By Fernando Nuno / Published on Wed, 2010-02-10 11:08
Binu ParthanBinu Parthan, Deputy Director General of our partner The Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) declared that “REEEP believes that the project-by-project determination of additionality in the current CDM procedures for clean energy technologies does not have the intended effect. REEEP calls on those responsible to categorise all renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies as additional, i.e. to pre-determine additionality at the technology level.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Wed, 2009-07-29 15:01
One quarter of the world's population (1.6 billion people) do not have access to electricity in their homes. Over 80% of these people live in rural areas of the developing world, especially in peripheral urban and isolated rural areas. In Sub Saharan Africa, only 8% of the rural population has access to electricity. The lack of electricity deprives people of basic necessities such as lighting and communication, but also hampers productivity and economic development in these areas. Activities are limited to daylight hours.
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By HDK / Published on Thu, 2009-06-25 08:00
Growing concern about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change are profoundly altering the way utilities, businesses and governments plan for the future. Beside direct policy and stimulation, one of the mechanisms to enable change towards a lower climate impact is by trading carbon credits in a capped emissions trading scheme. Because of a (planned) shortage of credits, the credits become scarce in an economic sense, and a price for the credits is created. In this way, the idea is that the emission reductions will be made there where the cost is lowest.
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By Fernando Nuno / Published on Tue, 2009-05-19 13:16
This webinar will review the various mechanisms agreed in the Kyoto Protocol with a particular focus on Clean Development Mechanism. The value at each stage of the CDM project will be explained, and market prices for carbon credits will be analysed.
In order to illustrate this type of project, real case studies carried out by Deuman will be discussed. Voluntary carbon credits will also be analysed.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Mon, 2007-12-03 08:00
Most of the Clean Development Mechanism, CDM, Projects are geared towards renewable energy supply in spite of the fact that energy efficiency improvements would have been cheaper and delivered more GHG-reductions. These single-sided operations tend to worsen the situation if the new supply only feeds into wasteful in-efficient demand. The good money is lost because the waste remains. Or in other words, the ship is still leaking even if high quality pumps are pumping water out of the hull.
In a new report from the World Bank it is argued, and shown how, energy efficiency project can be a major part of the CDM instead of a minor as it is today
Two strands of criticism
The present CDM regime has recently been constructively criticised from two perspectives. Both of them seem to miss the issue that energy efficiency and renewable fuels have to be combined to make a system sustainable.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Mon, 2007-09-03 07:00
The flexible mechanism known as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has a built-in mechanism for failure. It systematically favours energy-supply over efficiency improvements. Small luck that it is renewable supply. Remember the recent words from the CEO of Shell: "What is the point of producing ever more energy if we continue to waste most of it"?
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Fri, 2007-08-17 07:30
Kyoto and Kyoto Mechanisms (KMs)
The Kyoto protocol, signed in 1997, included three flexible mechanisms to lower the overall cost of implementation: Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Joint Implementation (JI), and Emission Trading (ET). They are also called ‘the Kyoto Mechanisms’ (KMs). KMs allow countries to reach their domestic Kyoto target by taking actions abroad, in countries where the cost of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is lower. The protocol stipulates that this should only be ‘supplemental to domestic action’, but it does not quantify this statement.
So let’s take a look at how European countries plan to use these KMs to reach their 2012 emission targets.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Fri, 2007-05-04 06:30
Now that prices are less than one € per ton, some are saying the ETS has collapsed. It is, however, too early to tell since there will be a new period beginning 2008 ending 2012 and the World Bank predicts a rise to 12€ per tonne in its annual report on Carbon Markets.
The project-based market is growing fast with a doubling to US$ 5 Billion in 2006, which is a doubling in one year. It is in the shadow of this market that the "Carbon Cowboys" operate.
The higher prices are necessary to boost the energy efficiency improvements that is, after all, the most necessary and valuable instrument to reduce the emissions. The IPCC report that was delivered today should be very explicit on just energy efficiency technologies and measures.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Thu, 2007-05-03 21:18
A quick overview of major messages from Carbon Expo, the Global Carbon Market Fair & Conference:
The carbon market is booming. Growth is exponential. Its main driver is the EU-ETS. Primarily the private sector is buying (75% of the market). Over 50% of CER supply comes from China. The share of HFC's and N2O is decreasing, fortunately, as this project opportunity has been exhausted. The share of clean energy in CER trading is increasing (now 25%).
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Fri, 2006-10-13 15:00
This is concept paper open for review and comment. Comments to the report can be added on-site, or by e-mail.
Summary
Financial Incentives is the most popular measure suggested in policies to promote a change in the marketplace. The idea is that when actors are presented a sufficient profit for a change, they will act since they are expected to act rationally in their own economical interest. If necessary, governments have to provide additional incentives to facilitate the action. Governments have to buy down the difference in cost.
The biggest financial incentive is however dormant in the energy use in all sectors today. There are huge economical potentials reported in all sectors, potentials that are also continuously growing, but still not realised for a variety of reasons. For governments to further add financial resources to buy these already “free lunches” would be economically impossible. The barriers may be insurmountable even if reduced or eliminated, since they are the barriers of minds and behaviour rather than barriers of economics and awareness. But we are not doomed to be inefficient.
To release the dormant incentives there is a case for “aggressive and persistent assistance” to enable actors to make the change.
- Governments need to organise themselves for delivery of energy efficiency and not only indicate possibilities and leave the rest to wishful thinking,
- Households need much more hands-on aid to find products and put them in place,
- Industry and commercial sector business need to put the energy efficiency options in a relevant perspective in a business strategy that affects their business development and survival. Opposed to being just single projects to fix a problem.
- Public sector needs to form alliances and organise support for their own purposes, and for others to make use of. These will strengthen supply of better goods and develop routines and organisation for management
- Utilities and manufacturers need to issue “detain orders” for obsolete equipment to be scrapped and replaced.
- Supply side of energy efficiency industry that is scattered in many sectors today need to form trade ally groups as “energy efficiency business associations”
- New allies, such as insurance companies and the financial sector has to recruited since sustainable energy solutions has an impact on their risk management
To underpin and further found this release of dormant incentives there is still a need for government actions to incentivise (and sweeten) options. GHG-abatement should not be an end-of-pipe issue as it is today when the emitters are give permissions to emit. It should rather be an up-stream issue since it is the demand that motivates the supply that causes the emissions. This could be made with privatising the Carbon-accounts, establishing Offset funds and bundling CDM-efficiency projects and funding the benefits from Carbon Trading. The basic rule should be that payment for carbon-emissions should be accumulated in such a way that it funds a reduction in future emissions.
Finally there is a case to foster new technologies, to enable their entry to the market and to fuel the industrial learning-process. Such technology might be more expensive in the beginning and the learning investments need to be paid. They will result in future profit.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Thu, 2006-07-27 05:30
Or just a drop in the ocean?
According to an estimate by the United Nation’s Climate Change Secretariat, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), called into being in the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, will have generated a total of more than one billion tons of CO2 reductions by the end of 2012. This represents ‘the annual emissions of Spain and the United Kingdom combined’. That may sound like a lot, but it calls for two remarks. First, cumulative figures are combined with annual figures. Second, in the context of global climate change, it is still a small figure.
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By HDK / Published on Fri, 2005-10-07 13:36
Three Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects have submitted "requests for issuance" of carbon credits – meaning that the first such Kyoto Protocol carbon credits could be issued within weeks. The Rio Blanco and La Esperanza small hydro projects will have respectively created 7,304 and 2,210 Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) – each representing one tonne of carbon dioxide.
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