Cap-and-Trade posts, articles, and infographics

Why I am opposed to Northern Gateway

February 6, 2012 by Simon Donner
with 165 views

After a few months of thinking, I came to the conclusion that there is no choice but to oppose the construction of the Northern Gateway pipeline. There are many worthy arguments on either side of this issue, from the economy to First Nations rights, and from the preservation of the BC coastline to the reality of oil consumption here and... [read more]

What's the deal with personal carbon trading?

January 25, 2012 by David Thorpe
with 147 views

Personal carbon trading is at the heart of a new proposal from academics to reducing energy use in buildings and help meet the aims of the Green Deal. It comes in the form of a strategy document, Achieving Zero, being launched today by Dr. Brenda Boardman of Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute, which she hopes will help... [read more]

2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back on Carbon Pricing

January 17, 2012 by David Hone
with 106 views

2011 turned out to be a busy year for the development of carbon pricing. Long the cornerstone of EU climate policy, the approach continues to find favour with governments focused on the issue of managing emissions, rather than those trying to manage the shape of the entire energy mix. [read more]

Audio & Slides: "How to Save a Planet On a Budget" Part 1 - Carbon Markets

December 19, 2011 by Amelia Timbers
with 337 views

Welcome to the audio archive & slides for the first chunk of our green finance summit "How To Save The Planet on A Budget". This first session focuses on carbon: 1. Carbon: Pricing It, Taxing It + Trading It, Moderated by Gernot Wagner Featuring: Janet Peace, Lee Thiessen, Lucas Merrill Brown [read more]

Imagine What A Real Cap Could Do

December 15, 2011 by Gernot Wagner
with 86 views

RGGI (pronounced “Reggie”), the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, has capped carbon dioxide emissions in ten northeastern U.S. states. Well, it isn’t much of a cap, given how loose it really is. Still, the latest analysis that tries to follow the money points to $1.6 billion in economic benefits for the economies in these ten states.... [read more]

It's Carbon Tax Time!

November 10, 2011 by Marc Gunther
with 425 views

“I was a huge supporter of cap and trade,” said Wayne Leonard, the CEO of Entergy, a $11 billion utility company. “We developed enormously elegant solutions, but they couldn’t get done.” Taxing carbon emissions is the next best way to deal with the threat of global climate disruptions, he said, in part because it would give the energy... [read more]

A Carbon Price for Australia - Finally!!

November 9, 2011 by David Hone
with 207 views

Depending on your take on events the toll has been as high as two Prime Ministers and one Leader of the Opposition, but Australia now has a carbon pricing mechanism operating in the economy (I say “now” in that even though it doesn’t formally start until July, the price exposure for companies was there the instant the law was officially passed). There does remain some uncertainty given the “blood oath” made by the current Opposition Leader to repeal the law, but at least for now the business playing field in Australia has changed. [read more]

350 PPM C02 Is No Longer Achievable

November 7, 2011 by Jim Pierobon
with 484 views

Here’s one slice of irony from today’s protest against TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline surrounding the White House: actually reducing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere from about 389 parts per million (ppm) currently to the widely-held threshold of 350 ppm is no longer possible. The combined impacts, to... [read more]

A Tale of Two Earths – The Future of the EU-ETS

October 10, 2011 by David Hone
with 381 views

With the forward supply-demand picture of the EU ETS looking long and the prospect of low prices for the foreseeable future, what steps might be taken to address this? Certainly if nothing is done, the trading system will not drive the development of technologies such as carbon capture and storage, critical for the much deeper reductions to come in the 2020s and beyond. [read more]

Thoughts on 10 Questions about Climate Change from Australia

September 10, 2011 by David Hone
with 1,120 views

Image source: Author's blog

Over recent weeks, one of the major Australian newspapers has asked readers to submit questions on climate change and, at the same time, opened a poll so that all readers could vote on the questions they most wanted to see answered. The newspaper pledged to investigate and attempt to answer the top ten questions. The poll closed last weekend and the questions are now in. Without getting too lengthy, and also drawing on many previous postings, here are some my thoughts on the ten questions. [read more]

The Times and the EU ETS

September 2, 2011 by David Hone
with 326 views

Last Saturday (August 27, 2011) The Times featured the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) on its front page. Carbon markets are becomingly increasingly important and should appear in the mainstream media, but it’s also important that the media provide accurate context to fully explain often complex issues to the public. This particular story suggested that the EU ETS was being manipulated by power companies, enabling them to pass on to their consumers the full cost of carbon on the allowances that they are granted for free. [read more]

Could California Suffer The EU-ETS Problem?

August 1, 2011 by David Hone
with 357 views

The EU Emissions Trading System is suffering a decline in fortune. The price has been relatively low since the onset of the financial crisis, driven in part by a decline in industrial activity linked to the recession, but also to continuous overlaying of policy by both Member States and the Commission. With California now setting up its own cap-and-trade system could it also go the way of the EU ETS? [read more]

Australia – the “Lucky Country”

July 12, 2011 by David Hone
with 541 views

Last weekend, as a second attempt, Australia announced its intention to begin to reduce emissions and to introduce a policy framework that would steer it towards its goals. After much national debate a four part framework has emerged, consisting of a carbon price, renewable energy targets, energy efficiency programmes and a focus on land-use. Of these, the carbon price debate has probably been the most heated. The end result now proposed for legislation, is a fixed carbon price that will be introduced in 2012 with a gradual transition to full cap-and-trade starting three years later. [read more]

Australia Unveils Carbon Price

July 11, 2011 by Solana Larsen
with 243 views

Australians remain divided after Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s announcement of a Clean Energy package with a carbon price of $A 23 per tonne and an emissions trading scheme from 2015. Crikey had an early summary. The local blogosphere was quick off the mark. [read more]

Will Australia Get A Carbon Tax in 2011?

July 6, 2011 by Barry Brook
with 718 views

Australia is set to introduce a carbon tax (details to be released on Sunday 10 July 2011). This post is the place to discuss this policy — the good and the bad. A description, from the Australian Parliamentary Library: A carbon tax is a tax on energy sources which emit carbon dioxide. It is a pollution tax, which some economists favour... [read more]