As if additionality and verification weren’t difficult enough, the recycling of carbon offsets looks like it will further shake up the market for secondary carbon offsets.

When Hungary announced on Friday it had sold UN-approved carbon offsets that had already been counted in the EU emissions trading system, it insisted they had been sold to a party not covered by the EU ETS, and pointed out that it would be illegal for the offsets to be re-submitted under the EU’s system.

However some of those certified emissions reductions (CERs) did find their way onto secondary markets over the Bluenext exchange, which prompted Bluenext and other exchanges to suspend spot and futures trades of the credits.

It’s all likely to emphasise a preference for over-the-counter trades in CERs.

Continue reading: “Hungary’s used carbon offset sale accelerates market fragmentation”

Tags: Copenhagen
Posted in Emissions, Markets | Permalink

Take your Cancun potshots here

March 18, 2010 8:00 am by Kate Mackenzie

Just in case the pessimism from Yvo de Boer and Connie Hedegaard over the post-Copenhagen meeting in Cancun later this year wasn’t enough…

It sounds as though government officials and pundits were, at a Wednesday clean energy conference in London, lining up to talk down the likelihood of an international climate change agreement being struck this year.

From Bloomberg:

“We will not likely have in Cancun a comprehensive legal agreement,” Jos Delbeke, director-general of climate action for the European Commission [...]

And from Japan, a warning that expectations may have been too high for Copenhagen – and that that’s a mistake which shouldn’t be repeated:

“We shouldn’t raise too high the expectations for Cancun,” said Shimada, principal international negotiator at the Japanese Ministry of the Environment.

Continue reading: “Take your Cancun potshots here”

Tags: Copenhagen
Posted in Emissions | Permalink

India gets competitive with China on snapping up oil assets

March 18, 2010 7:30 am by Kate Mackenzie

Source: IEA World Energy Outlook 2009

The west may be paying little heed to China’s grab for assets, including crude oil and gas, but India certainly is – in fact, it is considering competing more directly with China on securing more resources.

Chinese companies have made numerous oil and gas purchases in the past year alone, The most recent example is Cnooc’s $3.1bn investment in Argentina’s Bridas. There have also been bilateral loans-for-oil agreements, such as a $10bn deal with Brazil last May.

India’s state-controlled oil companies have made plenty of overseas investments in recent years, as ONGC Videsh’s assets lists show.

But ONGC’s chairman, R S Sharma, wants a more explicit efforts from the government, in the form of a sovereign wealth fund, and as the FT reports, such a move looks possible:

Continue reading: “India gets competitive with China on snapping up oil assets”

Posted in Markets, Oil, Politics | Permalink