GMO Carbon in the News week 29 by Green Market Opportunities

CARBON IN THE NEWS

WEEK 29 2012

Average Chinese person's carbon footprint now equals European's

The average Chinese person's carbon footprint is now almost on a par with the average European's, figures released on Wednesday reveal. China became the largest national emitter of CO2 in 2006, though its emissions per person have always been lower than those in developed countries such as Europe. But today's report, which only covers emissions from energy, by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the European commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) show that per capita emissions in China increased by 9% in 2011 to reach 7.2 tonnes per person, only a fraction lower than the EU average of 7.5 tonnes. The figure for the US is still much higher – at 17.3 tonnes – though total Chinese CO2 emissions are now around 80% higher than those of America. This widening gap reflects a 9% increase in total emissions in China in 2011, driven mainly by rising coal use, compared with a 2% decline in the US. To read this article in full click here

What is a carbon price and why do we need one?

A carbon price is a cost applied to carbon pollution to encourage polluters to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas they emit into the atmosphere. Economists widely agree that introducing a carbon price is the single most effective way for countries to reduce their emissions. Climate change is considered a market failure by economists, because it imposes huge costs and risks on future generations who will suffer the consequences of climate change, without these costs and risks normally being reflected in market prices. To overcome this market failure, they argue, we need to internalise the costs of future environmental damage by putting a price on the thing that causes it – namely carbon emissions. A carbon price not only has the effect of encouraging lower-carbon behaviour (eg using a bike rather than driving a car), but also raises money that can be used in part to finance a clean-up of "dirty" activities (eg investment in research into fuel cells to help cars pollute less). To read this article in full click here

BP boosts image with Olympics, Target Neutral carbon offsetting program

If you're beleaguered oil giant BP and you need to refurbish your image, what better platform than the Olympic Games? The latest press release concerning their involvement in the games concerns a carbon-offsetting scheme. On Friday, BP said in a statement that 200,000 ticket holders have signed up for what it calls its Target Neutral London 2012 Programme. According to the company, Target Neutral has corralled Olympic visitors and athletes to support offsetting his or her carbon footprint. BP Target Neutral is offering to offset the carbon footprint of all ticketed spectators attending both the Olympic and Paralympic Games for free. Carbon offsetting means reducing emissions of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gases in order to allow for or to offset an emission made elsewhere. To read this article in full click here

Sainsbury’s renewable energy plans

Sainsbury’s announced today it will power 100 of its stores with underground renewable heat as part of its efforts to cut carbon emissions by 2020. The supermarket chain signed agreements with E.ON and Geothermal International, in which both companies will install geothermal heat pump technology at the stores to provide energy efficient heating, hot water and cooling. It claims this will reduce each stores’ carbon emissions and energy consumption by up to 30% each. The scheme is part of Sainsbury’s 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan renewables commitment, which includes reducing its carbon emissions by 30% and delivering a fully renewable heat strategy for its supermarkets within the next two decades. The company also aims to deliver up to 100MW of renewable energy sources in its stores by 2016. Neil Sachdev, Sainsbury’s Property Director said: “The roll out of this technology with our partners is an important milestone in our renewables commitment. It supports job creation in the renewable energy sector and our goal to reduce our absolute operational carbon emissions by 2020, as well as delivering energy cost savings for our business. To read this article in full click here

Global CO2 emissions continue to go up, up, up

Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) – the main cause of global warming – increased by 3% last year, reaching an all-time high of 34 billion tonnes in 2011. In China, the world’s most populous country, average emissions of CO₂ increased by 9% to 7.2 tonnes per capita. China is now within the range of 6 to 19 tonnes per capita emissions of the major industrialised countries. In the European Union, CO₂ emissions dropped by 3% to 7.5 tonnes per capita. The United States remain one of the largest emitters of CO₂, with 17.3 tones per capita, despite a decline due to the recession in 2008-2009, high oil prices and an increased share of natural gas. These are the main findings of the annual report ‘Trends in global CO₂ emissions’, released today by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL). To read this article in full click here

Mandatory greenhouse gas reporting proposed for quoted companies

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is to introduce mandatory green house gas (GHG) reporting for quoted companies from April 2013. It will be part of directors’ reports, which in turn form part of companies’ annual reports. The announcement came as Defra published a summary of responses to its consultation on the mandatory reporting of companies’ GHG emissions. Although voluntary reporting has been adopted by many companies for some time, the Impact Assessment accompanying the proposal stated that ‘government intervention can provide for a level of transparency and consistency, as is already the case for company financial information, which is not being achieved by individual private initiatives’. It was also considered that a company’s exposure to climate change related risks ‘is essential information for investors who wish to assess medium to long-term risks’. Defra proposes further consultation on draft regulations in due course. In addition, consideration will be given in 2016 to mandatory GHG reporting being extended to all large companies. To read this article in full click here

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