Daily Archives: April 8, 2010

Today’s Gallup Poll

Posted on by
Reply

Blog readers might be interested to see the Gallup poll results released today showing that fewer people felt the environment was an “extremely important” or “very important” issue than any of the six other issues raised.  Among Republicans, only 16% said “the environment, including global warming” was “extremely important,” while 34% of Democrats ranked the issue as “extremely important.”  Although that discrepancy may not be surprising, the poll showed that independents are much closer to Republicans than Democrats on this issue — only 18% stated it was “extremely important.”  These numbers probably don’t bode well for climate legislation, particularly in an election year.

New Carbon Market Data on the EU-ETS

Posted on by
2

Carbon Market Data, a European consulting company, issued a data summary this week of the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) 2009 verified emissions reports. The five page report would be an excellent reading for a class on the EU-ETS, as well as a broader discussion of the effectiveness of cap and trade program to drive down emissions.

Among the key take-aways from the report:

  1. EU-ETS installations were “long” (i.e. their GHG emissions were below their allocated carbon allowances) by 57 million tons in 2009. Put another way, EU-ETS regulated installations emitted 3.3% less carbon dioxide than the number of allowances they received for free.
    1. Only three countries allocated less free allowances to their installations than they emitted: Germany (40 Mt), United Kingdom (16 Mt) and Denmark (1.5 Mt). Greece (0.4 Mt) and Slovenia (-0.1 Mt) were nearly at par.
  2. Unfortunately, most of the reductions in emissions appear to be attributable to the global recession;
  3. Of the 15 largest carbon dioxide emitting installations under the EU-ETS, 14 are power plants.

The latest figures from the EU-ETS could lead to a lively discussion on both the viability of the scheme, and more broadly cap and trade programs. Among the key questions:

  1. Given the fact that the drop in emissions has resulted in carbon allowance prices plummeting from more than 30 euros in 2008 to about 12 euros currently, can the EU-ETS serve as a driver for meaningful future reductions in emissions, especially in light of the fact that there are an estimated 142 million surplus permits currently in the system, many of which will be banked by regulated entities to use in future commitment periods.
  2. Does the surplus of permits on the EU-ETS market argue in favor of significantly strengthening requisite cuts in third phase of the EU-ETS? Is that a realistic political strategy in the midst of a recession?
  3. What other strategies should policymakers be looking at beyond cap and trade? For example, would a carbon tax fair better in the current environment? More of an emphasis on policies to drive technological innovation and adoption?

Atmospheric GHG Concentrations Continue to Increase

Posted on by
Reply

CO2 levels rise despite recession

Carbon News and Info

Tuesday, 16 March 2010

The average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continued to rise over the past year, despite worldwide recession slowing industrial emissions of the main greenhouse gas. Latest measurements from Norway’s Zeppelin station on the Arctic island chain of Svalbard show the median CO2 concentration reading in 2010 rising to 393.71 parts per million (ppm), up from 393.17ppm a year ago.

While this increase is less than the average increase in recent years it shows that in a year where industrial production in many developed economies was well below par, global CO2 concentrations still rose. The International Energy Agency forecast that CO2 emissions would fall 2.6 per cent last year.

It’s not clear whether the increase is due to unforeseen human-related emissions or natural factors – some of which are responsible for seasonal variations in CO2 levels each year anyway. Johan Stroem, of the Norwegian Polar Institute, told Reuters that looking back at the last 30 years of data suggest that CO2 concentrations are rising over time at an accelerating rate.

At the other end of the world, concentrations at the Cape Grim station in Tasmania, Australia, measured by the country’s national science agency, CSIRO, reached 386 ppm in 2009 following steady annual increases since 1975. In a report on climate change impacts in Australia released this week, the agency said this level is well above the natural range of 170 to 300 ppm that has existed in the atmosphere for at least the past 800,000 years.

The report, State of the Climate, compiled with the country’s Bureau of Meteorology, also finds Australia’s average temperature has risen 0.7 degrees Celsius in the last 50 years. Megan Clark, chief executive of the CSIRO, has used the report to defend climate science’s overarching assertion that there is an unquestionable association between humans and climate change.