What should be the response/strategy of Civil Society? As per the news, there seem to be no involvement of others apart from Govt! Is anybody privy to further details?



High-level committee to finalise action plan on climate change



BS Reporter / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar March 20, 2010, 0:44 IST

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/high-level-committee-to-finalise-action-planclimate-change/389146/


The process of finalizing the State Action Plan (SAP) on climate change for Orissa got further impetus with the government constituting a High Level Co-ordination Committee (HLCC) headed by the chief secretary, Tarunkanti Mishra.

The secretary, forest and environment department of the Orissa government has been nominated as the member convener of the committee.

The committee has development commissioner (DC), Agricultural Production Commissioner (APC), secretaries in the departments of finance, fisheries, housing and urban development, steel and mines, agriculture, water resources, revenue and disaster management, energy, commerce and transport, health and family welfare, industry and managing director of Orissa State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) as its members.

The chief minister Naveen Patnaik has approved a proposal to this effect, sources said.

The Draft Action Plan (DAP) will undergo sectoral discussions and inter-sectoral consultations before being finalized. It would then be submitted to the government for approval. “The World Bank has roped in experts of international repute to carry forward the process of framing the SAP on climate change. It would be finalized by the end of April 2010 as scheduled”, Bhagirathi Behera, director, environment department, Orissa government told Business Standard.

Sources said, the experts who have been roped in by the World Bank to assist the government in its endeavor to frame the SAP, included Mala Rao of Indian Institute of Public Health, Anil Markandeya (scientific director, Basque Centre for Climate Change), Atul Agarwal (Transport specialist in the World Bank), K P Nyati (expert in sustainable mining initiatives), Arivudai Nambi (Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai).

The experts would hold discussions with different sectoral groups from March 25-31, 2010. On the advice of DFID and World Bank, the government has already formed nine sectoral committees that would work on nine different impact areas of climate change

These areas include health and social vulnerability, energy, transport, agriculture, urban development, water resources, coastal and disaster, mining and forest among others. Meanwhile, eleven working groups headed by the secretaries have held one round of discussion with the experts from March 1-6.

24 critically polluted areas under scanner
Ians
September 17th, 2009

NEW DELHI - Twenty-four areas around the country where water, air and soil pollution have reached critical levels are now being studied by experts from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi to see what can be done about them, Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said here Thursday.

“Meanwhile, no new industrial units are to come up in any of these areas unless a committee of experts is satisfied that it will not worsen the ambient air, water or soil quality,” he added.

Among the 24 critically polluted areas, the minister named Singrauli (Madhya Pradesh) and Korba (Chhattisgarh), two hubs of thermal power generation; the Vapi-Ankleswar belt of chemical industries in Gujarat; Trombay in Mumbai; Ranipet in Tamil Nadu; Patancheru in Andhra Pradesh and Talcher in Orissa.

Once the experts from IIT-Delhi give their report, the Central Pollution Control Board will draw up an action plan on how to clean up these areas. Ramesh said: “We shall use the polluter pays principle, and use that money to set up common effluent treatment plants, for example.”

National workshop on CDM - Orissa has large potential in CDM Trade

National workshop on CDM - Orissa has large potential in CDM Trade
Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Bhubaneswar (Press Release): Climate change is probably the biggest threat ever the world is facing today and Orissa is no exception. Orissa is most prone to climate changes, primarily because of its geographical location. The state’s fluctuating weather conditions suggest that it is reeling under climatic chaos.


For more than a decade now, it experiencing an unprecedented rise in temperatures and for a region, which is otherwise known for its moderate temperature, this is a very alarming trend: from heat waves to cyclones: from droughts to floods. In the last four years, calamities have claimed more than 30,000 lives, which are not only becoming more frequent, but have hit areas that were never considered vulnerable.

This is part of the Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR) Program which provided the required institutional and legal framework and bringing momentum to the industrial growth in the state and improving the climate for socially & environmentally responsible investment with an overall goal of higher and pro-poor economic growth and employment in Orissa. This initiative has been funded by DFID through UNIDO.IPICOL is the nodal agency.

Clean Development Mechanism is one of the project based market mechanism under Kyoto Protocol. It leverages capital from the developed nations to reduce emissions in developing projects that has been lower emissions.

Keeping this in view a CDM cell was created in IPICOL with DFID support. The technical backstopping to this Cell was provided by CTRAN, a leading Carbon Asset Management Company. Subsequently DFID routed the finance to retain the services of the key experts through UNIDO.

The objective of the workshop is to chart out a clear strategy for climate change mitigation through cleaner production in industrial sectors.200 number of invitees are participating on the seminar to share this experience of clean production.

Academicians, experts from carbon funds and validation agencies will debate over 2 days to come out with a climate change action plan for the state by industries.

The workshop is being inaugurated by Honorable Minister for Department of Steel & Mines Mr. Raghunath Mohanty, Senior Secretaries of Government of Orissa and officials from UNIDO.

As part of this programs & Clean Production Program for iron and steel Sector is being launched by IPICOL with OSIMA.

India says forests soak 10 percent emissions annually

Tue Aug 4, 2009 7:53am EDT
By Krittivas Mukherjee
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's forests are absorbing about 10 percent of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) every year, the environment minister said on Tuesday.
Jairam Ramesh's announcement was India's first quantification of climate benefits from its forest cover, a move that could boost its demand for funds to fight global warming under a U.N. scheme.
Citing a new government study, he told parliament the plan was to protect and extend the forest cover beyond the present 65 million hectares, or about 20 percent of India's land. Last week, he said the government had allocated $200 million for the scheme.
"If we take the forestry cover further, then you can imagine how much green house gas emission we can absorb," he said.
India's total GHG emissions stood at 1,853 million metric tons equivalent of carbon dioxide, about 4.9 percent of global emissions in 2005, according to the World Resources Institute.
Forests soak up vast amounts of planet-warming CO2 and can act as a brake on climate change.
Under an emerging U.N. scheme called reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation, or REDD, developing nations could potentially earn billions of dollars by setting aside and rehabilitating their forests.
The valuable carbon offsets they earn could be sold to rich nations to help them meet emissions goals under the program, likely to be part of a broader climate pact from 2013.
India is also trying to expand its forest cover by another six million hectares over the next six years. (Editing by Ron Popeski)

India to assess climate gain; pump millions in forests

India to assess climate gain; pump millions in forests
Fri Jul 31, 2009 7:41pm EDT

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will spend some $200 million to protect its forests and will announce how much carbon emission is being captured by its green cover, the environment minister said on Friday.

Jairam Ramesh said the money would go into conserving and restoring unique vegetation, controlling forest fires and strengthening forestry infrastructure, among other goals.

"This reflects the high priority that the prime minister accords to the renewal of our forestry establishment which is critical in our climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts," he said.

Forestry forms an important part of international negotiations for a new U.N. climate change deal in December, and India says efforts to conserve and increase forest cover should be considered as vital as reducing deforestation.

Forests soak up vast amounts of planet-warming CO2 and can act as a brake on climate change.

Under an emerging U.N. scheme called reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation, or REDD, developing nations could potentially earn billions of dollars by setting aside and rehabilitating their forests.

The valuable carbon offsets they earn could be sold to rich nations to help them meet their emissions goals under the scheme that is likely to be part of a broader climate pact from 2013.

Ramesh said India would announce on August 10 the results of a study into how much emissions were being captured by India's forests. The quantification could bolster India's demand for money for afforestation efforts under REDD.

"We have for the first time estimated how much of our emission is being captured by the forest cover," he said.

About 65 million hectares, or 20 percent of India's land, is under forest cover. Ramesh said the cover would be extended by another six million hectares over the next six years.

Carbon credit biz feels meltdown heat
24 Oct 2008, 0147 hrs IST, Nitin Sethi, TNN


NEW DELHI: With developed economies staring at a recession, talks of the global financial meltdown forcing climate change negotiations into a free Carbon credit business fells heat Collateral Damageze have gained ground.

The collateral damage from the financial contagion closest home could be to India’s carbon trade that has already locked in investments generating 31 million carbon credits annually up to 2012. Other projects worth 439 million credits that are in the pipeline could now come under the cloud.

The negotiations, meant to hammer out new targets for rich countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions after 2012 (although the rich nations want the developing ones to cut as well), could suffer a double whammy of a sharp decline in oil prices and the global financial bust.

Besides the carbon market taking a hit in India the entire move towards renewable energy could also suffer with the price of the alternative — oil — now crashing back to the US $60-70 a barrel band.

Initial signs that the deal, to be signed under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change by 2009, could fall into a black hole came with a recent embarrassment for EU. The host nation for the next meeting of 180 plus countries in December 2008, Poland has revolted against EU’s climate change proposals agreed to earlier.

“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

ndia demands change in the definition of forest
24 Feb 2008, 1430 hrs IST,PTI

NEW DELHI: India has asked the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Executive Board, set up under the Kyoto Protocol, to change the definition of "forest" for the country so as to encourage small farmers to take up the projects in the forestry sector.

As per current definition of a "forest", only that project can be qualified for the CDM provided it is grown within the 30 per cent crown density in an area of 0.05 hectares with tree height of five metres.

"Now we have requested the concerned body to relax the definition for forests making it 15 per cent crown density with two metres height for trees, with the land area remaining at 0.05 hectares," R K Sethi, Chairman of the CDM Executive Board said.

"The change in definition is being sought given that small communities and farmers are not able to take up afforestation and take the benefits of growing carbon credits market," he said.

India is a global leader in CDM projects but none is from the forestry sector, Sethi pointed.

The new norms if approved would help the local farmers to grow dwarf varieties of tree alongside the seasonal crops - ensuring that they do not have to give away their agricultural income.

"The small varieties of trees would take less time and earn carbon credits fast," he said.

India, China to work on `carbon sinks`
Aasha Khosa / New Delhi March 09, 2008
Having pushed the idea that countries should be compensated for conservation of forests at the UN convention on climate change at Bali, India is once again in a leading role to make this happen.

New Delhi has invited China, that had supported India’s idea vociferously, and all other developing nations to a two-day meet where scientists and policy makers are discussing ways to quantify ‘carbon sinks’ — which in the layman’s terms means the amounts of harmful green house gases (GHG) that a particular forest has guzzled up and thereby helped climate change mitigation.

The international workshop on “developing methodology for assessment of enhancement of forest carbon stocks due to conservation, sustainable management of forests and increase in forest cover” organised by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, saw scientists from China, Bhutan Sri Lanka, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Thailand and Papua New Guinea converge at New Delhi.

Brazil, which supports a variation of the same idea on compensating forest cover gave the conference a miss. So did Indonesia, which has sizable stocks of forests.

Jagdish Kishwan, director general, ICFRE, said the meeting would aim at converging all available technologies to adopt a common approach to quantify carbon sinks.

Says Kishwan, who was present at Bali: A study by the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science has reported that India would increase its carbon stocks from forests to 9.75 billion tonnes in 2030 from the present level of 8.79 billion tonnes.

The figures are an approximate assessment of the carbon worth of the forests in India. The government wants to identify a methodology acceptable to the world to measure the carbon stocks available in the forests.

The UN Inter-government Panel on Climate Change has in place a regime of compensation for reduction of GHG emissions by companies in the developed countries. They can buy ‘carbon credits’ from the companies of developing countries in case they are unable to meet their targets.

India and China are claiming to have recorded an increase in their green cover and want a similar regime for compensating forest cover.

The scientists at the meet said while the modern satellite-based and remote sensing techniques were helpful and affordable, the cost of hiring experts and data analysts was likely to grow.

Jiang Chungian, head of the Research Institute of Chinese Forestry, Beijing, said China and India would continue to remain partners in their common strategy at the global conference on climate change.

Developing countries call for funds to increase forest cover
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Monday , March 10, 2008 at 0022 hrs

New Delhi, Mar 9A group of developing countries has called for financial incentives for increase in forest cover, conservation and sustainable management with a view to combat climate change.

Taking the cue from the Bali declaration on the pay-and-preserve scheme for reducing emissions from reducing deforestation in developing countries (REDD), the two-day international workshop organised by Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) which concluded in Delhi last Saturday called for financial assistance for maintenance and stabilisation of forest resources as well as for capacity building. ICFRE is under the administrative control of the Union ministry of environment and forests.

It went a step ahead of REDD in demanding equal incentives for increase in forest cover and sustainable management and conservation of forests

The recommendations of the workshop called for compensation for reducing deforestation, conservation and sustainable management of forests. Countries should also demonstrate enhancement of carbon stock to meet the objectives of UNFCCC, it said.

As maintenance, stabilization and conservation of forest resources involve opportunity cost, the developing countries require financial assistance and incentives, the recommendations said and also called for same basket of funds for increase in forest cover and reduced deforestation and degradation as well. As similar enhancement of carbon stock imply similar value and as eco-system services have additional value, the rate of incentives should be the same for one unit of carbon saved through reduced deforestation and degradation and one unit of carbon added through conservation of forests. Evaluation of baseline carbon stock should be considered including one time payment at reduced rates, the workshop resolved.

The international workshop was organized to discuss the possible methodological approaches and modalities for assessing positive increment in forest carbon stocks due to increase in forest cover, conservation and sustainable management of forests. The workshop had participations from forest departments and forestry institutes of China, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, Malaysia and UK apart from India.

The sole representative from Annex-1 (industrial) countries, Jim Penman of UK Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), however, opposed certain parts of the resolutions relating to financing incentives. He suggested that the conclusions of the workshop should not be termed as “resolutions” and it should be better termed as a “views expressed by different participants.” On capacity building, the workshop called for the need to develop expertise in modern technological tools to assess forest carbon pools and changes therein, financial assistance for capacity building in developing countries and sharing of facilities and resources for capacity building among developing countries.

On technological issues, the workshop suggested a common methodology for assessment of changes in forest carbon stocks, national level accounting mechanism and national reference emissions level linked to country specific baseline year or period. It also suggested remote sensing combined with field inventory as an important and cost effective toll in assessing and verifying forest carbon stocks. A blue print for national forest carbon estimation should be formulated for developing countries.

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

Markets can save forests

Editorial

Nature 452, 127-128 (13 March 2008) | doi:10.1038/452127b; Published online 12 March 2008

Markets can save forests

Top of page

Abstract

With the right infrastructure, the forces threatening to destroy the world's trees could be their salvation.

Trees are worth more dead than alive on the international market — a stark economic fact that has undermined countless programmes to protect rainforests over the years. It is a lesson that should not be forgotten as the international community explores ways to reduce global-warming emissions from deforestation. Conventional programmes involving incentives, laws and enforcement may prove useful, or even necessary — as highlighted by Brazil's approach to the issue (see page 134) — but to solve the problem completely, the international community will need to design a better market that recognizes the value of standing trees, forests and the less tangible services they provide. Integrating deforestation into international carbon markets, the most notable of which is the European emission-trading scheme, is a good place to start.

In this context, the European Commission's recent proposal to bar deforestation credits from the next phase of trading is a disappointment. The commission's fear is that cheap deforestation credits will suddenly soak up all of the money for reducing emissions (see Nature 452, 8–9; 2008). If ending deforestation quickly is indeed the cheapest way of reducing emissions, it is not clear why this should be a problem. But in truth, a great deal has to be accomplished before any market scheme will be viable.

In recent years, for example, scientists have greatly improved their models for estimating the most critical number for deforestation: the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere when a given plot of land is razed. This information can now be extracted fairly accurately from satellite images. But to do that consistently, on a global scale, rainforest nations will need to train people and develop a standing infrastructure for monitoring. This will not be cheap — and is another area in which conventional government-run programmes might be needed. The scientific community can play a direct role as well, by helping to get these programmes up and running.

Global warming has given the world the opportunity to build a more comprehensive and inclusive economic model.

Access to information will be critical. A few satellites can cover the entire globe, but there needs to be a system in place to ensure their images are readily available to everyone who needs them. Brazil has set an important precedent by making its Earth-observation data available, and the rest of the world should follow suit. This is more than a matter of common courtesy. It will foster the kinds of checks and balances and independent analysis that must necessarily underpin a viable carbon market.

And the international community needs to start thinking about the next step: how to encourage good forest stewardship. As it stands, nations such as India and Costa Rica are in the odd position of receiving little or no benefit from a market in carbon credits precisely because they have been able to control deforestation. And if illegal deforestation were to come to a halt, then those nations benefiting from the carbon market would see that source of income dry up, creating the same pressures that caused the problem in the first place.

True, dealing with standing forests will be tricky; no one wants to create a permanent welfare programme for the tropics. Nevertheless it is vital that the issue is tackled. This is essentially what the delegates agreed to do last December at the United Nations climate-change conference in Bali, and their decision was a wise one. As long as the international community is playing with the architecture of a carbon economy, it should explore new and creative ways to build in 'ecosystem services' such as biodiversity and coastal protection. Bear in mind that the alternative to putting an economic value on these intangibles is implicitly to set their value at zero.

One of the oddly positive effects of global warming is that it has given the world the opportunity to build a more comprehensive and inclusive economic model by forcing all of us to grapple with our impact on the natural environment. We are entering a phase in which new ideas can be developed, tested, refined and rejected as necessary. If we find just one that can beat the conventional economic measure of gross domestic product, and can quantify some of the basic services provided by rainforests and other natural ecosystems, it will more than pay for itself.

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

India urges rich to take lead in climate fight

Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:21am EST

By Sugita Katyal

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - India urged rich countries on Wednesday to take the lead in cutting greenhouse gases, saying it cannot accept binding targets in any U.N. deal on combating climate change because of its economic needs.

India, with more than a billion people, is the world's fourth largest emitter behind the United States, China and Russia and is projected to account for a rising share of global carbon emissions as it burns more fuel to try to end poverty.

Despite pressure from industrialized nations and environmental groups to curb emissions, India is not required under the Kyoto Protocol to curb emissions, said to be rising annually by 2-3 percent.

"It is up to the developed world to assist developing countries, including India. We are not ripe enough to make any binding commitments. We are a developing country," N.N. Meena, junior environment minister, said at U.N. climate talks in Bali.

The 190-nation climate change talks in Indonesia's resort island of Bali are aimed at agreeing to start two years of talks to agree a new treaty to succeed Kyoto and involve all nations in a fight against global warming from 2013.

Poor nations want rich countries to do more before they agree and negotiators are working hard on a formula to draw in the developing world, particularly India and China.

"We are concerned at the attempts to create a new framework, which may result in the dilution of specific and timebound commitments on emission reductions by developed countries. This should not be allowed to happen," India's science and technology minister, Kapil Sibal, said in Bali.

"Bali needs to send out strong messages. Without doubt the most important one should be that the negotiations under the Kyoto Protocol for quantified, time bound and substantial greenhouse gas reductions by developed countries post-2012 will be completed by 2009."

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:

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.

No mandatory provisions exist for companies to reveal carbon footprint: Ministry

Date: December 06, 2007 Source: Mumbai (PIB)

A report ranking the National Thermal Power Corporation(NTPC) as the third most polluting power has not been validated or authenticated by the power companies, according to the Indian government. This report had been compiled by Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA), a US based database and financed by Confronting Climate Change Initiatives at the Center for Global Development, a think tank located in Washington DC.

Further, the Indian government has added that in terms of the carbon intensity as such, i.e. the quantity of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of electricity produced, NTPC ranks 2480 in the CARMA database. Realizing the rapid growth in the power sector, the Government is undertaking the following activities through NTPC for reduction of carbon dioxide emissions:

Massive afforestation for carbon sink, Participating in the Clean Development Mechanism of Kyoto Protocol, Adopting super critical technology in its upcoming power projects, Diversifying into hydro sector power projects and renewable energy sources and Undertaking Renovation and Modernization (R&M) of old power plants for improving efficiency.

Several projects on multidisciplinary aspects of Climate Change have been completed and funded by the Government of India's Global Environment Facility (GEF) and also under its bilateral cooperation. India has received an indicative allocation of $ 74.9 millions to fund climate change projects (2006-2010) in the country through the GEF, which is the multilateral financial mechanism. India has already set up an Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of Principal Scientific Adviser to Government of India on impacts of Climate Change to identify the impacts of anthropogenic Climate Change on India and to identify the measures to tackle the vulnerability to anthropogenic Climate Change impacts. The composition of the Expert Committee includes eminent scientists and representatives of various Ministries and Departments concerned.

The pollution margins (limits) for various categories of industries are notified under Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The limits have also been prescribed by the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) / Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 while granting consent to industrial units to establish / operate. The pollution margins (limits) are applicable to all the specified categories of industries based on types of industries and its location.

According to the Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Namo Narain Meena, there is no mandatory provision under the environmental legislations, such as, Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, for an industry to reveal its carbon foot print (carbon emission) details.

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

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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.

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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.

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