With more than 50 proposed new coal plants being put on the back burner, it would seem that Big Coal is losing friends, even despite its recruitement of cute kiddies to push its message. But while any move away from coal would be a great thing for the environment, what about the communities that depend on coal for their economies? Coal mining communities may do well to start taking note of what’s been going on at the former Ollerton colliery in Nottinghamshire in the UK. Ollerton closed its doors in 1995, resulting in mass unemployment in the community. However, as we read in the ever informative Guardian, the locals were determined to create a brighter, cleaner future for their town:
“We used to say ‘where there’s muck there’s brass’ but we’d had enough muck when mining came to an end,” says Stan Crawford, the former president of the National Union of Mineworkers in Nottinghamshire, who heads the group’s remarkable creation, Sherwood Energy Village.

Looking out over wind turbines, ponds and modern offices angled to trap sunlight, he can now count 600 jobs on the site, as many as when Ollerton colliery finally closed in 1995.

“We knew two other things back then: that we wanted a diverse economy, after years of the pit for the men and the clothes factory for the women, and we didn’t want anyone else imposing our future on us,” says Crawford.

The energy village also includes rainwater harvesting, and is currently the construction site for some 196 sustainable homes. The project has been so successful that it has won the Silver Jubilee Cup, the Royal Town Planning Institute’s highest award. ::Sherwood Energy Village::via The Guardian::

PBS & Kontentreal have partnered to produce a series titled E2. Dealing with everything from examples of adaptive reuse in the Netherlands to Architecture of 2030 – these documentaries address the inefficiencies and problems that plague most buildings in the world today.

Examples of work done are below, to view full versions please visit their site:

http://www.design-e2.com/ 

While Europe sets the pace on climate change commitments, confirming a target for emissions reduction by 2020 and challenging the world to do the same, it may be the rest of the world is now deciding to run a different race.

Brussels is committed to binding 2020 targets not just for Europe, but the rest of the developed world, offering to lift its proposed target from 20 to 30 per cent if other major emitters follow suit. A sniff of the wind in North America and the Asia-Pacific, however, detects a growing unease over the wisdom of hard mid-term targets on the way to any ultimate 2050 goal for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The science is telling us that to avoid dangerous climate change we have to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions and reduce them in the order of 50-80 per cent by the middle of the century. Because of this imperative, and perhaps because 2050 is far enough into the future for today’s politicians not to have to face up to the ultimate responsibility, there is a broad agreement emerging worldwide.

If any progress has been made of late – Bali, the G8 summit and the US’s major economies meeting – there is at least agreement for deep cuts by mid-century. But while the final destination is crystallising, there remains little agreement on the many ways to get there. Ways which have large bearing on cost and industry’s ability to adjust and remain competitive.

A quite different approach to targets suggested by the Japanese prime minister last week, the thrust of targets policy among the remaining US presidential candidates and early signs from Kyoto converts Australia suggest that the European and traditional Kyoto approach to targets may be ditched on the road to a new post-2012 international climate agreement – due to be finalised in Copenhagen in 2009. The rejection of the 25-40 per cent interim target commitment in Bali by these non-European industrialised regions may be just the precursor of this.

The Confederation of British Industry may be an early torchbearer within Europe on a new world path. Its stance on the European Commission’s 2020 targets for renewable energy and emissions reduction, which it branded unrealistic, and its call for the market to be allowed to decide the best path for cutting emissions, will find support outside Europe. CBI director-general Richard Lambert said neither Britain’s goal to cut emissions by 26-32 per cent by 2020 nor the EC’s proposed target for a 20 per cent cut would be achieved. He may or may not be right, but if Europe can’t make 20 per cent, you can be sure no-one else will get there.

The more important question is should we be setting such aims in the first place. The CBI argues the cheapest most efficient way to get to a 60 per cent reduction by 2050 is to enhance the EU ETS and allow it to set the most realistic carbon price along the way, dictating the level emissions reductions at each stage.

The best efforts so far to quantify the cost of the emissions reduction challenge, by Stern and others, finds that the sooner we start cutting emissions the cheaper the overall bill will be in the long term. The danger is that this is being read by policymakers to mean that there needs to be a something like a linear reduction in emissions over the next 40 years.

In reality, the first ten years of that period, for most of the industrialised world at least, is going to be spent slowing then halting emissions growth. The second decade hopefully sees emissions fall with the pace accelerating over the third and fourth decades when the full fruits of clean technology only now being envisaged can be brought to bear. So a major issue, particularly for politicians, is that we need to move forward on new technology now – research, develop, demonstrate and begin deployment – yet understand that one can’t expect significant movement towards the 2050 emissions reductions goal for some time.  

Jon Stanford, an economist with Deloitte Insight Economics, has addressed this point in the Australian Financial Review arguing that it may well be cheaper for industrialised countries to focus on meeting a 2050 goal for a 60 per cent emissions cut than it would to strive for 25-40 per cent cuts by 2020. Stanford argues that not many of the technology solutions will be available by 2020 and it won’t be feasible to replace many long-life old-technology assets like coal fired power stations until well after that time.

Another economist commissioned to inform Australia’s new Labor government of the best approach to meeting a 2050 goal of securing a 60 per cent cut in emissions has indicated a lack of support for any firm 2020 interim target. Professor Ross Garnaut is not due to report to the government until later this year but has already gone on record as favouring a system where the private sector decides how much to reduce, and when, in order to get to 2050. The legislative framework should lay down no more than a loose guide for milestones along the way, Garnaut says.

Japan says, meanwhile, it’s dedicated to showing leadership to the rest of the world on climate change and is committed to binding targets, but Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is baulking at making a firm 2020 reduction commitment. He now prefers a different approach. It’s a reverse approach, a “bottom up” method where no overall national 2020 target is imposed. Instead, targets for each sector of the economy, appropriate to its circumstances, are laid down. The sum of the sectoral targets becomes the national contribution to emission reductions. If such a system was the basis for a post-Kyoto agreement one imagines it leading to wildly varying emissions reduction performances among major emitting countries, but the looser arrangement might be more likely win the inclusion of the US, China and India.

There is no great emphasis on interim targets coming out of North America either.
Both Canadian and emerging US policies embrace interim targets but not ones that amount to a significant emission reduction effort by 2020. This despite commitment to deep cuts by mid-century. Canada sets down a weak 2020 target that would still see emissions well above 1990 levels by then. In the US, we’ll have to wait the outcome of this year’s presidential election but it appears targets and emissions trading are likely to be embraced whoever wins among the leading candidates.

Leading Democrat candidates Clinton and Obama favour setting a modest 2020 goal of only returning to 1990 levels but then jump to bold targets for 80 per cent reductions by 2050. If Republican frontrunner John McCain stays true to the Senate climate bill he co-sponsored with Joe Lieberman (certainly not assured), he too would deliver a modest 2020 goal and then a 65 per cent reduction by 2050.

So business is pushing for the flexibility to achieve most efficient abatement path and politicians are finding it hard to commit to binding emission cuts in little over a decade. The alarm bells are ringing among environmental groups and scientists. They say this risks the hard work being put off, making the emissions reduction challenge that much harder in the long run. A lead author on the IPCC’s Working Group 2, Jeff Price of California State University, says a lack of interim targets threatens an overshoot in temperature resulting from a delayed stabilisation and reduction path. He is doing the numbers on what the extent of the blow-out might be without 2020 targets.

In the meantime, policy movement sees Europe’s call for the world to step up to ambitious mid-term cuts to greenhouse gas emissions is looking isolated. By the time the end of 2009 rolls and the deadline for a new global agreement, the shape of international climate policy to cover the next two decades may be looking very different.

The introduction of cheap cars in China and India may accelerate the increase of price of gasoline in the rest of the world.  That is the essence of a CNNMoney article that points to projection that India will be have annual sales of 3 million light vehicles and China roughly 17 million units by 2015. The 2 billion-plus combined populations of India and China could one day dwarf the 300 million potential car buyers in the U.S.

Even though these small, cheap cars get high milage they are for the most part being sold as the first car that an individual owns, therefore over a few years, the sheer volume of these cars adds tremendously to the world’s requirements for gasoline.

India’s Tata Nano and the Chinese Chery QQ are the cars that are sparking this revolution. TheTata Nano, a two-cylinder, four-person sedan that gets 50 miles per gallon and is priced at $2,500 while China’s Chery QQ, is a  five door, 4 passenger vehicle, with a 3 cylinder, 0.8 liter engine and starts at about $3.700.

London 05 February 2008

KlimaInvest signs up to trade ECX products

KlimaInvest becomes the 87^th Member of ICE Futures Europe to be given access to trade ECX CFI contracts

Danish-based KlimaInvest, an Exchange-Traded Fund listed on OMX Nordic Exchange, became the latest Member of ICE Futures Europe to be given access to trade in ECX CFI contracts.

Through investment in a portfolio of CO₂ emission allowances, KlimaInvest offers a transparent and complementary exposure in a new asset class. The objective of the Company is to achieve strong risk-adjusted absolute returns with low correlation to traditional asset classes.

“Access to ECX helps us maximize our investment strategies by gaining exposure to EU ETS’ foremost liquidity pool,” remarked Marc Jeilman, Chairman of KlimaInvest.

“We are pleased that KlimaInvest will be expanding their participation in emissions trading while contributing to a truly pan-European platform,” said Patrick Birley, CEO of the European Climate Exchange.

For more information about KlimaInvest, please visit www.klimainvest.dk.

ECX and ICE Futures Europe Propose Changes to Contract Rules for the ICE ECX CFI Futures contract in line with implementation of Kyoto Protocol

Following the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, when a carbon emissions allowance is issued under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) an equivalent assigned amount unit is issued under the Kyoto Protocol. Consequently, when a carbon emissions allowance is transferred in the Community Independent Transaction Log (CITL), a mirror transfer occurs within the UNFCCC International Transaction Log (ITL), thereby allowing the UN to monitor the compliance against the Kyoto Protocol targets.

The changes proposed reflect the connection between the CITL and the UNFCCC ITL and any issues relating to the failure of this link (e.g. in the context of Force Majeure). However, it should be noted that the EU Commission has announced that the UNFCCC ITL will not be linked to the CITL until March 2009 at the latest, and, until such time that the two systems are linked, the EU ETS and the CITL will operate in the usual manner.

Should any parties wish to object to or comment on the proposed changes to the rules, these written objections must be received by the Secretary within seven days of the date of this Circular. In the absence of any such request the proposed changes will come into effect on Monday 18 February 2008.

For more information please contact ECX or ICE Futures Europe.

CONTACTS:

ECX:

Sara Stahl, Business Development Manager, European Climate Exchange

 sara.stahl@ecx.eu

This week, GreenBiz.com launched its inaugural report, “State of Green Business 2008.” In it, you will find a wealth of information on green business trends with a cross-sectoral approach. Over the next week, we will bring to you a synopsis of some of those trends. To start off, here’s a list of the “Top Green Business Stories of 2007.”

 1. Corporate Climate Commitments – Major companies are making public commitments about their strategies to address climate change in record numbers.

2. Automotive Industry Finally Gets It – Major carmakers are bringing us more fuel-efficient and hybrid vehicles, with plans to launch plug-in hybrids soon.

3. Planes, Trains, Trucks, and Ships are Going Green Too – Other players in the transportation sector are also implementing eco-efficient tech to reduce their environmental impact.

4. Green Marketing/Greenwashing – Just as companies are increasingly catering to the “green consumer,” mainstream consumers are increasingly skeptical of such claims.

5. Toxic Product Reduction – Manufacturers and retailers faced a public backlash this year concerning toxic materials in their products. As such, they are making amends to reduce or eliminate them in future production.

6. E-waste – The computing industry got serious this year about energy use and disposal problems associated with technology.

7. Big Companies Get Real about Sustainability – More Fortune 500 businesses announced plans to incorporate company-wide initiatives to engender smarter resource use.

8. Green Buildings Skyrocket – Green buildings become the norm in major urban centers across the nation.

9. Banks Pull Out of “Dirty Investments” – Shareholder activism pressure large banks to invest in clean energy production instead.

10. “Zero” is Where It’s At – “Zero-waste,” “zero-carbon,” and “zero-emissions,” are the rallying cries from the new initiatives emerging from the corporate sector.

This ambitious effort to analyze green business trends provides a much-needed perspective on the field. The overall results? Major businesses have made commendable strides towards streamlining their business strategies with an environmentally sustainable focus over the last year. However, it remains to be seen whether, in fact, these approaches are making a difference to the environment. Insufficient data exists as of yet to make conclusive claims about the efficacy of these programs in the aggregate. This leads to a mixed verdict, “Companies are getting cleaner and more efficient, but only incrementally, and many of the gains are offset by the ever-growing economy.” As we look at more sector-specific trends over the next week, we will shed light on some of the factors hindering further “conscious capitalism” evolution.

Grab the whole report on GreenBiz.com

Two communities affected by one new global market, the trade in carbon dioxide. In Scotland a town has been polluted by oil and chemical companies since the 1940s. In Brazil local people’s water and land is being swallowed up by destructive monoculture eucalyptus tree plantations.

Both communities now share a new threat. As part of the deal to reduce greenhouse gases that cause dangerous climate change, major polluters can now buy carbon credits that allow them to pay someone else to reduce emissions instead of cutting their own pollution. What this means for those living next to the oil industry in Scotland is the continuation of pollution caused by their toxic neighbours.

Meanwhile in Brazil the schemes that generate carbon credits gives an injection of cash for more planting of the damaging eucalyptus tree. The two communities are now connected by bearing the brunt of the new trade in carbon credits.

The Carbon Connection follows the story of two groups of people from each community who learned to use video cameras and made their own films about living with the impacts of the carbon market. From mental health issues in Scotland to the loss of medicinal plants in Brazil, the communities discover the connections they have with each other and the film follows them on this journey.

The Carbon Connection, a new documentary by Fenceline Films with support from Carbon Trade Watch and the Transnational Institute is now available at the New Internationalist online shop.

Wal-Mart has set a goal to increase the efficiency of the most energy intensive appliances sold at its stores by 25% within three years.

Lee Scott, Wal-Mart president and CEO, made the announcement to 7,000 store managers last week.

“We do not know exactly how we will get there.  We do not even know if our suppliers can make items like hair dryers use 25% less energy.  But we do know that our approach works – to partner with suppliers, to help customers make better decisions, and to use our business model to drive out waste,” Scott said in prepared remarks.

Wal-Mart intends to motivate customers to buy energy efficient appliances by charging “everyday low prices” for the products.

“Price is perhaps the most important factor in helping motivate consumers to make the right decision.  Unfortunately, energy efficient products – like environmentally friendly products – often come at a premium.  We think we can change this.  At Wal-Mart, we do not want our customers to have to choose between products they can afford and energy efficient products,” he said.

The plan calls for selling only Energy Star-rated air conditioners in US stores, and flat-panel televisions that are 30% more energy efficient than current models.  The energy savings on televisions alone would be enough to power more than 53,000 single-family homes for an entire year, Scott said.

Wal-Mart also is working toward doubling the sale of products that help make homes more energy efficient.  “By doubling the amount of weather stripping that we sell, we can save customers $285 million in heating costs and save the energy equivalent of over 4,000 tanker trucks of gasoline. This is a huge opportunity.”

In addition, Scott said he envisions Wal-Mart playing a yet-to-be defined role in spurring the market for plug-in hybrid cars.

“I have been talking with the heads of the major auto manufacturers over the past few weeks.  And I have been asking them if there is a place for Wal-Mart in the hybrid electric or plug-in electric car market, so our customers do not have to spend so much money filling up their gas tanks.  Maybe there isn’t room for Wal-Mart in this right now.  But something tells me that there may be some role for us in the future, and we are going to continue taking a look at this,” he said.
 
Scott added, “Imagine your customers pulling into your parking lot, and seeing wind turbines and solar panels, and being able to charge their cars while they shop.  I think that would make them feel good about shopping at your stores.  It would also make them feel good if they could save money in the process.  What if we fed the power generated by those wind turbines and solar powers back into the electrical grid?  Just imagine the impact of our customers being able to buy eco-friendly energy at the unbeatable Wal-Mart price.”

Wal-Mart immediately rolled back prices on air filters for heating and cooling systems in a show of its intentions. The filters, which need to be changed frequently to guarantee that the systems operate efficiently, are now $10.88, down from $12.88.