GMO-Carbon News Week 11 by Green Market Opportunities

CARBON IN THE NEWS 

WEEK 11 2012

At Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, we prepare for the future

In 2012, our efforts were recognised by the governments Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme. The leagues performance table of more than 2000 participating British businesses saw us ranked 92nd overall. Last December, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was officially certified as Formula 1s first-ever carbon neutral team achieved through careful management of our carbon emissions and offset by selective purchasing of carbon credits to assist with community environmental schemes in Brazil and India. More recently, our efforts have been noted by the United States Edison Awards, which recognises the efforts of key innovators. Along with two other businesses, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has been nominated for the prestigious Edison Green Award, and we will learn the outcome of our nomination at the 2012 Edison Awards in New York at the end of April. To read this article in full click here

U.S. Economists Back EU Emissions Plan 

There are five Nobel-prize-winning economists among the 26 US economists calling on President Obama, in an open letter, to drop opposition and support the European Union’s legislation that will charge airlines for their carbon emissions. “We implore you to support the European Union’s innovative efforts to place a price on carbon from aviation through the emissions trading system (EU ETS), or, at the very least, to stop actively opposing these efforts,” “The aviation sector represents a large and growing global source of carbon emissions.  Addressing emissions in this sector by negotiating a global pricing system through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) would send an important signal that carbon pricing is an effective way to correct a major market failure—the growing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.” To read this article in full click here

'Double' carbon tax fear on power bills

Electricity companies could be planning to ''double dip'' on the carbon price, potentially overcharging customers by $1.5 billion, according to a group of industrial companies. The companies have lodged a submission with the consumer watchdog, asking it to investigate their concerns that electricity retailers could charge excessively for the carbon price after it starts on July 1. According to the companies, which have not been publicly identified, a formula in some electricity contracts could effectively force big industry to pay the $23 a tonne carbon price twice for some of the power it uses. They have also expressed concern that, with less than four months until the carbon scheme starts, some electricity retailers have not explained how they plan to calculate the cost. The submission calls on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate whether the price would be passed on fairly. Key Energy & Resources consultant ''We're concerned that there is a potential for double-dipping and that could be as high as $1.5 billion, and we are concerned that a number of retailers still haven't confirmed exactly what they are going to do,'' he said. To read this article in full click here

Railways plans to turn a green leaf through renewable energy

Volkswagen AG announced this week that it will spend more than $55 billion over the next four years reducing carbon emissions from both its vehicles and factories, as the German automaker looks to increase sales by boosting its credibility as an environmentally friendly vehicle maker. You can see the beginnings of this plan in the company's Chattanooga plant, which we visited late last year. VW said that "well over two thirds" of the 62.4 billion euros ($82.5 billion U.S. at current exchange rates) it will invest through 2016 will be earmarked towards making more fuel-efficient vehicles as well as more ecologically friendly factories worldwide. The company, which unveiled its plan at the Geneva Motor Show this week, estimated that its 2015 model-year vehicles will, on average, have 30 percent lower emissions than the 2006 model-year vehicles, and that each new generation of a model will boost fuel efficiency by at least 10 percent compared to the previous version. To read this article in full click here

Methane emissions can be virtually eliminated at coal mines

A Sindicatum ventilation air methane abatement project in combination with a coal mine methane capture and utilisation project at Duerping coal mine in Shanxi Province, China, represents the world’s first demonstration of the principle of near zero methane emission mining. Gas capture is maximised in the mine; the drained gas is used for power generation with waste heat recovery; unused gas is flared; the gas that cannot be captured in the mine is diluted to safe concentrations by ventilation air and this VAM is abated using oxidisers placed at the exhaust shafts. Technology is available which can remove virtually all the methane released in underground coal mines, In less than two years, China is likely to increase its underground coal production by an amount that exceeds the total underground coal production from the US, the second largest coal mining country in the world.  China will emit increasing volumes of methane from its ever expanding coal mining industry. Global coal production continues to rise annually and emissions from this sector amount to 12 per cent of total anthropogenic methane. Until the Clean Development Mechanism was introduced very few coal mine methane projects existed in China and there were no ventilation air methane abatement projects. To read this article in full click here

Cap and Trade Plan Touches Third Rail

In California, an odd team has hatched a plan. This most unlikely duo will create a polluter’s auction to siphon off $1 billion from state businesses to start construction on one of the state’s most mismanaged projects: high-speed rail. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has authority under California’s landmark 2006 climate law, Assembly Bill 32, to implement a “cap and trade” system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To decrease California’s greenhouse gas levels, CARB will begin allocating carbon dioxide emission permits to 350 businesses across the state. If a business exceeds its emission cap, it may buy additional credits or offset the emission by reducing greenhouse gases through other means, such as planting trees. Meanwhile, the cap on pollution levels is gradually lowered over time. When CARB distributes its cap and trade credits this year, however, it will now retain about 10 percent of its permits for a side auction. Creating this unauthorized revenue stream is a major statutory overstep from AB 32. While the original law allows CARB to raise revenue for its own administrative purposes, it certainly does not permit the agency to hand off $1 billion to an entirely different government agency. This is a legally perilous maneuver for the Administration. What’s more bizarre is where the money will go. The Administration plans to redirect the money to high-speed rail. In doing so the state faces a major legal hurdle. Spending these fees on anything other than CARB’s administrative needs transforms the auction credit’s status from a “fee” to a “tax.” To read this article in full click here

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