[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
U.S., China help climate talks, but tangles remain
Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:43am EST
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO (Reuters) - Promises of greenhouse gas curbs by China and the United States brighten prospects for next month's U.N. climate summit but leave big tangles over cash, rich nations' emissions cuts and how to tie down a legal treaty.
"This is clearly some progress on the Copenhagen road," Frank Jotzo, deputy director of the Australian National University's Climate Change Institute, said of pledges by the world's top two emitters to tackle global warming.
But he noted China's goal of slowing its rising emissions by 2020 was voluntary and President Barack Obama's plan to cut U.S. emissions by 3 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 faced obstacles in the Senate.
Indeed, China's goal of reducing carbon intensity -- the amount of greenhouse gases emitted per yuan of economic activity -- by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels still means its emissions will rise, but less than economic growth.
However, analysts welcomed Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Obama's decisions to go to the December 7-18 talks in Copenhagen as a sign of personal commitment to a deal. Obama will visit on December 9, before the main U.N. summit on the last two days.
But Obama's emissions cuts were probably were too small to encourage other rich nations to make deeper offers in Denmark. Industrialised nations as a group are offering cuts in emissions averaging between 14 and 18 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
"It's not enough in itself to unlock new offers," said Knut Alfsen, research director of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo.
But he said that Washington could sweeten its offer, perhaps with money for research and development or aid to help poor countries adapt to the impacts of climate change such as droughts, more powerful cyclones or rising sea levels.
SILENT ON FUNDS
"The White House ... was noticeably silent about finance" in announcing Obama's plans for Copenhagen, said Kim Carstensen, head of the WWF environmental group's global climate initiative.
The United Nations wants at least $10 billion a year to help developing nations cope with climate change and convince them that the rich are committed to fighting global warming. And it wants mechanisms to raise far more in the long term.
Carstensen said Obama was likely to argue that his greenhouse goal is a 17 percent cut from 2005 levels after sharp rises since 1990 and sets the United States on a path for deeper cuts than many of its industrial allies by 2030.
Cuts by rich nations are far below demands by developing nations such as China and India that they need to cut by between 25 and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avert the worst of global warming.
Analysts also say there are uncertainties about the final form of a Copenhagen deal since most nations say time is too short for Copenhagen to agree a full legal treaty. Denmark wants a "politically binding" pact and a legally binding text in 2010.
"A politically binding promise by a politician ... is a meaningless term," said Tom Burke, of the E3G think-tank in London. "There is a serious intent but what it means is fuzzy."
Group of Eight nations, for instance, often made political promises without following up.
"At the end of the day, the atmosphere doesn't care if it's a binding agreement or not, it cares about whether countries are doing action," said Jake Schmidt, of the National Resources Defense Council in Washington.
(Additional reporting by David Fogarty in Singapore, Jeff Mason in Washington and Emma Graham-Harrison in Beijing)
[Green Business]
China says rich nations' emission targets too low
Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:51am EST
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top climate envoy said on Thursday the nation's carbon intensity target was a step toward a peak in emissions output, adding that developed nations had set themselves goals that were too lenient to tackle global warming.
Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission, also said that developed nations needed to offer more financing and technology to help poorer countries tackle climate change.
"So far we have not seen concrete actions and substantive commitments by the developed countries," Xie told a news conference in the Chinese capital. (Reporting by Chris Buckley; Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Paul Tait)
[Green Business]
Investors welcome new China, U.S. climate goals
Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:03am EST
By Gerard Wynn and Michael Szabo - Analysis
LONDON (Reuters) - Investors welcomed new China and U.S. climate targets 10 days before a U.N. summit but an Australian carbon vote delay hinted at wider difficulties to cement a global deal.
Traders in a $126 billion carbon market want tight climate targets to boost demand for emissions permits, and energy companies want to know the full future costs -- including from carbon -- of burning fossil fuels as they plan new power plants.
A December 7-18 Copenhagen meeting is intended to agree the outlines of a new global climate treaty and will shed light on future energy and carbon prices.
In jockeying ahead of that conference, the United States on Wednesday made its first offer since 1997 to cut carbon emissions and China vowed to slow carbon emissions from industry, helping drive momentum toward a global deal.
Energy analysts welcomed the U.S. and Chinese offers, although the U.S. target was widely expected and far below European Union ambition compared with a U.N. 1990 baseline.
"It increases the chances of getting a better, collaborative agreement in Copenhagen, which would in turn create a larger low-carbon marketplace," said James Cameron, vice-chairman of Climate Change Capital, an environmental investment group with $1.5 billion assets under management.
The U.S. and China moves provided a "very positive" further boost to what would be a record year for clean energy investment in 2010, consultants New Energy Finance predicted.
"I would not be surprised to see a $200 billion year," said New Energy Finance head Michael Liebreich. Investment would reach $160-$200 billion in 2010, compared with expected funding this year of about $125 billion, down from last year's record of $155 billion, Liebreich told Reuters.
CONCESSIONS
The U.S. target, to cut greenhouse gases by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, added momentum but was widely expected.
"All the U.S. said was what's already passed in the House (of Representatives). I don't see it as a particularly significant development," said Deutsche Bank's Mark Lewis.
"It's much more important to see how they are going to reduce emissions," said Michael McNamara at Jefferies Bank.
The target would also need Congress backing in the shape of a domestic climate bill. Republican opposition has stalled progress through the Senate.
The Australian Senate delayed on Thursday a vote on a similar climate plan -- both include a cap and trade scheme -- alarming analysts concerned about a weakening of the scheme.
"The legislation has reflected incredible degrees of partisan politics," said Murray Ward, from the Global Climate Change Consultancy, referring to votes both in Australia and New Zealand which passed emissions trading scheme (ETS) legislation on Wednesday.
"The same is happening in the United States. This cannot bode well as the legislation will inevitably be compromised."
The Australian delay worried carbon traders, cheered by the passage of New Zealand legislation but still waiting the first major economy to follow a European Union cap and trade scheme launched in 2005.
"The Australian delay is potentially a major setback," said one carbon trader. "It is one of the biggest countries in terms of emitters so they should really move."
QUESTIONS
The New Zealand and prospective Australian emissions trading schemes would add limited new demand for carbon offsets -- traded under the Kyoto Protocol -- but important new momentum following recession and a slump in demand for pollution permits.
British utilities increasingly question the effectiveness of emissions trading in Europe, saying carbon prices are insufficient to make new nuclear power plants and coal with expensive carbon capture technology economic.
"Obviously a good strong agreement in Copenhagen will be a great legacy, but let's be realistic, that may not happen and it may be necessary that we have other mechanisms, if you like a Plan B," said Paul Golby, chief executive of the UK arm of German utility E.ON AG.
"Utilities need secure funding in order to develop these large scale projects, and quite frankly at the moment the carbon price is too low and too uncertain to support investment without further help."
-- Additional reporting by Nina Chestney and Daniel Fineren in London and David Fogarty in Singapore
[Green Business]
U.S., China help climate talks, but tangles remain
Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:43am EST
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO (Reuters) - Promises of greenhouse gas curbs by China and the United States brighten prospects for next month's U.N. climate summit but leave big tangles over cash, rich nations' emissions cuts and how to tie down a legal treaty.
"This is clearly some progress on the Copenhagen road," Frank Jotzo, deputy director of the Australian National University's Climate Change Institute, said of pledges by the world's top two emitters to tackle global warming.
But he noted China's goal of slowing its rising emissions by 2020 was voluntary and President Barack Obama's plan to cut U.S. emissions by 3 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 faced obstacles in the Senate.
Indeed, China's goal of reducing carbon intensity -- the amount of greenhouse gases emitted per yuan of economic activity -- by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels still means its emissions will rise, but less than economic growth.
However, analysts welcomed Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Obama's decisions to go to the December 7-18 talks in Copenhagen as a sign of personal commitment to a deal. Obama will visit on December 9, before the main U.N. summit on the last two days.
But Obama's emissions cuts were probably were too small to encourage other rich nations to make deeper offers in Denmark. Industrialised nations as a group are offering cuts in emissions averaging between 14 and 18 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
"It's not enough in itself to unlock new offers," said Knut Alfsen, research director of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo.
But he said that Washington could sweeten its offer, perhaps with money for research and development or aid to help poor countries adapt to the impacts of climate change such as droughts, more powerful cyclones or rising sea levels.
SILENT ON FUNDS
"The White House ... was noticeably silent about finance" in announcing Obama's plans for Copenhagen, said Kim Carstensen, head of the WWF environmental group's global climate initiative.
The United Nations wants at least $10 billion a year to help developing nations cope with climate change and convince them that the rich are committed to fighting global warming. And it wants mechanisms to raise far more in the long term.
Carstensen said Obama was likely to argue that his greenhouse goal is a 17 percent cut from 2005 levels after sharp rises since 1990 and sets the United States on a path for deeper cuts than many of its industrial allies by 2030.
Cuts by rich nations are far below demands by developing nations such as China and India that they need to cut by between 25 and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to avert the worst of global warming.
Analysts also say there are uncertainties about the final form of a Copenhagen deal since most nations say time is too short for Copenhagen to agree a full legal treaty. Denmark wants a "politically binding" pact and a legally binding text in 2010.
"A politically binding promise by a politician ... is a meaningless term," said Tom Burke, of the E3G think-tank in London. "There is a serious intent but what it means is fuzzy."
Group of Eight nations, for instance, often made political promises without following up.
"At the end of the day, the atmosphere doesn't care if it's a binding agreement or not, it cares about whether countries are doing action," said Jake Schmidt, of the National Resources Defense Council in Washington.
(Additional reporting by David Fogarty in Singapore, Jeff Mason in Washington and Emma Graham-Harrison in Beijing)
[Green Business]
China says rich nations' emission targets too low
Thu Nov 26, 2009 9:51am EST
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top climate envoy said on Thursday the nation's carbon intensity target was a step toward a peak in emissions output, adding that developed nations had set themselves goals that were too lenient to tackle global warming.
Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission, also said that developed nations needed to offer more financing and technology to help poorer countries tackle climate change.
"So far we have not seen concrete actions and substantive commitments by the developed countries," Xie told a news conference in the Chinese capital. (Reporting by Chris Buckley; Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Paul Tait)
[Green Business]
Investors welcome new China, U.S. climate goals
Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:03am EST
By Gerard Wynn and Michael Szabo - Analysis
LONDON (Reuters) - Investors welcomed new China and U.S. climate targets 10 days before a U.N. summit but an Australian carbon vote delay hinted at wider difficulties to cement a global deal.
Traders in a $126 billion carbon market want tight climate targets to boost demand for emissions permits, and energy companies want to know the full future costs -- including from carbon -- of burning fossil fuels as they plan new power plants.
A December 7-18 Copenhagen meeting is intended to agree the outlines of a new global climate treaty and will shed light on future energy and carbon prices.
In jockeying ahead of that conference, the United States on Wednesday made its first offer since 1997 to cut carbon emissions and China vowed to slow carbon emissions from industry, helping drive momentum toward a global deal.
Energy analysts welcomed the U.S. and Chinese offers, although the U.S. target was widely expected and far below European Union ambition compared with a U.N. 1990 baseline.
"It increases the chances of getting a better, collaborative agreement in Copenhagen, which would in turn create a larger low-carbon marketplace," said James Cameron, vice-chairman of Climate Change Capital, an environmental investment group with $1.5 billion assets under management.
The U.S. and China moves provided a "very positive" further boost to what would be a record year for clean energy investment in 2010, consultants New Energy Finance predicted.
"I would not be surprised to see a $200 billion year," said New Energy Finance head Michael Liebreich. Investment would reach $160-$200 billion in 2010, compared with expected funding this year of about $125 billion, down from last year's record of $155 billion, Liebreich told Reuters.
CONCESSIONS
The U.S. target, to cut greenhouse gases by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, added momentum but was widely expected.
"All the U.S. said was what's already passed in the House (of Representatives). I don't see it as a particularly significant development," said Deutsche Bank's Mark Lewis.
"It's much more important to see how they are going to reduce emissions," said Michael McNamara at Jefferies Bank.
The target would also need Congress backing in the shape of a domestic climate bill. Republican opposition has stalled progress through the Senate.
The Australian Senate delayed on Thursday a vote on a similar climate plan -- both include a cap and trade scheme -- alarming analysts concerned about a weakening of the scheme.
"The legislation has reflected incredible degrees of partisan politics," said Murray Ward, from the Global Climate Change Consultancy, referring to votes both in Australia and New Zealand which passed emissions trading scheme (ETS) legislation on Wednesday.
"The same is happening in the United States. This cannot bode well as the legislation will inevitably be compromised."
The Australian delay worried carbon traders, cheered by the passage of New Zealand legislation but still waiting the first major economy to follow a European Union cap and trade scheme launched in 2005.
"The Australian delay is potentially a major setback," said one carbon trader. "It is one of the biggest countries in terms of emitters so they should really move."
QUESTIONS
The New Zealand and prospective Australian emissions trading schemes would add limited new demand for carbon offsets -- traded under the Kyoto Protocol -- but important new momentum following recession and a slump in demand for pollution permits.
British utilities increasingly question the effectiveness of emissions trading in Europe, saying carbon prices are insufficient to make new nuclear power plants and coal with expensive carbon capture technology economic.
"Obviously a good strong agreement in Copenhagen will be a great legacy, but let's be realistic, that may not happen and it may be necessary that we have other mechanisms, if you like a Plan B," said Paul Golby, chief executive of the UK arm of German utility E.ON AG.
"Utilities need secure funding in order to develop these large scale projects, and quite frankly at the moment the carbon price is too low and too uncertain to support investment without further help."
-- Additional reporting by Nina Chestney and Daniel Fineren in London and David Fogarty in Singapore
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