South Africa: Country Set to Score From Trade in Carbon Credits

Business Day (Johannesburg)

12 October 2007
Posted to the web 12 October 2007

Thabang Mokopanele
Johannesburg

THE Central Energy Fund (CEF) has launched an international carbon trading business, CEF Carbon, which it expects will earn billions in revenue from carbon trading opportunities as the worldwide movement to combat climate change takes off.

CE Mputumi Damane said CEF's international carbon markets business -- which is aimed at developing clean development mechanism (CDM) projects across the continent -- would be headed by Deven Pillay.

International trade in carbon credits is estimated to have exceeded R200bn last year and CEF estimates that carbon credits projects already in the pipeline could earn SA annual revenue of about R900m.

"The continent has been slow in taking advantage of all the opportunities that have opened up in the arena of carbon trading. In SA only about 20 CDM projects are in the pipeline, while Latin America and China have more than 500 and India more than 600," Damane said.

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CCX Auctions CERs from India

For the first time the Chicago Climate Exchange auctioned Clean Development Mechanism Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs). The CERs were issued to a wind energy farm in Satara and Supa in Western India that is managed by Tata Motors. The auction was oversubscribed, with total bid quantities equal to 13.3 times the offered quantity. The auction clearing price was $22.11 per CER. "We are extremely pleased with the CCFE CER auction results. The auction exceeded our expectations relative to the number of bidders, bids and prices." said Dr. Richard L. Sandor, Chairman and CEO, CCX. "We will continue to welcome sellers of Certified Emissions Reductions from India, China, and South America to participate in future auctions."

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Cadbury Coming Clean on More than Calories

Nine companies including, Cadbury Schweppes and Coca-Cola have become the second wave of firms to sign up to use a carbon foot printing standard designed by UK's Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and BSI British Standards. The companies will use the standard to calculate the embodied carbon emissions of selected products. Boots, Walkers and fruit drinks company Innocent were the first companies to trial the draft standard and already display their carbon footprint on a number of their products' packaging.

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October 09, 2007 09:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time

New Shopping Site Helps Consumers Fight Global Warming

ClimateCooler.com from Cooler Lets Consumers Eliminate the Global Warming Impact of Their Online Purchases at No Additional Cost

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cooler, a leading provider of commerce solutions that address global warming, today announced the launch of ClimateCooler.com, a Web site that helps consumers eliminate the global warming impact of their online purchases at more than 400 of the Internet’s most popular stores. When a consumer starts their online shopping at ClimateCooler.com and completes the purchase at a participating store, the global warming impact of each purchase is calculated and a portion of the purchase price is returned by stores to Cooler to offset that impact.

Consumers who shop through ClimateCooler.com pay the same prices they would going directly to the retailer. The company uses a product-level carbon calculator that is the first global warming solution to address the impact of almost any consumer good or service sold in the U.S. Fees paid back to Cooler by the stores on its site are invested in renewable energy and pollution prevention projects approved by some of the world’s best known environmental organizations.

“Shopping accounts for almost 40 percent of our global warming impact and, until today, there was no simple, free way to make a difference,” says Michel Gelobter, the founder and executive vice president of Cooler, who has over 25 years of environmental experience. “At ClimateCooler.com consumers can reduce the impact of millions of goods and services at no additional cost. Global warming is on the rise, and it is more important than ever for consumers not to buy more, but to buy smarter by starting at ClimateCooler.com.”

To ensure that the calculations are accurate and that the spending reduces global warming, ClimateCooler.com and the company's portfolio of high-quality offsets have been approved by leading environmental groups, including Environmental Defense, the National Wildlife Federation, The Gold Standard, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

"The NRDC is one of the leading environmental organizations putting forward solutions to global warming,” says Frances Beinecke, president of the NRDC. “We’re excited about working with Cooler to give consumers a new way to make a real difference in the fight against global warming in their everyday lives.”

ClimateCooler.com features more than 8 million products from more than 400 of the Internet's most popular stores, including iPods and iPhones at Apple.com, organic lifestyle products from Gaiam.com, and the latest bestsellers at BarnesandNoble.com.

The difference ClimateCooler.com can make is illustrated in the purchase of a cell phone. The primary global warming pollutant is carbon dioxide, or CO2, and the total global warming impact (or carbon footprint) of purchasing a cell phone at a traditional brick-and-mortar store is almost 390 pounds of CO2. The footprint of that same device purchased online is approximately 370 pounds of CO2 or 20 pounds less because online purchases are often more efficient than driving to a store. Shopping through ClimateCooler.com, the cell phone’s carbon footprint is zero because more than 390 pounds of global warming pollution are removed from the environment through Cooler’s offset programs.

"I’m not a big shopper, but when I do it online, I now start at ClimateCooler.com. I can go to all the same stores I have in the past, pay the same price and get the store to set aside a portion of the price to offset the greenhouse gases that go into producing and transporting the product. It's the right thing to do," says Bay Area resident Tom Kelly, who recently got a sneak peek at ClimateCooler.com.

In addition to launching ClimateCooler.com, Cooler also announced today the launch of its business solution for manufacturers and retailers that want to directly serve climate-conscious consumers.

About Cooler: Headquartered in Oakland, Calif., Cooler offers a trusted, simple and scaleable solution to retailers and consumer goods manufacturers that want to address the problem of global warming. Companies can use Cooler’s business solution, Cooler Complete, to know, reduce, and eliminate the global warming impact of their sales. At www.ClimateCooler.com, consumers can, at no additional cost, eliminate the global warming impact of their everyday purchases from more than 400 leading retailers, including Apple, Dell, eBay, Netflix, and Staples.

Cooler’s calculations and offset projects are approved by some of the world’s leading environmental organizations, including Environmental Defense, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

For more information, visit www.ClimateCooler.com.

Contacts

Cooler, Inc.
Skip Rudolf, 415-279-8756
skip@climatecooler.com
or
104 West Partners
Elaine Schoch, 720-407-6064
elaine.schoch@104west.com

Global survey finds support for CDM-type projects

(from ASB Listserv)

On September 25, the BBC World Service released a global poll on attitudes towards climate change. GlobeScan and the Program on International Policy Attitudes in Maryland surveyed 22,000 people in 21 developed and developing countries. Most interestingly, the poll showed majority support across the globe for agreements where developing countries would reduce emissions in exchange for financial assistance and technology from developed countries. This indicates broad support for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or Reduced Emissions from forest Degradation and Deforestation (REDD) projects. ASB is currently engaged in REDD projects and intends to present results at the next UNFCCC COP in Bali this December.

The BBC article is available online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7010522.stm and the full report is available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/25_09_07climatepoll.pdf.

Summary of main points:

· An average of eight in ten (79%) say that “human activity, including industry and transportation, is a significant cause of climate change.”

· The poll shows majority support (73% on average) in all but two countries polled for an agreement in which developing countries would limit their emissions in return for financial assistance and technology from developed countries.

o All of the developed countries polled endorse this idea by large margins including the United States (70%), Canada (84%), Great Britain (81%), France (78%), Germany (75%), and Australia (84%).

· There is a widespread consensus that developing countries should take action on climate along with developed countries. Just three countries opt instead for the position that less-wealthy countries should not be expected to limit emissions: Egypt, Nigeria and Italy.

o Those favouring limits on the emissions of less wealthy countries include some of the key ones, most notably a 68 percent majority in China and a plurality of Indians (33% to 24%), though many Indians (43%) do not have an opinion. This is also the dominant view in Brazil (63%), Indonesia (54%), Kenya (64%), Mexico (75%), the Philippines (49%), and Turkey (41%).

· Asked how much they have heard about climate change or global warming, in only a few countries do large numbers say that they have heard little or nothing, including Indonesia (65%), Kenya (53%), Nigeria (48%), and Russia (64%).

Carbon trade: India bound by Kyoto pact
3 Oct 2007, 0001 hrs IST,Nitin Sethi,TNN
NEW DELHI: Forget industrial towns like Bilaspur and Indore catching up with metropoles on the carbon credit buzz, young tech-entrepreneurs who have gone as far out as Brazil to grab a pie of the global business.

Almost 100 fairly well-known consultants and companies have emerged in just a couple of years. This is besides the international companies in the market keen to set up shop here, that is, if they aren't already in town.

The carbon business, on paper at least, looks simple. Developed countries are bound by the Kyoto Protocol to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. They instead fund projects in the less efficient developing world economies to get a bit greener and claim the credit for the emissions reduced in meeting their own targets. It's called clean development mechanism. China and India are attracting the biggest projects under CDM.

Consultants help the industries prepare project reports and get the process approved from the CDM board after the project is validated against laid down criteria. Their clientele varies — from textile industry to cement manufacturers, mass kitchens in temples to oil companies, all have a chance to get a bit cleaner. Most of the smaller clients are unaware of the possibilities or the limitations of the business.

Lalit Singhania of Industechnical and Financial Consultants Limited, based in Bilaspur, explains, "We are in a sense lucky that the government itself has been so energy inefficient. We are involved in several states, including Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya, in just getting the government offices to improve their buildings and put efficient air-conditioning systems. At the same time, we have completed a energy recovery project from waste out of a power plant."

Before this, Singhania's company was more known for helping set up controversial and not-so-clean sponge iron plants in the state. Today, it's feeding the figures that show India has the highest number of CDM projects in the world.

Indian techies see gold in carbon trade
3 Oct 2007, 0001 hrs IST,Nitin Sethi,TNN
NEW DELHI: The rest of India might be fearing the impacts of climate change but Indian techies are fast realising the business opportunity it has brought to their doorstep.

Cashing on the carbon credit trade, many of them have begun business ventures to write up projects and take consultancies to help Indian and international businesses turn green.

It's a gold rush at the moment — India has the highest number of carbon credit projects in the world. Not surprisingly, the business is also attracting its fair share of not-so-clean operators.
With investments pouring in (more than Rs 40,000 crore is already locked into the Indian industry going green under the global carbon credit scheme), industrial towns like Bilaspur and Indore, along with the four metros, are witnessing a mushrooming of experts and consultants.

"Till three years ago, I was a regular MBA techie helping companies set up supply chains. Then I took the risk of entering this new area," says Ashutosh Pandey of Emergent Ventures Ltd, one of the foremost carbon trading firms in India today.

Having done more than 100 projects in the country, it's now venturing into South Asia and Southeast Asian markets.