Thailand has the potential to draw investments from Australia in the clean energy and environment sector through a carbon cluster initiative targeting Southeast Asian nations and India. A trade mission of 25 Australian companies interested in a supply chain of carbon projects will visit South East Asian nations in early March in the first of its clean development mechanism (CDM) missions, said Garth Taylor, Australia's trade commissioner to ASEAN.
"Australian companies already see Thailand as a good investment location, hoping to access other markets from a Thailand base," Mr Taylor, who is based in Kuala Lumpur, told Nareerat Wiriyapong of the Bangkok Post. Australia-based Future Fuels has invested in a manufacturing facility to further develop its hydrogen generation technology in Thailand. Aqua Guardian recently signed an agreement with a Thai partner to manufacture and stock its water efficiency products.
The two-day mission in Kuala Lumpur aims to draw 100 participating ASEAN organisations, including the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Association and PTT Plc. The Australians will later head to India.
CDM is a mechanism that allows industrialised nations to invest in and buy credits from carbon reduction projects in developing countries to meet their emission reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol by 2012. Mr Taylor said the Australian government wants 10 deals with ASEAN partners concluded in 18 months.
As the first Australian trade commissioner with a clean energy and environment portfolio in Asean, Mr Taylor's responsibility is part of the Australian government's A$4.5-billion initiative to increase Australia's profile in renewable and lower-emission energies partly through engagements with international communities.
Showing posts with label Carbon Finance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carbon Finance. Show all posts
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
"World First" free carbon management online library
3 Carbon Elements (3CE) has launched the "world's first" free carbon management online library. The collection comprises frequently updated policy and research papers, publications and presentations in various carbon management fields, including the Kyoto projects (CDM, JI, PoA), emission trading, carbon markets, carbon finance, aviation in EU ETS, CRC and many more. Subscribe here.
Friday, January 15, 2010
World Bank buys carbon credits from Philippine bank
The World Bank has signed a 2.4 million euro ($3.5 million) emission reduction purchase agreement for a project that will reduce methane emissions generated by landfills and livestock farms from the Land Bank of the Philippines. The agreement will take effect from 2010 to 2013. The bank will purchase the carbon credits on behalf of the Spanish Carbon Fund to encourage investments in other climate change mitigation efforts.
The methane recovery from waste management project aims to help curb down methane gas, estimated to account for nearly one-third of greenhouse gas emissions in the South East Asian country. The project will be managed and implemented by state-owned Land Bank. It will provide incentives for piggeries and landfill operators to adopt cleaner technologies that capture methane and use it as fuel to generate electricity.
In addition, the project will assist in introducing technologies in the country to manage the 14 million tons of solid waste and 22 million tons of organic wastewater it produces each year.
Land Bank said in October it will purchase certified emission reduction credits from methane collected from a sanitary landfill owned by the VG Puyat Group of Companies in the province of Bulacan. Gilda Pico, the bank’s president, said they are the first bank in the country to sell carbon credits from a Clean Development Mechanism registered project.
The methane recovery from waste management project aims to help curb down methane gas, estimated to account for nearly one-third of greenhouse gas emissions in the South East Asian country. The project will be managed and implemented by state-owned Land Bank. It will provide incentives for piggeries and landfill operators to adopt cleaner technologies that capture methane and use it as fuel to generate electricity.
In addition, the project will assist in introducing technologies in the country to manage the 14 million tons of solid waste and 22 million tons of organic wastewater it produces each year.
Land Bank said in October it will purchase certified emission reduction credits from methane collected from a sanitary landfill owned by the VG Puyat Group of Companies in the province of Bulacan. Gilda Pico, the bank’s president, said they are the first bank in the country to sell carbon credits from a Clean Development Mechanism registered project.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Forest Carbon Markets 'Likely Grew' in 2009
Steve Zwick, Managing Editor of the Ecosystem Marketplace, writes that the United Nation's December 2009 Copenhagen Accord yielded agreement on the need to develop financing mechanisms for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. However, for the UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD) to work, " investors will have to be on board – and for that to happen, the forestry markets will have to become more transparent and trustworthy."
To promote that transparency and trustworthiness, Ecosystem Marketplace spent the past year speaking with more than 100 market participants – 65 of whom develop forest protection and restoration projects, primarily in rainforest nations, and 37 of whom act as intermediaries. These participants accounted for 230 projects generating credits across 40 countries over the past 20 years.
The result is State of the Forest Carbon Markets 2009: Taking Root & Branching Out (download pdf of Executive Summary), published with support from the World Bank BioCarbon Fund, Biological Capital, Ecosystem Restoration Associates and Baker McKenzie, as well as funding from USAID, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development and the Surdna Foundation.
Respondents documented the impact of carbon finance on more than two million hectares of forests over the past 20 years. That impact has resulted in the capture of nearly 70 million tonnes of carbon (MtCO2) in trees – although the bulk of this can be attributed to one massive project in the early 1990s that captured 47 MtCO2.
The findings also indicate substantial shifts in growth patterns over the past three years, during which these markets have matured substantially.
From 2007 through the first half of 2009 alone, forest carbon markets have funneled roughly $100 million into forestry conservation projects around the world, transacting 20.8 million MtCO2 in the process. In dollar terms, this period represents 67% of the market value of all forest carbon offsets, due to higher volumes and prices associated with emerging interest in the voluntary carbon markets overall, along with maturing standards and infrastructure.
During this same period, the dominant source of forest carbon credits in the developing world appears to have shifted from Latin America to Africa, although globally North America appears to have been the top region for sourcing carbon credits in 2008, generating 42% of the volume transacted that year, followed by Africa and Latin America with 26% and 21% respectively.
According to Zwick, the survey results signal robust and growing belief in the ability of ecosystem markets to help reverse climate change. These findings were compiled before the Copenhagen Accord, which explicitly stated the need to develop mechanisms that will reward sustainable land-use practices that capture carbon in trees.
"Overall, prices for forest carbon credits ranged from $0.65/ tCO2 to more than $50/ tCO2. Over time, the volume-weighted average price was $7.88/ tCO2. The compliance markets have commanded the highest prices overall, with a volume-weighted price average of $10.24/ tCO2 over time, followed by the voluntary OTC market at $8.44/ tCO2 and the CCX at $3.03/ tCO2.
"In 2008, the voluntary OTC market took the lead at $7.12/ tCO2, but was surpassed in June, 2009, by the compliance market, which had reached the highest volume-weighted price average across markets and over time at $12.31/ tCO2," he pointed out.
OTC projects made up 90% of the total number of projects, with an additional 6% under the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). Only 4% of projects transacting credits (including ex-ante sales) were from regulated markets; half of these were from NSW GGAS and half from Kyoto-related afforestation/reforestation projects.
The total historical market value tracked through the first half of 2009 was $149.2 million, of which $137.6 million arose from the voluntary market and $11.6 million from the regulated market.
To promote that transparency and trustworthiness, Ecosystem Marketplace spent the past year speaking with more than 100 market participants – 65 of whom develop forest protection and restoration projects, primarily in rainforest nations, and 37 of whom act as intermediaries. These participants accounted for 230 projects generating credits across 40 countries over the past 20 years.
The result is State of the Forest Carbon Markets 2009: Taking Root & Branching Out (download pdf of Executive Summary), published with support from the World Bank BioCarbon Fund, Biological Capital, Ecosystem Restoration Associates and Baker McKenzie, as well as funding from USAID, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development and the Surdna Foundation.
Respondents documented the impact of carbon finance on more than two million hectares of forests over the past 20 years. That impact has resulted in the capture of nearly 70 million tonnes of carbon (MtCO2) in trees – although the bulk of this can be attributed to one massive project in the early 1990s that captured 47 MtCO2.
The findings also indicate substantial shifts in growth patterns over the past three years, during which these markets have matured substantially.
From 2007 through the first half of 2009 alone, forest carbon markets have funneled roughly $100 million into forestry conservation projects around the world, transacting 20.8 million MtCO2 in the process. In dollar terms, this period represents 67% of the market value of all forest carbon offsets, due to higher volumes and prices associated with emerging interest in the voluntary carbon markets overall, along with maturing standards and infrastructure.
During this same period, the dominant source of forest carbon credits in the developing world appears to have shifted from Latin America to Africa, although globally North America appears to have been the top region for sourcing carbon credits in 2008, generating 42% of the volume transacted that year, followed by Africa and Latin America with 26% and 21% respectively.
According to Zwick, the survey results signal robust and growing belief in the ability of ecosystem markets to help reverse climate change. These findings were compiled before the Copenhagen Accord, which explicitly stated the need to develop mechanisms that will reward sustainable land-use practices that capture carbon in trees.
"Overall, prices for forest carbon credits ranged from $0.65/ tCO2 to more than $50/ tCO2. Over time, the volume-weighted average price was $7.88/ tCO2. The compliance markets have commanded the highest prices overall, with a volume-weighted price average of $10.24/ tCO2 over time, followed by the voluntary OTC market at $8.44/ tCO2 and the CCX at $3.03/ tCO2.
"In 2008, the voluntary OTC market took the lead at $7.12/ tCO2, but was surpassed in June, 2009, by the compliance market, which had reached the highest volume-weighted price average across markets and over time at $12.31/ tCO2," he pointed out.
OTC projects made up 90% of the total number of projects, with an additional 6% under the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). Only 4% of projects transacting credits (including ex-ante sales) were from regulated markets; half of these were from NSW GGAS and half from Kyoto-related afforestation/reforestation projects.
The total historical market value tracked through the first half of 2009 was $149.2 million, of which $137.6 million arose from the voluntary market and $11.6 million from the regulated market.
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