Carbon Crooks Swapped Stolen Credits for $38 Million in Cash Share

Author: Steve Zwick

Publication Date: January 21, 2011

Cyberthieves who hacked the Czech carbon registry on Tuesday likely sold the credits as soon as they grabbed them – keeping the cash and letting the credits bounce around the system. If so, it was a sophisticated scheme that required intimate knowledge of different registries. Participants are now bracing for a fight over who will bear the loss.

A competent thief dumps his loot long before the rightful owner knows its gone – and the cybercriminals who hacked the Czech Republic's carbon-credit registry on Tuesday are nothing if not competent.

Nikos Tornikidis can attest to that. He works for Czech environmental asset management group Blackstone Global Ventures, which was the first company to notify others that the state registry had been breached earlier this week.

Registries are, in a sense, the central banks of environmental markets. They make sure that every credit represents an environmental benefit, and they do that in part by assigning serial numbers that buyers can use to see where the credits came from. Different regimes recognize different types of credits, even within the European Union, and that makes it nearly impossible to forge a carbon credit, or to sell one outside the system.

It doesn't, however, prevent the kind of breach banks have been guarding against for centuries.

Fragmented System
Each country in the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has its own registry under an ungainly – and controversial – arrangement that eventually required the creation of 27 different registries by 27 different development teams in a complex, fragmented system responsible for making sure that credits aren't double-counted or lost.

“We were checking our inventory around 8am Wednesday morning,” says Tornikidis. “That's when we found that our account was empty and the details of our account had been changed.”

More than 450,000 credits valued at € 7 million euros ($9.4 million) were gone, so Tornikidis contacted the national registry to make sure the stolen credits weren't being passed around the system. In the case of the Czech Republic, the registry was administered by government-owned state energy-trading platform OTE.

“I didn't realize it until I read it on Bloomberg, but OTE has to trawl through their whole book by hand to get the serial numbers,” he says. “We didn't get the numbers until the end of the day, and we posted them on our web site as soon as we could, but by then it was too late.”

The credits, it turns out, had already been passed on to an account in the Estonian registry.

“They had been passed on and sold around mid-day on Tuesday,” says Tornikidis. “It was right around the time of the bomb scare.”


The Execution
The bomb scare had been the talk of downtown Prague. It was phoned into the building that houses OTE shortly before 11am on Tuesday.

Police speculate that the bomb scare provided a diversion so that employees wouldn't see phantom cursors moving across unattended screens or other telltale signs of a breach.

While waiting for the serial numbers, Tornikidis and his brokers sent a notice to all participants they knew letting them know that the registry had been breached.

OTE began looking into its books and realized that Blackstone wasn't alone -- more than two million credits were missing, all from accounts ending in 121 -- the designation given to brokers and other non-industrial entities.

What the Hackers Knew
To pull off the heist, the hackers had to know their target well. They certainly knew their way around OTE, which was in the process of installing a security system that would have required all traders enter a second password that is generated randomly and delivered to their mobile phones. That system was set to be installed this week -- indicating that the hackers knew their target intimately, and timed their heist accordingly.

The timing also worked on the market front: the next surrendering of allowances doesn't happen until April, so companies with offsets on deposit with OTE might be lax about checking their inventories right about now.

Formerly known as Operátor trhu s elektinou (“the Electricity Market Operator”), OTE is a small operation with net assets of just 1.6 billion Czech krona ($88 million) at the end of 2009, according to its most recent annual report. What's more, it operates the registry as a separate, unregulated – and even smaller – entity, with "tangible assets" of just SK 27,390,000 ($1,518,760).

“This all raises some huge issues,” says one local broker. “For one, you have this small entity being responsible for huge assets, and now you can expect this big fight over who pays. Second, you have the question of how these criminals got access to the carbon markets.”

He suspects someone somewhere violated basic “know your client” (KYC) rules, which is a major regulatory no-no.

“We quite often have people applying for accounts, and we’re like, ‘You’re kidding me, there is no way you are a real trader,’” he says. “KYC is basic due diligence – we're not allowed to open accounts if we have the slightest suspicion that something funny is going on – and someone dropped the ball.”

Unappreciated Value
The fragmented scheme is on its way out, thanks to the so-called “Registry Regulation,” which the European Commission issued last October. Among other things, the Directive called for a more consolidated Union Registry System by the start of 2012.

It also called for the immediate implementation of simple security measures that European Commission spokeswoman Maria Kokkonen says would have cost less than $10,000 per country to implement, but would have saved tens of millions of dollars – unless the money stolen on Tuesday is recovered.

Because of its size, OTE was one of 14 EU registries (out of 27 total) that hadn't yet implemented the upgrades.

“All of this highlights the fact that we've created carbon credits with monetary value,” says one local broker. “Carbon credits are like bearer bonds in many ways, or like trading gold.”

But while bearer bonds were designed to ensure economic value, carbon credits were designed to ensure environmental value.

“Environmental value is the hard part,” he says. “Now they just have to get the easy part – they have to make sure they give them to somebody who has more security than a master lock.”


Steve Zwick is Managing Editor of Ecosystem Marketplace. He can be reached at SZwick@ecosystemmarketplace.com

EUAs continue rise as CERs stall

Published: 06 Jan 2011 18:38 CET Last updated: 06 Jan 2011 18:43 CET

EUAs fell from a 3-week high late on Thursday, but still rose nearly 1 per cent as CERs stagnated.

The ICE ECX December 2011 EUA contract ended at €14.66 on Thursday, down from a session high of €14.74 but still up 13 cents or 0.9 per cent from Wednesday’s settlement price.

The benchmark futures hit new high shortly after 1630 GMT before sliding in the final 30 minutes of trade.

“It was very quiet today ... mostly screen trades done so difficult to say who was buying,” said one trader.

Liquidity on the contract was somewhat poor at 7.1 million units traded, with a total 11.3 million transacted across all vintages on the main six electronic bourses.

Traders said earlier that EUA prices were trailing German power and coal prices higher.

German 2012 baseload power trading on EEX gained €1 to €53.04/MWh, while API2 coal prices for 2012 delivery recovered some of the losses incurred on Wednesday, gaining 2.8 per cent to near $119.70 a tonne.

Open interest on the ICE ECX December 2011 EUA contract rose by 1.15 million to 115.6 million EUAs on Wednesday, indicating some traders may be locking in long positions ahead of an anticipated rally.

“We’re bullish on EUAs but a bit bearish on spot CERs, as no one wants to buy them,” the trader added.

Rising CER supply weighed on prompt prices after the UN issued another 531,000 credits to ten projects on Thursday, bringing the week’s total to 2.63 million across 31 issuances.

The spot CER contract trading on Bluenext lost 16 cents or 1.4 per cent to €11.55, a 35-cent premium to the December 2011 futures, albeit on light volume of 23,000 units traded.

A sharp rise in CER issuances so far this year has caused the spot-December 2011 CER spread to narrow from its 2010 close of 45 cents.

The ICE ECX December 2011 futures contract lost 3 cents to end at €11.20 while the December 2012s rose 9 cents to €11.19.

“There are still more (CER) sellers than buyers ... (and) with the expected issuance this month, the (futures) curve’s backwardation could become notably less steep,” another trader said.


Requests for issuance for a further 47 million CERs are listed on the UNFCCC website for January which, if granted, would see this month smash the previous monthly issuance record of 24.7 million CERs set last November.

The spot EUA-CER spread was pegged at around €2.8, while the December 2011 differential rose to a new three-week high of nearly €3.5 and the 2012 spread approached €4.

CER futures are now down around 1.8 per cent so far in 2011, compared to a 2.9 per cent rise in EUA prices.

By Michael Szabo – Michael.szabo@pointcarbon.com
London

U.N. cuts pre-2012 Kyoto offset estimate by 3 percent

LONDON (Reuters) - A United Nations agency cut its forecast on Wednesday for pre-2012 Kyoto Protocol carbon offsets by 3 percent, estimating that only 981 million tonnes will come to market by the end of 2012.

Under Kyoto, efforts to cut greenhouse gases can be outsourced to emerging countries such as China and India through investment in clean energy projects registered under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) scheme.

CDM developers confident of post-2012 market - poll >>> Reuters

by David Fogarty David Fogarty – Mon Jun 28, 3:28 am ET

SINGAPORE Reuters – Nearly 70 percent of clean-energy project developers in India believe there will be a post-2012 successor to the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol climate pact with binding emissions targets, according to a poll.

And nearly 60 percent expect markets in the United States, Japan and Australia will accept tradeable carbon offsets from their projects, the poll by Emergent Ventures India (EVI) said.

EVI, a leading Indian clean energy project developer and advisory firm, polled 63 project developers in May on post-2012 market for offsets under the U.N.'s Clean Development Mechanism and prices for their offsets.

CDM, part of the Kyoto Protocol, rewards investors in projects that cut greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries.

Investors earn offsets called certified emissions reductions (CERs) used by governments or companies in rich nations to meet emissions reduction targets. India is the world's second largest source of CERs after China, and Europe is the top buyer.

The poll found that nearly 90 percent of respondents were very confident or reasonably confident that their CERs would have a market value after 2012, despite growing concerns over the shape or even existance of the CDM after 2012.

The Kyoto Protocol's first phase ends in 2012 and talks on a successor pact have bogged down.

The European Union has also said it might limit CERs sourced from some types of projects and from larger developing nations from 2013, the start of the bloc's tougher third phase of its emissions trading scheme.
UPBEAT
Indian project developers remain upbeat about the market, the poll found, despite the gloom that followed last December's climate talks in Copenhagen.

"The post-Copenhagen negative vibes about the carbon market has been somewhat offset by the recent appreciation of CER prices," EVI says in the poll.

CER futures traded on the European Climate Exchange hit a high of just over 24 euros in July 2008, plunged to 7.35 euros in early 2009 but have stabilised at around 12 to 13 euros over the past year.

Nearly 90 percent of respondents were certain that credits from renewable energy projects would be accepted into the EU's emissions trading scheme from 2013.

Just over 40 percent thought credits from projects that destroy industrial gases, such as HFC-23, might also be allowed, even though their acceptance in the EU's emissions market seems increasing uncertain.

India is primarily a market for CER spot contract trades, but forward contracts were becoming increasingly favoured for post-2012 CERs, EVI said.

"This is being done to hedge the risk that the post-Kyoto Protocol carbon market faces. This makes sense given the carbon market is young, volatile and 2013 onwards seems all the more uncertain," said analyst Zubin Sarkar, who conducted the survey.

Expectations of post-2012 CER prices, though, were modest.

"Considering time value of money and discounting factors, the price expectations for post-2012 CERs by the respondents were moderate with 83 percent expecting a nominal price below 20 euros," the poll found.

It also found that 37 percent of project developers thought now was the best time to sell CERs, while 35 percent felt towards the end of 2012 would be the right time.

Fires in Amazon Challenge Emission Reduction Program /// Science Daily

ScienceDaily (June 4, 2010) — Fire occurrence rates in the Amazon have increased in 59% of areas with reduced deforestation and risks cancelling part of the carbon savings achieved by UN measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation.
New research led by the University of Exeter, published on June 4, in Science, analysed satellite deforestation and fire data from the Brazilian Amazon to understand the influence of United Nation's REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) policy on fire patterns in Amazonia. The NERC (National Environment Research Council) funded research shows that fire incidences may increase even with a decrease in deforestation rates.

Amazonian farmers are prone to keeping agricultural land free of new growth by 'slash and burn' methods, usually on a three to five yearly cycle. The extra carbon emitted by the leakage of fires from farms into surrounding forests edges and forest fragments as well as deforestation of forest regrowth, which are not accounted by the Brazilian's deforestation monitoring system may therefore be partially negating carbon savings achieved through the UN REDD programme.

The research suggests that if sustainable fire-free land-management of deforested areas is not adopted in the UN-REDD programme, any carbon savings achieved by avoiding deforestation would be partially offset by increased emissions from fires.

The UN-REDD programme is a multi donor trust fund which provides appropriate revenue streams to the right people, making it worth their while to change their forest resources behaviour. The efficiency of the UN-REDD programme as a climate change mitigation strategy depends upon the stabilisation of deforestation and degradation of the world's largest rainforest, the Amazon.

Dr Luiz Aragão an Environmental Scientist at the School of Geography, University of Exeter said, 'Changes in fire frequency could jeopardise the benefits achieved through UN-REDD as trends in fires are the opposite to trends in deforestation. However despite UN-REDD's vital importance in this region, fire is currently neglected in the emerging UN framework.'

Naturally occurring fires are very rare in the Amazon. Fires are normally caused by humans who farm the land. Burning deforested areas on a three to five year rotational basis improves the nutrients in the soil keeping it fertile and at a level that can produce food. Predications that climate change will create a drier area across the Amazon adds to the concern, as it is a difficult to control the spread of fires in such vast areas. The best option is to stop fires from occurring in the first place.

Dr Aragao explained, 'We need to change the way Amazonian people use and manage their land so that they can do this without fire. They would need financial assistance for machinery, training and technical support to enable them to comply with implementation and maintenance of fire-free management of their land.'

He added, 'By changing land management practices in already deforested areas to fallow management and introducing more diversified and sustainable agricultural practices at a co-operative community level, it is possible to drastically reduce fires and carbon emissions. It would be expensive but it would protect the stability of Amazonian carbon stocks and diversity.'

World Bank Completes Sale of CERs with Morgan Stanley for the Adaptation Fund /// Business Wire

World Bank Completes Sale of CERs with Morgan Stanley for the Adaptation FundMay 7, 2010 1:27 PM

The World Bank as Trustee for the Adaptation Fund completed a sale of 600,000 tons of certified emission reductions (CERs) during the period from April 27 to May 5, 2010. The CERs were sold at an average price of €14.05 per ton.

The World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) serves as Trustee for the Adaptation Fund, and conducts CER sales for the Fund. The primary funding for the Adaptation Fund comes from a two percent share of proceeds of all CERs issued under the Clean Development Mechanism. The World Bank sells CERs on behalf of the Adaptation Fund regularly on exchanges and through over-the-counter transactions with approved dealers. Through May 5, 2010 the World Bank has monetized over €67 million worth of CERs.

Morgan Stanley was appointed as the dealer for the sales. The end buyers of the CERs were from Morgan Stanley’s client base which is widely diversified across sectors and regions.

About the Adaptation Fund: The Adaptation Fund has been established by the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to finance concrete adaptation projects and programs in developing countries that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The Fund is financed with 2% of the Certified Emission Reduction (CERs) issued for projects of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and with funds from other sources. (Source: www.adaptation-fund.org).

About Morgan Stanley: Morgan Stanley MS is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 1,300 offices in 42 countries. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

Media:

World Bank
Angela Furtado, Washington D.C.
Afurtado@worldbank.org
or
Morgan Stanley
Jennifer Sala, New York
212-761-2435
jennifer.sala@morganstanley.com
Copyright 2010 Business Wire

Tribo na Amazônia quer garantir futuro com projeto de carbono /// BBC Brasil

Uma etnia indígena da Amazônia brasileira quer ser pioneira na elaboração de um projeto de redução de carbono para financiar o seu desenvolvimento de forma sustentável.


Os Surui, que detêm a posse da reserva Sete de Setembro, na divisa entre Rondônia e Mato Grosso, querem receber recursos para manter a floresta de pé, e aplicar o dinheiro em um plano de desenvolvimento capaz de garantir pelo menos meio século de sobrevivência da etnia.

A reserva, homologada em 1983, tem uma área total de cerca de 248 mil hectares, dos quais 243 mil ainda estão preservados. A idéia é que a etnia se comprometa a evitar o desmatamento dentro desta área e, em troca, receba recursos oriundos da não-emissão de CO2 na atmosfera.

Para saber quanto carbono deixará de ser emitido, técnicos do Instituto de Conservação e Desenvolvimento Sustentável do Amazonas (Idesan) estão fazendo um estudo do estado de degradação da área e de como ela poderia ser recuperada a partir da adoção de atividades sustentáveis.

O modelo deve ficar pronto até o fim de junho. A partir dele, um plano deve ser desenvolvido até setembro.
A atividade econômica na reserva já deixou uma marca de degradação na terra. O primeiro contato com o homem branco, em 1969, fez a população cair de 5 mil habitantes para em torno de 250 pessoas. As doenças e os conflitos com os madeireiros ilegais levaram à escassez dos recursos.

Atividades de exploração degradaram parte da reserva de 248 mil hectares
Sem fonte de renda, muitos indígenas fizeram acordos para explorar a madeira ao redor de suas aldeias. Outros arrendaram terras para a pecuária ou para o plantio do café. Uma situação que perdurou até há poucos anos.

"O território está relativamente conservado, mas a tendência para o futuro é de que, sem nenhum projeto, aumente a área desmatada", explica o coordenador do estudo de campo, Gabriel Carrero.

"Nosso trabalho hoje é entrar na terra indígena para procurar essas áreas de degradação e avaliar o grau de degradação."

A pesquisadora do Idesan Claudia Vitel diz que a definição desta variável permitirá estimar quanto carbono poderia deixar de ser emitido até 2050 a partir de atividades sustentáveis que podem "afetar a cobertura da terra no futuro".

Essa estimativa, a da quantidade de CO2 não-emitido é convertida em créditos de carbono, que são vendidos no mercado internacional. Uma tonelada de CO2 equivale a um crédito de carbono. O preço do crédito tem variado muito, está em torno de 13 euros (cerca de R$ 30).

Com o estudo, o Idesan quer obter certificações internacionais para garantir a validade do projeto e atrair recursos de investidores.

Feição indígena
Não será o primeiro projeto de redução de emissões de carbono por desmatamento e degradação – mais conhecidos pela sigla Redd – no Brasil, mas os Surui querem que este seja o primeiro intimamente relacionado à sobrevivência de uma etnia indígena.

Indígenas querem aplicar recursos na melhoria das condições de vida
O projeto de Redd mais citado e reconhecido no país, na Reserva Juma, no Amazonas, representa uma forma de ajuda para ribeirinhos, mas não necessariamente indígenas.

"O fato de ser indígena é um diferencial para os Surui", diz o diretor da ONG Equipe de Conservação da Amazônia (ACT-Brasil), Vasco van Roosmalen, parceiras dos Surui em diversos projetos, inclusive no de Redd.

O líder da etnia, Almir Surui, diz que os recursos serão aplicados em um plano de desenvolvimento sustentável da etnia que engloba os próximos 50 anos.

O planejamento prevê, por exemplo, a produção sustentável de castanha, óleo de copaíba e café orgânico e a prestação dos chamados "serviços ambientais", como turismo. Outra parte do dinheiro seria destinada ao fortalecimento das associações da etnia, e à educação e à saúde da população.

"Temos de construir um futuro de longo prazo, que garanta as gerações. Se a gente tiver responsabilidade no plano de desenvolvimento, esses produtos florestais podem ser ferramentas que fortalecem a economia verde e os Surui, economicamente", diz Almir.

Roosmalen, da ACT-Brasil, explica outro ponto que chama atenção no projeto dos Surui: o mecanismo do fundo que receberá os recursos provenientes da venda dos créditos de carbono.

Segundo ele, a aplicação do dinheiro será decidida por representantes dos quatro clãs dos Suruí, "talvez um ou dois", diz Vasco. É possível ainda que tenham voz no fundo lideranças de associações indígenas.

As organizações parceiras dos Surui podem ter um papel no mecanismo, mas apenas consultivo.
Temos de construir um futuro de longo prazo, que garanta as gerações. Esses produtos florestais podem ser ferramentas que fortalecem a economia verde e os Surui, economicamente.

Almir Suruí, líder indígena
"A redução de emissão é deles (dos Surui), então a decisão (sobre a aplicação dos recursos) é deles", diz o diretor da ONG. "Também a responsabilidade se eles não conseguirem conter as emissões é deles."

Futuro
Os projetos de Redd são um dos principais mecanismos para incentivar a preservação de florestas após 2012, quando, espera-se, entre em vigor um acordo do clima para substituir o atual Protocolo de Kyoto, que expira nesta data.

Porém, a definição exata de como será o mecanismo de venda de carbono ainda não está clara, porque o próprio acordo ainda está indefinido.

Os projetos pioneiros em andamento ou em estado de planejamento se dão em arranjos pontuais.

O desmatamento responde por quase 20% das emissões globais de carbono e a maioria das emissões do Brasil.

Carbon trading shares suffer after Copenhagen: HSBC /// Point Carbon

HSBC’s global climate index has removed two climate finance firms due to their poor performance.


Climate Exchange and Trading Emissions, both London-listed firms, have been cut from the HSBC’s Global Climate Change Benchmark Index, according to a recent research report from the bank.

“A global agreement with specific hard targets would have allowed the carbon market to thrive,” Vijay Sumon, and index specialist at HSBC Global Research, said in a statement from the bank today.

“With (no agreement) the general downward trend of carbon trading seen last year has accelerated,” Sumon said, referring to the modest outcome of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December.

Between 1 September and 18 December 2009, the HSBC Global Carbon theme fell 16 per cent and post-Copenhagen, its decline has fallen more than 28 per cent, the bank said.

As a result, all of the stocks related to carbon trading fail the minimum market capitalisation threshold of $400 million for entry into the HSBC Climate Change Index, it said.

“This means the Carbon Trading theme will not now be represented as an investable theme within the HSBC Climate Change Benchmark Index as of 22 March,” according to the research report.

The index now reflects 17 out of the 18 investment themes, such as low carbon energy production, energy efficiency and management, and water, waste and pollution control.

By Jeff Coelho – jc@pointcarbon.com
London

Lack of CERs squeezes market /// Point Carbon

Published: 29 Mar 2010 15:27 CET Last updated: 29 Mar 2010 16:38 CET

The delay in CER issuance has prompted traders to pay a premium for credits for nearby delivery.

The price of certified emission reductions (CERs) for delivery over the next 21 months is now more expensive than in 2012, as traders seek to buy back credits they had previously sold for 2010 and 2011 delivery.

By midday, traders were prepared to pay €11.71 for CERs for delivery this week compared to €11.41 for credits in December 2010, €11.16 in December 2011 and just €11.13 in December 2012.

While the UN-backed offsets for delivery in 2010 have typically fetched a premium over those for delivery later in the Kyoto period, many traders have revised down their projections for issuance.

This prompted all contracts for the Kyoto cycle to slip into backwardation on Friday.

“This is symptomatic of a lack of issuance at the UN level. Last year we saw fewer carbon credits get issued year-on-year and not many people forecasted that,” said Trevor Sikorski, an analyst at UK investment bank Barclays Capital.

Weak issuance
The UN issued 123 million carbon credits in 2009, 14 million fewer than the year before, and issuance for the first three months of this year is only marginally higher than in 2009, he said.

In total, almost 400 million UN offsets have been issued so far, compared to analyst projections in 2007 that over 700 million would be issued by now.

“There are not physically enough CERs available to arbitrage the cost of carry across the curve, as you need to sell the front contract and buy-back the CERs at the back-end,” Sikorski said.

“The curve as a whole is weak, except for the prompt and the prompt is driven by shorts on issuance. Were issuance going at the rate that everyone expected, you wouldn’t see such an odd-shaped curve,” said Geoff Sinclair, head of carbon finance and trading at Standard Bank.

Buying back
Traders are buying back against positions they have already hedged in 2010, according to Remco Faas, an analyst at Dutch utility Eneco.

He reckoned that the UN’s suspension of auditors last year was a major reason for the delayed issuance.

DNV and SGS were both barred from validating clean development mechanism (CDM) projects and verifying emission reductions for several weeks in 2009.

This caused a headache for project developers who were forced to wait longer to get credits issued.

Last week the UN suspended another two auditors, potentially creating a similar bottleneck in getting the offsets issued this year.

CDM doubts
Other sources agreed that a shortage of credits was causing the unnatural curve in the market, but added that prices were already weak.

“The uncertainty surrounding the CDM post-2012 continues to push the curve into backwardation,” said Andrew Ager, head of carbon and emissions at Bache Commodities.

Sinclair agreed, saying the outcome of December’s UN climate talks in Copenhagen, where leaders failed to gain a legally-binding global agreement to cut emissions, had depressed the market.

Both the Australian and US governments are struggling to pass legislation that would cap emissions, meaning demand for credits that could be used for compliance in those markets has disappeared, he said.

“A lack of confidence, market uncertainty and the revision of the proposed US carbon bill have all had an impact,” Bache’s Ager added.

By Andrew Allan – aal@pointcarbon.com
London

Empresas dispostas a explorar energia de aterros sanitários podem ganhar preferência em licitações /// Agencia Senado

Empresas dispostas a explorar energia de aterros sanitários podem ganhar preferência em licitaçõesMunicípios com mais de 200 mil habitantes deve estabelecer preferência, nas licitações para a escolha de prestadores de serviço de coleta e manejo de resíduos sólidos, a empresas que demonstrem interesse em também explorar o potencial de energia elétrica dos aterros sanitários. É o que estabelece projeto (PLS 494/09), de iniciativa do senador Marcelo Crivella (PRB-RJ), que será examinado pela Comissão de Meio Ambiente, Defesa do Consumidor e Fiscalização e Controle (CMA) nesta terça-feira (23).


A energia pode ser produzida a partir do aproveitamento dos gases gerados pela decomposição do lixo. O objetivo da proposta é induzir o aproveitamento do potencial de energia desses aterros - para o autor, uma maneira de melhorar as condições ambientais e garantir a utilização de amplo recurso econômico em favor do desenvolvimento sustentável.

"Um dos maiores problemas para o ambiente nas médias e grandes cidades brasileiras é a presença de aterros sanitários insalubres, em que o lixo é depositado ao menor custo, causando a destruição dos ecossistemas e, muitas vezes, a contaminação do lençol freático", argumenta Crivella na justificação.

O relator do texto, senador Jayme Campos (DEM-MT), ofereceu voto pela aprovação do projeto. Segundo ele, o texto inova e contribui para o aprimoramento do marco regulatório do setor elétrico. O senador afirma que o lixo das grandes cidades pode mesmo produzir parcela significativa da energia elétrica total consumida no país - potencial, como salientou, é reconhecido no Plano Decenal de Energia 2008/2017, elaborado pela Empresa de Pesquisa Energética (EPE), por encomenda do Ministério de Minas e Energia (MME).

Apesar das indicações desse estudo, observa Jayme Campos, o MME não tem planos de realizar leilões com a energia dos aterros nos próximos anos, pois as prioridades em fontes renováveis são eólica, solar e hidroelétrica. No entanto, ele acredita Jayme Campos que o país só tem a ganhar com a transformação desse lixo em energia, a começar pelo que isso pode representar como incentivo para a armazenagem correta dos resíduos.

"Se o lixo for aproveitado como matéria-prima para a geração, isso poderá gerar créditos de carbono e favorecer o Brasil nas negociações sobre mudanças climáticas", salienta o relator, na análise da proposta.

Pelo texto, que recebeu do relator três emendas da relatoria, para aperfeiçoamentos de redação e técnica legislativa, a autoridade ambiental de cada localidade deve ainda estabelecer metas para a substituição progressiva de lixões por aterros sanitários.

O projeto seguirá depois para a Comissão de Serviços de Infraestrutura (CI), para exame em decisão terminativa.Gorette Brandão / Agência Senado

(Reprodução autorizada mediante citação da Agência Senado)

CPFL fatura € 1,4 milhão com CERs /// Energia Hoje

A CPFL espera faturar até € 8,9 milhões com a venda de certificados emissões reduzidas de gases do efeito estufa (CERs) até 2012. Apenas no ano passado, a empresa arrecadou € 1,46 milhão com a comercialização de créditos de carbono.

Segundo o vice-presidente Financeiro e de Relações com Investidores da CPFL, José Antonio Filippo, a companhia possui 1,017 milhão de CERs reconhecidos pela ONU. Em 2009, a empresa comercializou 13,7 mil CERs por meio da repotenciação de suas PCHs e 93 mil CERs da hidrelétrica de Monte Claro (130 MW), no rio das Antas (RS). Foi a primeira venda de créditos de carbonos de uma hidrelétrica a fio d’água no mundo.

Monte Claro tem ainda um potencial de comercialização de 619 mil CERs até 2012, quando termina a vigência do Protocolo de Kyoto. Outra hidrelétrica localizada no mesmo complexo, a 14 de Julho (100 MW), também tem potencial de comercialização de 286 mil certificados. (R.P.)

Kyoto carbon offset (CER) issuances picking up /// Reuters

By Michael Szabo

LONDON (Reuters) - The UN shaved its forecast for 2012 Kyoto Protocol carbon offsets this week, despite a rise in the number issued by its climate change secretariat last month.

The UN issued 13.3 million offsets in February, the most seen since last November, but cut the number it expects to hand out before the current Kyoto treaty expires in 2012 to 1.035 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Under Kyoto, efforts to cut greenhouse gases can be outsourced to emerging countries through investment in clean energy projects that have been registered under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) scheme. Investors receive offsets in return, called Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs), which can be used toward emissions reduction goals or sold for profit.

The first two months of 2010 yielded 21.9 million CERs, and with another 3.5 million issued by the UN so far this week, Q1-2010 could be on track to see over 33 million CERs, according to Reuters calculations.
This compares to 31.8 million issued in Q1-2009.

Regardless, the UN forecast a lower CER supply by 2012.

"Due to the medium issuance in February our projection for the amount of CERs projected to be available by the end of 2012 decreased from 1,051 million CERs to 1,035 million CERs," said the UNEP Risoe Center.

That number could drop even further if long bureaucratic delays return to the CDM or if the scheme's executive panel announces more CDM auditor suspensions. Several emissions auditors were suspended last year after the CDM's executive board spotted "non-conformities" in their practices.

Analysts said the repercussions from this, most likely a dent in issuance rates, have yet to be fully felt by the market.

These supply issues have caused the futures curve to become backwardated with spot CERs trading some 25 cents above Dec-10 futures and around 40 cents over the Dec-11's.

Spot CER prices were down over 2 percent to 12.14 euros on Thursday afternoon as lower energy prices weighed.

Average wholesale, or primary market prices for issued CERs was around 9 euros as of last Friday, according to IDEAcarbon, implying a profit margin of over 3 euros when compared to secondary spot market rates.

The CDM's executive is consulting stakeholders on proposals to streamline the registration and issuance processes, and will review all comments at its next meeting from March 22-26.

INDUSTRIAL GAS
The share of industrial gas CERs, those generated by CDM projects that capture potent greenhouse gases like hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and nitrous oxide (N2O), fell for a third straight month in February as more renewable energy and energy efficiency projects received CERs, UN data showed.

Industrial gas CERs now make up 75.1 percent of all issued CERs, down from 76.6 percent in November.

Although there are now 81 registered HFC or N2O projects, three quarters of all industrial gas CERs come from 10 large projects in China, India, South Korea and Brazil.

New industrial gas projects, once called "low-hanging fruit" because they were easy to implement and provided the greatest return on investment, are all but scarce now with only a handful currently awaiting validation.
(Editing by James Jukwey)