind energy company in terms of installed capacity.
It is bidding in the UK leasing round through a joint venture in which it holds 75 percent. The remainder is owned by SeaEnergy Renewables Limited.
At 1225 GMT shares in EDPR were 0.92 percent lower at 6.9060 euros.
(Reporting by Axel Bugge; Editing by Hans Peters)
[Green Business]
SAN FRANCISCO
Wed Jan 6, 2010 8:18am EST
Think electric carmaker to invest in U.S. plant
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Norwegian electric car maker Think Global said it plans to build vehicles in the United States in 2011 and has picked a site in Indiana for its U.S. manufacturing facility.
Think said on Tuesday it plans to assemble vehicles in Elkhart County and would invest $43.5 million in building improvements and equipment.
The company estimates its investments will support manufacturing capacity for more than 20,000 vehicles a year.
Lithium-ion battery maker Ener1 Inc, which has a 31 percent stake in Think Global, also has a manufacturing site in Indiana.
Think Global, which emerged from court protection last year, said it started delivering the latest generation of its electric car to customers in Europe in December.
The Think City all-electric vehicle can travel more than 100 miles on a single charge, the company said.
In addition to incentives provided by the State of Indiana and Elkhart County, Think said it plans to utilize funding from the U.S. loan program to establish its new production facility.
Think has been in the electric car space since the 1990s but has changed owners and struggled for cash through the years.
It was formerly part of U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co and its Think City electric car was produced after Ford took a major stake in 1999.
(Reporting by Poornima Gupta, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)
[Green Business]
WASHINGTON
Wed Jan 6, 2010 6:21pm EST
Greens seek review of carbon offsets on U.S. lands
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservationists urged Obama administration officials on Wednesday to move cautiously on the use of carbon offsets on public lands, saying the mechanisms may interfere with land managers charged with protecting forests and other lands.
Under cap-and-trade legislation being considered by Congress, private carbon offsets could be applied to public forests and other federal lands.
Some federal forests, such as ones in the Pacific Northwest, have some of the highest carbon storage rates per acre of any place on the planet. Private carbon brokers and traders have been anxious to introduce use of offsets in those areas.
Forest carbon offsets allow industrial polluters who chose not to cut their own emissions to get credit for emissions reductions by paying others to protect or grow trees.
Obama administration officials have said they would be open to the use of offsets on public lands. But climate legislation has been delayed in the Senate and its future is unclear.
"Offset markets, if well designed and well-regulated, could steer needed resources into private land protection. However, extending this mechanism into the arena of federal land management raises numerous unexamined issues," six conservation groups said in a letter on Wednesday to Secretaries Ken Salazar, of the Department of the Interior, and Tom Vilsack, of the Department of Agriculture. "
David Moulton, director of climate policy at the Wilderness Society, one of the groups that wrote the letter, said such private contracts could lead to conflicts with public land managers as they are charged with protecting whole ecosystems, not just the parts that store carbon dioxide.
In addition, public lands in many cases are already protected by land managers and laws, so offsets may not add any additional protections.
A spokeswoman at the DOI said the department was reviewing the letter.
The other groups that signed the letter were the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Earthjustice, Defenders of Wildlife and the National Center for Conservation Science and Policy.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio)
[Green Business]
Ed Stoddard
DALLAS
Wed Jan 6, 2010 10:35am EST
U.S. carbon market growth seen without climate bill
DALLAS (Reuters) - Voluntary carbon markets in the United States will grow especially at the regional level even if a stalled federal climate bill fails to impose "cap and trade" on American industry, the chairman of the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) said.
"I think we will continue to see interest in voluntary carbon markets ... And I would expect that without a federal law you will continue to see growth in regional initiatives in the United States," Richard Sandor, the exchange's founder, told Reuters in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
He noted regional moves that he said were gaining traction such as the Western Climate Initiative.
"After all, we started CCX when there was virtually no movement in Washington (on mandatory emissions caps) back in 2003," Sandor said.
U.S. lawmakers face an uphill battle enacting a climate bill in 2010 that includes a cap-and-trade market in greenhouse gases after December's U.N. meeting in Copenhagen failed to hammer out a global pact on emissions cuts.
U.S. climate legislation remains likely as lawmakers feel pressure to help the country lead in production of low-carbon energy sources such as wind, solar and nuclear power.
But the Copenhagen Accord did not include mandatory emissions targets. This will make it difficult for lawmakers to argue that the U.S. should have a binding emissions cap.
Political uncertainty has contributed to low carbon prices in the United States. The Carbon Financial Instrument contracts on the Chicago exchange have fallen to about 15 cents per tonne from about $2 early last year. In Europe, carbon allowances are worth about $18.50 a tonne.
But Sandor, an innovative and key figure in the history of the global derivatives industry, said he still saw "momentum" for cap and trade in the United States.
He also said he saw a lot of growth and excitement around a U.N.-backed system to pay poorer nations for saving or replanting their forests, known as the reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation, or REDD.
"I think REDD will continue to grow and capture the imagination of many, many people in and out of the environment movement," he said.
He said he saw regional markets and exchanges being set up in places like Brazil while Africa would begin to benefit from offset projects.
Sandor is executive chairman of Climate Exchange PLC, which owns not only the CCX but the European Climate Exchange, a key part of the European Union's carbon trading scheme put in place after the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol in 1997.
Asked if it was seeking new partners or markets, he replied: "We continue to explore other markets."
(Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Christian Wiessner)
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