“Forging a Frontier: State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2008”

May 27, 2008

5:00 pm

Hosted by: JP Morgan

JP Morgan Offices

270 Park Avenue, 3rd Floor

New York, NY 10017


Speakers & Panelists to include:

Katherine Hamilton (Ecosystem Marketplace)

Milo Sjardin (New Carbon Finance)

Michael Jenkins (Forest Trends)

Reiner Musier (APX)

Catherine Flax (JP Morgan Chase)

TBD (Ecosecurities)

TBD (Evolution)

TBD (MGM International)

AGENDA

5:30 – Presentation &

Panel Discussion

6:30 – Cocktail & Reception

7:30 – End


We can only guarantee a seat for the first 100 people who RSVP.

Please respond via email to Carlee Warner at the address below as soon as possible to secure your seat. We look forward to hearing from you!

For a free copy of the report please visit: www.ecosystemmarketplace.com and www.newcarbonfinance.com

Sincerely,

Carlee Warner
New Energy Finance Ltd
415 Madison Ave, 15th Floor | New York, NY 10017
Direct: +1 (212) 744-1988 | Fax: +1 (212) 744-1987

Slowing deforestation may be worth billions: study
Mon Apr 7, 2008 12:44pm BST

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - A slowdown of deforestation from the Amazon to the Congo basin could generate billions of dollars every year for developing nations as part of a U.N. scheme to fight climate change, a study showed on Monday.

Burning of forests by farmers clearing land accounts for 20 percent of world greenhouse gas emissions. A 190-nation U.N. climate conference agreed in Bali, Indonesia, in December to work on ways to reward countries for slowing deforestation.

"Even with quite conservative assumptions, you can generate substantial amounts of money and emissions reductions," said Johannes Ebeling of EcoSecurities in Oxford, England, of a study with Mai Yasue at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

They said a 10 percent decline in the rate of tropical forest loss could generate annual carbon finance for developing nations of between 1.5 billion and 9.1 billion euros ($2.4 to $14.30 billion) assuming carbon prices of 5 to 30 euros a tonne.

Such curbs would represent about 300 million tonnes of avoided carbon dioxide emissions a year -- about the amount of heat-trapping gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels, emitted by Turkey, or half the total of France.

The United Nations wants reduced emissions from deforestation to be part of a new long-term climate treaty beyond 2012 to help avert more droughts, heatwaves, outbreaks of disease and rising seas.

Ebeling told Reuters that any credits for avoided deforestation would have to be matched by tough restrictions elsewhere, for instance forcing coal-fired power plants or cement factories to pay for right to emit carbon dioxide.

BRAZIL

The study, published in the British journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, said there were big challenges in designing a fair system.

So far, most focus in the U.N. debate had been on rewarding countries with high deforestation rates -- such as Brazil and Ecuador -- for slowing the losses.

But nations such as Guyana or Suriname, which have maintained high forest cover, or others like Costa Rica and Chile, which have slowed or reversed deforestation, would gain little.

There were also problems such as judging the rate of deforestation or creating controls to ensure that protecting one forest does not lead to logging or clearance of another.

And some poor countries that could benefit -- such as Liberia or Myanmar -- may simply lack controls needed to regulate land use.

Still, Ebeling said he was optimistic a system could be worked out because of a widening political willingness to address deforestation as part of a new treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2013.

-- For Reuters latest environment blogs click on:

http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/

(Editing by Mary Gabriel)

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=7bcff357-13a2-49e0-8102-2dbc447a54a0

Clear rules required for carbon accounting in post-Kyoto world

Gordon Hamilton
Vancouver Sun

Friday, March 14, 2008

In Indonesia, tropical forests are being levelled and replaced with palm oil plantations to produce eco-friendly biofuel.

And in North America, research shows a forest that grows for 80 years to biological maturity locks up less carbon than one harvested every 45 years and turned into building products.

It's like saving the planet by destroying the forest, a paradox that speakers at a Globe 2008 session said Thursday highlights the need for clear rules on accounting for carbon in the post-Kyoto world.

"If you get too far along in your carbon accounting, it gets counterproductive," warned Avrim Lazar, president of the Forest Products Association of Canada.

Lazar said a key question in climate change discussions should be: What are the values that govern forest management?

"If you just manage for carbon storage, you are missing the point. You should also manage for biodiversity, for wildlife values, for wilderness values.

"The best thing you could do for storing carbon would be to have tree farms right across the boreal [forest], turn them into newspapers and hide them in the basements in big stacks.

"You have huge sequestration, you've got continual gathering of CO2 out of the air in the tree farms. Fire is addressed and you have the world's best sequester.

"It's not what we want. We want to harvest the natural forest in a way that doesn't decrease the carbon storage but also respects biodiversity."

Data on the carbon-reduction benefits of fast harvest rotations were provided by Bruce Lippke, president of the Consortium for Research and Renewable Industrial Materials, which has conducted research into the total carbon footprint of wood products.

Chris Elliott, Pacific region vice-president for the World Wildlife Fund, said deforestation for bioenergy is a big concern.

"Bio-energy is very fashionable; there's a great peak of interest in it. But all that deforestation in Sumatra is actually for establishing oil palm plantations and some of that palm oil is now entering the global markets as use for biodiesel as a kind of green product. From a biodiversity and from a climate balance point of view that is extremely harmful."

Elliott said Asia Pulp & Paper, which recently purchased two pulp mills, a sawmill and timber tenure in B.C., is the main company involved in deforestation in Sumatra.

"We believe in holding global companies accountable to global standards. They can't duck and hide behind the fact that environmental regulations might be lower in Indonesia than in Canada. As they become more present in Canada, they will certainly find environmental groups challenging them on some of those issues."

The WWF has partnered with the Canadian forest industry to achieve a goal of harvesting, manufacturing and consuming forest products without adding carbon to the atmosphere.

Lazar laid out details of the plan at the Globe panel, saying it's an initiative "almost strangely bold," for his industry.

Both panelists said that the thorny issue of carbon accounting -- deciding what counts as an emission and what counts as storage and sequestration -- has yet to be settled.

Lazar said credibility is crucial to the initiative. Mimicking the acronyms that are commonplace at Globe, Lazar said FPAC has adopted the NBS rule -- no BS -- in its approach to carbon accounting.

The drive for carbon neutrality will examine carbon-in and carbon-out from the forest to the landfill.

Elliott said the collaboration is still in its early stages.

"We have some very strong experience here in Vancouver with one of the FPAC members, Catalyst Paper. We have worked on a similar project with them over the past five years," he said in an interview.

"They have been able to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent through a combination of using biofuels and increasing energy efficiency in their mills.

"But what we are are looking at here with FPAC is broader and more ambitious. We are looking at management in the forests, management in the mills and then the whole product life-cycle."

ghamilton@png.canwest.com

Carbon trade could jump 56 per cent

From Herald News Services

Published: Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Global trade in carbon dioxide emissions could reach 3.8 billion tonnes this year, a 56 per cent increase from 2007, according to a report from Point Carbon, an Oslo-based research and publishing firm.

The report released Tuesday includes a survey of the carbon market in which more than 70 per cent of respondents predict a global climate agreement by 2012. That's the year the Kyoto Protocol expires.

The survey was conducted over the Internet from Jan. 18 to Feb. 6, according the report. Of the 3,700 respondents, 40 per cent said they trade carbon permits and six per cent represent financial institutions

Link : http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/calgarybusiness/story.html?id=0a83f5ad-fcbb-42f9-918d-17a61cd97571

FACTBOX-Bali U.N. climate talks and goals

Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:04am EST

Dec 13 (Reuters) - A 190-nation U.N. climate meeting in Bali from Dec 3-14 is seeking to launch two years of formal negotiations meant to end with agreement on a broad new U.N. pact to fight global warming.

About 10,000 delegates on the Indonesian island are considering a draft document laying out a "roadmap" of guiding principles for the talks on a U.N. treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

Kyoto sets caps on emissions of greenhouse gases for industrial 37 nations until 2012. The United States rejected the pact in 2001 and developing nations led by China and India have no targets. A new treaty would seek to involve all.

Following are details of a draft text on Thursday:

HOW AMBITIOUS?

The United States, the only rich outside the Kyoto Protocol which caps greenhouse gases, has opposed in Bali any target range of greenhouse gas emissions cuts. It has support from Japan and Canada but the European Union wants a range.

The new draft says "much deeper cuts in emissions" by rich nations will be needed. Trying to skirt the EU-U.S. dispute, it notes that Kyoto countries want all rich nations to be guided by cuts in greenhouse gases by 25-40 percent by 2020 below 1990 levels.

The new draft notes that the toughest category assessed by the U.N. Climate Panel requires global emissions of greenhouse gases to peak in the next 10 to 15 years and be reduced to very low levels, "well below half of 2000 levels by 2050."



RICH AND POOR

The draft calls on rich countries to consider "quantified national emission limitation and reduction commitments".

Meanwhile, developing countries should consider "measureable and reportable national mitigation actions." That is a weaker demand than in the original draft for poor nations to "limit the growth of, or reduce, emissions". Emissions-cutting measures in developing nations could include slowing deforestation.

POLICIES

Developing nations want clean technologies to help them curb greenhouse gas emissions, and they feel that rich countries have short-changed them on a commitment to provide such help under the 1992 Convention on Climate Change.

The new draft asks parties to consider "cooperation on research and development of new and innovative technology". It also calls for more finance and investment to support adaptation to climate change -- another key demand of developing nations.

LAUNCH OF NEW TALKS

The draft lays out three options:

1) Two years of informal talks that do not necessarily lead to a new treaty.

-- This option has had support from few countries such as Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter.

2) Two separate sets of talks, ending with a global deal to be adopted at U.N. talks in Copenhagen in late 2009. One set would be new targets for 37 Kyoto industrial nations, another for outsiders such as the United States and developing nations.

-- Most countries support this option. China, however, wants to give Kyoto outsiders until 2010 to agree, saying that a new U.S. president will take office only in January 2009, and many countries want to know Washington's policies first.

3) An immediate merger of the Kyoto and the international talks to produce a deal in 2009.

-- Most countries that prefer this approach equally support option 2.

TIMETABLE

The first talks will be held no later than April 2008. That meeting would work out a detailed timetable.

-- For Reuters latest environment blogs click on: blogs.reuters.com/environment/ (Writing by Gerard Wynn and Alister Doyle; Reuters messaging:

Opportunities for Avoided Deforestation with Sustainable Benefits”

ASB Report ((www.asb.cgiar.org).

Executive Summary

Trees and forests play important roles in global climate change mitigation. On the one hand, trees

growing in forests and on farms are one of the world’s greatest sinks of carbon. Afforestation in Europe

now offsets significant amounts of global emissions and there are many unexploited opportunities for

afforestation and reforestation in the developing world. On the other hand, tropical deforestation is one of

the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

estimate that in 2004, the forest sector was responsible for 17.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Global-level studies of the economics of climate change mitigation indicate that afforestation and avoided

deforestation are among the most attractive investments for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions (total

emissions less total sequestration). The ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins has conducted

biophysical, socioeconomic and institutional research on the tradeoffs associated with alternative land

uses in the humid tropics. Building on previous research at the ASB benchmark sites, this paper presents

spatially-explicit analyses of the tradeoffs between carbon and economic returns in three sites in

Indonesia, and one site in each of Peru and Cameroon. Located in the humid forest zones of Southeast

Asia, the Amazon basin, and Central Africa, these sites represent a range of the conditions that shape tree

and forest management across the humid tropics. Indonesia is particularly distinguished by having the

world’s highest levels of land-based emissions of greenhouse gases and largest CO2 emissions from

conversion of peat lands.

Results presented in this report indicate similarities and differences across the sites. The patterns of land

use transition over the last 10-20 years vary considerably, with some sites experiencing general trends of

carbon-emitting land use changes, while others experiencing a balance of carbon-emitting and carbon-sequestering

land use changes. In general, however, the carbon losses due to carbon-emitting forest

conversion vastly exceed the carbon gains due to carbon-sequestering land use changes. This is

exemplified by the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan. Although it has experienced more

sequestering land use changes than emitting land use changes, the province has on net lost huge

amounts of carbon overall since 1990. . This is because the carbon-emitting land use changes have

resulted in average losses of 230 tonnes per hectare per in the year that they occur, while shifts from

lower to higher carbon-sequestering land uses have resulted in just 4 tonnes of sequestration per hectare

per year.

Further results from across the 3 provinces of Indonesia indicate that there is, even without specific

support programs, substantial activity to restore carbon to landscapes that have been previously

degraded. In East Kalimantan, the bulk of the carbon-sequestering land use changes are natural regrowth

from cleared land, while in Jambi the transition to carbon-sequestering land uses mostly represent

transitions from cropland to rubber agroforestry systems. Win-win solutions are possible: transitions from

cropland to rubber agroforestry in Jambi and from coffee to complex damar agroforestry in Lampung

increase returns to farmers and time-averaged carbon stocks. In Cameroon, shifts from crop-fallow

systems agriculture into shaded cocoa systems can also be such a win-win solution.

The analysis of the economic returns associated with the land use transitions (measured in terms of

discounted net present value) shows that there is clear economic rationale for almost all of the land use

transitions occurring in the 5 sites. That is, almost every land use transition has been economically

rational from the perspective of private land users responding to: market incentives to harvest and sell

timber; market opportunities for new cash crops; the lack of incentives they have to maintain the value of

standing carbon, and high interest rates in local financial markets.

Expressed in terms of tonnes of emissions of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2eq), however, the economic

gains associated with deforestation are very low. In the three provinces of Indonesia included in the study,

between 6 and 20% of the area where emissions increased have generated returns less than 1$ per tonne

of CO2eq and between 64 and 92% of the emission generating changes have resulted in returns less than

5$ per tonne of CO2eq. In the benchmark site in Ucayali Province in Peru, over 90% of emissions from

land use change have generated returns less than 5$ per tonne of CO2eq. If carbon stock of standing

forests were valued and sellable during 20 years, a large percentage of greenhouse emissions from

deforestation in the Indonesia and Peru sites might have been avoided. Current market and incentive

conditions in the humid tropics continue to inadequately provide incentives for cost-effective reduction of

CO2 emissions.

The global analysis also reveals heterogeneity in carbon stocks in humid tropical forests. Results from the

Indonesian province of Jambi show that peat forests, as well as other peat lands, should be given special

attention in negotiations and programmes for reduced emissions from deforestation and forest

degradation. The customary slash-and-burn system known as “sonor” is particularly damaging to the

atmosphere, releasing large amounts of carbon from the rich peat soils, while providing very little return in

terms of income to the local farming populations. The return per tonne of CO2 emitted is as low as

US$0.10-0.20 in those landscapes.

Policy makers concerned about carbon emissions can and should harvest some low hanging fruits by

devising early and effective mechanisms for compensating land users for the carbon storage value of

forests and trees. Policy makers should pay greater attention to below-ground carbon, particularly the

need to conserve the peat lands of Indonesia that store large amounts of carbon. Investments in these

high carbon payoff areas can clearly be a good deal for investors and for the planet. To be effective,

sustainable and fair, the deals will also have to make good sense for the tens of millions of farmers and

other rural residents whose actions together drive land use change in the tropical forest margins.

Key Messages:

This report contains the following key messages for international, national and local efforts to mitigate

climate change.

(1) There are cost-effective opportunities for large reductions in CO2 emissions from avoided deforestation

in the humid tropics, provided that appropriate institutions and incentive systems are created. Every year

of delayed action means a year more of large emissions that could have been avoided at relatively little

cost to the world economy. Governments and other stakeholders should take positive pragmatic steps at

the same time as they negotiate how to incorporate REDD into new long-term agreements.

(2) Urgent attention should be given to reducing emissions from the peatlands of Southeast Asia. This

includes stopping conversion of peat forests and modifying farming practices on previously-converted

peatlands, mostly by reducing the depth of drainage. Current negotiations about Reduced Emissions from

Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) should cover not just forested peat lands, but all peat

lands.

(3) In the absence of incentives for landowners to maintain forest resources, market conditions generally

favour conversion of forests over conservation. However, accounting for lost carbon values, this study

shows huge economic losses associated with land use change in all of the study sites. Accounting for the

value of other environmental services (such as biodiversity conservation), other climate benefits of forests,

and the economic loss due to climate change, would undoubtedly show even greater losses. To be

effective in the long-term, REDD mechanisms must provide land users with financial incentives that

outweigh the returns from conversion to other land uses. Our study shows this could be done costeffectively.

In the absence of carbon markets for avoided deforestation, emission reduction in Europe may

cost 100 times greater per unit than the financial value that is generated by emissions in the tropical forest

margins

(4) We have observed a considerable amount of carbon-sequestering land use changes that have also

increased net returns to farmers. This implies that incentives for re/afforestation may foster further land

use changes that increase income and sequester carbon. This study shows that establishing multi-strata

agroforestry systems on degraded lands– where farmers integrate a range of trees into their farming

systems -- is such an opportunity. Elsewhere, some community forestry systems have been shown to

represent a similar opportunity.

(5) Besides providing appropriate monetary or in-kind compensation for avoided land-use change, REDD

schemes should address both the need for alternative sources of livelihood for the affected populations,

well as the need to produce alternative sources of wood products for local uses. Again, both agroforestry

systems and community forestry can produce such win-win solutions.

(6) Given the importance of international market conditions in shaping land use transitions in the humid

tropics, it is highly likely that patterns of consumption, trade and environmental regulation in the countries

that consume the products of tropical forest landscapes will spill over into incentives for land use change

in developing countries. International organizations, national governments and industry groups should be

aware of these positive spillovers and take action to reduce negative impacts. Green premiums for rubber,

cocoa and coffee produced from carbon-rich systems need further encouragement and support.

Carbon trading 'key to stopping deforestation'

By Paul Eccleston

Last Updated: 6:01pm GMT 03/12/2007

Carbon trading could be the key to stopping the destruction of the rainforests, a new report claims.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/12/03/eaforest103.xml

Some quotes of the article:

Brent Swallow, leader of the study and Global Coordinator of the Partnership for Tropical Forest Margins, said: "Deforestation is almost always driven by a rational response to what the market values and for some time now, it has just made more financial sense to many people in forested areas to cut down the trees.

Meine van Noordwijk, Southeast Asia Regional Coordinator of the World Agroforestry Centre, said: "We understand that allowing people in forested regions of developing countries to participate in carbon markets presents major challenges, but it's naive to think that conservation is going to occur absent a market incentive.

Dennis Garrity, Director General of the Nairobi, Kenya-based World Agroforestry Centre said that, "Not only does agroforestry have the potential to store carbon, it also addresses the need for alternative livelihoods amongst populations who currently benefit from deforestation."

Frances Seymour, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) based in Indonesia, said: "The challenge will be to ensure that payments for maintaining forests actually reach local people, and do not end up in the wrong pockets.

Delegates Forge Ahead at Bali Climate Change Conference
By Chad Bouchard Bali, Indonesia 07 December 2007

Bouchard report - Download MP3 (600k)
Listen to Bouchard report

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali is nearing its halfway mark. Senior delegates are hopeful an international agreement will be reached on how to control harmful climate emissions when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. But environmental activists fear the talking is taking too long. Chad Bouchard reports from Bali.

Full Story

THE BALI CONFERENCE

Trading for a future

By Mari Pangetsu and Pascal Lamy
Published: December 7, 2007

"So how many planets do you think we'll need, Mari, if climate change continues unabated?"

"Nine, Pascal, or so the United Nations Development Program tells us, if all the poor people on this planet start leading the same energy-rich lifestyle of North Americans. Planet Earth would hardly be able to inhale the emissions. Worse, Pascal, is that 1 person out of every 19 in a developing country will be hit by a climate disaster, compared to 1 out of every 1,500 in a rich country."

This is the backdrop to the Trade Ministers' Dialogue that will take place in Bali Dec. 8-9 on the sidelines of the United Nations climate change conference. The main purpose of the dialogue is to explore the role that international trade can play in the fight against the biggest national security and developmental threat of our times: our changing climate.

At the heart of the climate change negotiations is the following dilemma: The nations of the world produce vastly unequal in carbon dioxide emissions. Africa emits only 1 ton per capita against 7 tons in Asia and 22 in North America. Yet emissions in developing countries are soon expected to overtake those of developed countries because of the overall size of their populations. Hence the very politically and economically-charged question of who should curb greenhouse-gas emissions and by how much.

Full Story

CER price index to be launched

The London Energy Brokers’ Association (LEBA) is launching a benchmark index on Monday, 3 December. The LEBA Carbon CER Index will be published daily at 18.00 hours London time. The aim is to contribute transparent pricing to the Carbon Emission Reduction market.

David Clark, Chairman of LEBA, and Stewart Lloyd-Jones, CEO of LEBA, said, “This index shows the status and growing importance of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and LEBA believes that the establishment of a recognised pricing mechanism contributes to the integrity and functionality of the market and its future role in the management of climate change.”

Australia ratifies Kyoto

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Monday he has ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change in his first official act after being sworn in as leader.

more..at CARBONyatra.com

Bali poised for political breakthrough
The United Nations Climate Change Conference - Bali, 2007 got underway Monday, poised for a breakthrough in international climate change negotiations. The two-week conference is expected to result in negotiations on a climate change deal for the period post-2012, the year the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires.

"It is essential that vulnerable developing countries are in a position to draw up plans to prepare for climate change impacts," said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer. "It is also essential that agreement is reached on how the Kyoto Protocol's Adaptation Fund is managed so that the Fund can begin financing real adaptation projects," he added.

more...at CARBONyatra.com

Carbon Trust offers trade groups funding for green schemes

Trade groups and professional associations have until early January to apply for up to £140,000 of Carbon Trust funding

James Murray, BusinessGreen, 23 Nov 2007

The Carbon Trust has called on trade groups to take advantage of a funding scheme that allows them to apply for up to £140,000 to support initiatives designed to limit carbon emissions.

Trade groups and professional associations interested in applying for the Networks Initiative funding now have until 9 January next year to submit a detailed plan outlining how the investment would help them deliver demonstrable and cost-effective CO2 emission savings.

The company said the funding could be used to support initiatives to highlight the cost of wasted energy and carbon emissions or accelerate the development of specific technical guidance and toolkits for firms keen to limit their carbon footprint.

The call for more applications was made at an event in London to assess the success of the 15 trade groups that received funding through the scheme last year, including the Institute of Hospitality, the UK Social Investment Forum and the Airport Operators Association.

"We believe that trade and professional bodies have an important role to play in championing carbon reduction measures among their member businesses and colleagues, and play an important part of our overall role in helping UK business and public-sector organisations cut CO2 emissions," said Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust. "We’d encourage anyone who wants to find out more to contact us."

The group said the scheme has already provided £2.5m of funding to support 41 different projects since it was launched in 2005, including an initiative to help landlords measure office buildings' carbon emissions from the British Property Federation and a project from the British Compressed Air Society to enhance the efficiency of compressed air systems.

Carbon Credits Finance New Approach to Large-Scale Conservation

Unprecedented Partnership Conserves Prairie Habitat Through Direct Payments to Landowners

MEMPHIS, Tenn., November 20, 2007 – It pays to conserve habitat these days. Literally. In an unprecedented conservation agreement, Ducks Unlimited, Equator Environmental, LLC and New Forests Inc. are helping landowners conserve grasslands and store carbon on their property – and make money doing it.

“This is a totally novel approach to habitat conservation,” said Jim Ringelman, Ducks Unlimited’s Director of Conservation Programs in the Great Plains. “DU’s highest priority is protecting the grasslands of the Prairie Pothole Region from destruction, and one way we do that is through conservation easements. When landowners agree to an easement that prohibits plowing that land, they’re also ensuring that the carbon in that soil won’t be released. So, we thought ‘What if DU could offer landowners money for the conservation easement, and money for the carbon credits on their land.”

It sounds complicated, but according to Dan Spethmann, Manager of Investment Programs for New Forests, it’s not.

“On the prairies of North and South Dakota, millions of acres of grassland plants are storing, or ‘sequestering,’ a huge reserve of soil carbon. If that land is plowed, the soil carbon is exposed to oxygen, decomposed and released as carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas contributing to global warming. In the process, vital waterfowl breeding habitat is destroyed,” says Spethmann.

Full Story

New Zealand Aims to be World’s First Carbon Neutral Nation

New Zealand announced ambitious plans for reducing the greenhouse gas impacts of its electrical, stationary manufacturing, and transport energy by 2025, 2030, and 2040. New Zealand initially declared it intentions in September in the release of its Emissions Trading Scheme. The following month New Zealand detailed its plans by launching its "Energy Strategy to 2050." New Zealand plans on increasing its national forest area by 250,000 hectares by 2020, as well as using renewable energy sources for 90% of its electricity by 2025.

Full Story

Korea to Start Carbon Credit Exchange Next Year

With climate change becoming a global issue, Korea is planning to set up its own carbon exchange as early as next year. The Korea Exchange (KRX) said Wednesday that it has launched a preparation team to establish a carbon exchange where businesses can trade in credits for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The idea has its roots in the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to prevent climate change, which requires countries that exceed their limit for greenhouse gas emissions to buy emissions credits from other nations that haven't reached their limits. Korea isn't on the Kyoto Protocol list of countries obliged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, but it will almost certainly be in 2013. "The government will set the limit for greenhouse gas emissions for businesses, which can then sell carbon credits they have or buy ones they need on the exchange," the KRX said. "Financial institutions will also be able to engage in futures trading based on carbon credits.” Like a stock exchange, the carbon exchange will introduce price limits, clearance and settlement systems.

A Fixation on Standards: Another New Standard for Forestry Credits

CarbonFix, a non-profit German foundation, recently announced the latest standard for the voluntary carbon markets designed specifically to certify afforestation and reforestation projects generating carbon credits. CarbonFix claims it will fill a void in the voluntary market by providing an accreditation service that accounts for issues such as tree permanence and accurate calculation of credits. The standard was open for public review until November 15, 2007.

Link

Two New World Bank Carbon Facilities Will Help Fight Climate Change And Deforestation

Press Release No:2008/091/SDN

Contacts: Anita Gordon, 202-473-1799 agordon@worldbank.org Roger Morier, 202-473-5675 rmorier@worldbank.org

WASHINGTON, October 11, 2007—The World Bank is working to increase significantly the world’s ability to tackle global climate change and deforestation with two new carbon finance facilities to benefit developing countries.

An innovative Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) would prevent deforestation by compensating developing countries for carbon dioxide reductions realized by maintaining their forests.

Details are being finalized on that facility, as well as a new Carbon Partnership Facility (CPF). Both aim to support developing countries in their moves towards lower carbon development paths, by helping remove heat trapping gases from the atmosphere which are changing the climate.

“Developing countries will earn money and obtain clean technology in exchange for the greenhouse gas emission reductions they will sell to developed countries,” said World Bank Group President, Robert B. Zoellick. “Both facilities will pilot ways to ratchet up the fight against climate change by adopting a larger-scale, longer-term approach to greenhouse gas emission reductions. They will also build on the World Bank Group’s traditional relationship with developing countries, and the new relationships it has forged over the past decade as a pioneer in carbon finance.”

The Carbon Partnership Facility is expected to be used in areas such as power sector development, energy efficiency, gas flaring, transport, and urban development, including integrated waste management systems.

“The CPF is significant because instead of purchasing greenhouse gas emission reductions from one project at a time, say reducing methane emissions from a landfill, we will be able to work on 10 projects simultaneously across a country or a region,” said Katherine Sierra, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development. “We will also be able to purchase greenhouse gas emissions far beyond 2012, which will help to remove some of the uncertainty currently surrounding the post-Kyoto Protocol era.”

Full story

NEW CARBON STANDARD GUARANTEES
ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY AND TRANSPARENCY FOR GLOBAL OFFSET MARKET
- Global market confidence boosted by new Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) -
19 November 2007 (00.01hrs GMT), LONDON – A new global carbon offset standard launches today at the London Stock Exchange boosting business, consumer and government confidence in the voluntary carbon market. The Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) provides a new and much needed quality assurance for certification of credible voluntary offsets.
The rigour and transparency of the new VCS will boost market confidence for many companies and individuals keen to take a lead on tackling climate change by going carbon-neutral. The robust international standard will drive greater investment into credible offset projects certain to result in real and additional emissions reductions around the world.
Market analysts estimate that annual transactions in the voluntary carbon market could reach US$4billion in the next five years and that the VCS – already popular with buyers – will be instrumental to this future growth.
The new VCS marks the end of a two year consultation with the industry, NGOs and market specialists, led by The Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
Andrei Marcu, President of The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and co-chair of the VCS Steering Committee, says: “While the main action must be in regulatory approaches, voluntary actions and offsets have an important role to play, and the VCS will provide them with necessary credibility.”
Mark Kenber, Policy Director of The Climate Group and co-chair of the VCS Steering Committee, says: “The Voluntary Carbon Standard means business and consumer buyers can now trust the offsets they buy. Its robust quality assurance will trigger a new global confidence in the voluntary market from corporate buyers, consumers, and policy-makers. The VCS is vital for the environment and for growth of an important global market.”
Adam Kirkman, Program Manager, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, says: “Many WBCSD member companies already participate in emerging carbon markets or implement emission reduction projects on a voluntary basis. The Voluntary Carbon Standard provides additional incentive
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to business to invest internationally in low carbon technologies, allowing companies to monetize the gains from their early voluntary actions via a robust standard supported by third-party verification that delivers environmental integrity, consumer confidence, and market credibility.”
About The Voluntary Offset Market
Although direct cuts in emissions should be the first step for any individual or business looking at minimizing its impact on climate change, the voluntary carbon market has an important role to play. Government regulation and appeals for people to change their behaviour will not be sufficient alone to achieve the carbon reductions needed at the speed required. Carbon offsetting is a valuable transition solution because it allows additional investment in carbon reductions over and above that which Government regulations have achieved, and makes those reductions wherever they can be made fastest and at the lowest cost.
Explaining the valuable role of the voluntary carbon market, Mark Kenber says: “Urgent and drastic action is required to stabilise climate change. The voluntary carbon market has an important role to play in bringing down emissions quickly and priming the pump of clean green innovation while the politics catches up.”

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U.N. panel: 'Urgent' action needed on global warming

(CNN) -- Climate change is real and is happening at an ever faster pace, a United Nations scientific panel said in a hard-hitting report issued Saturday on tackling global warming.

Exposed mud banks at a reservoir in Spain, November 2007.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was delivering its fourth and final report on the science of climate change and the impact of human-produced greenhouse gases at a conference in Valencia, Spain.

The report produced by the Nobel prize-winning panel warns of the devastating impact for developing countries and the threat of species extinction posed by the climate crisis.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, presenting the report, warned that some of the effects of rising levels of greenhouse gases may already be irreversible.

The U.N. head said the situation was already "so severe and so sweeping that only urgent, global action" could head off the crisis.

He told the panel he was hopeful that the report's findings could help bring about "a real breakthrough" in climate change negotiations in Bali, Indonesia, next month.

The Bali talks will set the groundwork for the successor to the Kyoto treaty, which expires in 2012.

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