Environment ministers pour cold water on ‘hot air’ proposal

EurActiv.com, October 29, 2012

EU environment ministers abandoned plans on Friday (26 October) to limit excess supply of Kyoto-era carbon credits on the world’s markets after seven eastern European states backed Poland’s opposition to the measure.

The Environment Council had been intended to forge a common EU position on Assigned Amount Unit carbon credits (AAUs) – disparagingly dubbed ‘hot air’ credits – before the UN climate summit in Doha next month.

But “the fact that there hasn’t been agreement within the EU block will only make expectations for the Doha conference on the carry-over of AAUs very low,” said Jeff Swartz, the policy director for the International Emissions Trading Association. Read more...

Australian Carbon Trading Scheme Commences

ENN, October 16, 2012

Australian carbon trading took another step forward last month when the first carbon credits under the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme were issued. The national carbon trading program has been in the works for six years, politically supported by a Labor-Green coalition government; the first three to five years of the program will see a government-fixed price for carbon, to transition to a market-derived price later. Read more...

Carmakers to get carbon credits for 'eco-innovation'

EurActiv.com, July 26, 2011

Car manufacturers will receive CO2 emissions credits if their new cars are fitted with approved 'eco-innovations' under legislation adopted by the European Commission yesterday (25 July).

The credits, for innovations that reduce carbon emissions, will be usable within the EU's emissions trading scheme (ETS). Brussels hopes that the move will nudge the automobile industry towards meeting the Union's goal of limiting CO2 emissions from new cars to an average of 130 grams/km by 2015, around one fifth below 2007 levels. Read more...

EU carbon trading system brings windfalls for some, with little benefit to climate

International Herald Tribune, December 09, 2008

BRUSSELS: The European Union started with the most high-minded of ecological goals: to create a market that would encourage companies to reduce greenhouse gases by making them pay for each ton emitted into the atmosphere.
Four years later, the carbon trading system has created a multibillion-euro windfall for some of the continent's biggest polluters, with little or no noticeable benefit to the environment so far. Read more...

UK to auction carbon permits

BBC News, November 18, 2008

The UK government is to auction carbon emissions permits to power firms in a sale projected to raise between 1.5 and 2bn euros (£1.2-1.6bn) by 2014.
The Treasury is being warned that if it keeps the money, it risks fuelling public cynicism about green taxes.
A coalition of green groups and business leaders is demanding proceeds fund a green energy revolution. Read more...