REDD+ a “game changer” in the move towards a global green economy, says Norwegian Minister

CIFOR Forests News Blog » REDD+ a “game changer” in the move towards a global green economy, says Norwegian Minister
Reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation schemes, or REDD+, could be the “game changer” that enables forest-rich countries to meet sustainable development goals and work toward a greener economy, said the Norwegian Minster for Environment at a recent CIFOR event.
REDD+ allows us to protect forests and those who depend on them for their survival, said Minister Bård Vegard Solhjell, calling it a “development choice.”  “It is indisputable that REDD+ should become a game-changing part of the global green transition.”  His comments were made during Forests: the Eighth roundtable, roundtable a CIFOR-hosted event that brought together over 550 scientists, policy makers and members of civil society to discuss the role of forests in providing the world with food, energy, income and clean water.

The week in clean energy and carbon: Slim pickings at Rio+20

The week in clean energy and carbon: Slim pickings at Rio+20 - reneweconomy.com.au : Renew Economy
Shares in quoted clean energy companies slipped around 3 per cent between the close in New York last Tuesday and the middle of Monday’s trading session – a suitably damp reaction to last week’s Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.  To be fair, the gathering, 20 years after the Earth Summit of 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, was not expected to do much directly for investment in clean energy, still less for sector stock prices.  However, there had been hopes that the conference’s focus on the “green economy” would help to revive politicians’ interest in combining the goals of economic recovery and the low-carbon transition...

Capital markets key for renewables financing

Environmental Finance | News | Capital markets key for renewables financing – S&P
New banking regulations will make borrowing more expensive for developers of renewable energy projects, but highly-rated bonds may be the answer, according to ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P).  Private investment in renewables will become challenging as the impact of the Basel III regulations increases over the next three to five years, agreed a panel of experts gathered last week at the Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum...

Skyonic Gets ConocoPhillips, BP Backing for Carbon-Capture Plant

Skyonic Gets ConocoPhillips, BP Backing for Carbon-Capture Plant - Bloomberg
Skyonic Corp., a closely held developer of carbon-capture technology, received $9 million from ConocoPhillips (COP), BP Plc (BP/) and other new investors to fund its first commercial facility at a Texas cement plant.  Northwater Capital Management Inc. led the Series C financing, which also included PVS Chemicals Inc. and existing investor Carl Berg, Skyonic Chief Executive Officer Joe Jones said by telephone.  The funding will support construction of Skyonic’s $125 million system that’s expected to capture 75,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year from Capitol Aggregates Inc.’s cement plant in San Antonio, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The system also will remove acid and heavy metals from the plant’s flue gases.  The project also is funded by $28 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy, and investors have committed additional equity that’s contingent on about $75 million in loans that Skyonic is seeking, Jones said. Construction is expected to start in September and the facility will begin production in 2014.

EU Carbon Steady After Trading Surge at End of Session

EU Carbon Steady After Trading Surge at End of Session - Businessweek
European Union carbon permits were unchanged near a three-month high after trading volumes surged in the final 10 minutes of the session on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.  The benchmark emissions contract closed at 8.06 euros ($10.07) a metric ton. They earlier today dropped as much as 1.6 percent and rose as much as 2.2 percent.  Allowances jumped yesterday to their highest in more than three months in intraday trading as regulators in Brussels considered temporarily withholding supply sold in auctions in the three years starting next year. Carbon has risen 27 percent this month.

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		Close	+/-
EUA	Dec 2012	8.12	0.07
sCER	Dec 2012	3.96	0.00

 

 

 

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Renewables Make German Power Market Design Defunct, Utility Says

Renewables Make German Power Market Design Defunct, Utility Says - Bloomberg
Electricity generation from renewable energy in Germany is reducing power prices and has left the country with a market whose design no longer works, according to Stadtwerke Leipzig GmbH.
Renewable generation, such as wind and solar, receives support from the German government in the form of a feed-in- tariff, or FIT. Because there are no costs associated with the wind and sunshine, renewables have a generating margin of zero, as well as legally mandated priority access to the grid. As a result, fossil fuel-fired plants are generating for fewer hours and selling their power at cheaper prices, making them less profitable.  “As long as renewables have zero margin costs, the market design we have doesn’t work,” Jens Teresniak, team manager for business development and market analysis at Stadtwerke Leipzig, said in an interview in Leipzig on June 21. “Capacity markets could be a solution.”  So-called capacity markets allow utilities to fix prices for guaranteed backup power supply in advance, boosting margins for gas and coal electricity plants as renewables output rises. German policy makers are considering how to ensure there are enough round-the-clock plants to keep the lights on when nuclear reactors are phased out and renewables output falls short.

EPA Greenhouse-Gas Rules Upheld by U.S. Appeals Court

EPA Greenhouse-Gas Rules Upheld by U.S. Appeals Court - Bloomberg
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s limits on industrial emissions of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide were upheld by a federal appeals court.  A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled today that the EPA’s interpretation of the Clean Air Act was “unambiguously correct” and that the opponents don’t have the legal right to challenge the so-called timing and tailoring rules.  The panel considered challenges to the agency’s finding that greenhouse gases are pollutants that endanger human health and to rules determining when states and industries must comply with regulations curtailing their use.

Forestry fund managers apply Sharia for Middle East

Environmental Finance | News | Forestry fund managers apply Sharia for Middle East edge

Two fund managers are marketing Sharia-compliant sustainable forestry funds to tap Middle Eastern investment.  Sustainable Capital S.A., Luxembourg will open its Sustainable Resources Fund to investment from 23 July, while Treedom Investments Limited (TIL) is to open its Asia Renewable Resources Fund (ARRF) to investors on 1 July.  “We believe that a significant percentage of potential investors are in the Middle East,” said Sustainable Capital’s Michael Young, although the firm is also targeting investors in the UK, mainland Europe and Asia.

Netherlands renewables shortfall presents €24bn opportunity

Environmental Finance | News | Netherlands renewables shortfall presents €24bn opportunity – Rabobank
The Netherlands will need to direct an additional €24 billion ($30 billion) towards the development of renewable energy in order to meet its 2020 renewable energy target, according to a report by Rabobank.
Renewable energy accounted for 4% of Dutch energy output in 2011, and Rabobank estimates that at current rates of investments, it will only climb to 9% in 2020, compared with a target of 14%.
“The extent of the shortfall is set to become apparent next year and will lead to a new wave of investment opportunities in solar photovoltaics [PV], offshore and onshore wind and co-firing biomass,” says the bank.

Capital markets key for renewables financing

Environmental Finance | News | Capital markets key for renewables financing – S&P
New banking regulations will make borrowing more expensive for developers of renewable energy projects, but highly-rated bonds may be the answer, according to ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P).  Private investment in renewables will become challenging as the impact of the Basel III regulations increases over the next three to five years, agreed a panel of experts gathered last week at the Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum.  Basel III, for instance, will increase the capital charge for banks holding long-duration loans and thus provide an incentive to rotate capital, S&P said. Combined with the trend of bank downgrades, this could reduce the amounts of financing available and increase the costs of long-term bank lending.