Posts filed under 'GHG Legislation and Directives'
There were two events in Washington that clearly signal that climate change and greenhouse gas management will soon become a front-burner political issue starting in January.
President-elect Obama’s address to the Governors’ Global Climate Summit this week sent a message that signaled that the incoming U.S. administration will make climate change a major priority. That’s not a huge surprise.
The surprise development occurred earlier today when Rep. Henry Waxman was elected chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce, unseating his longtime colleague Rep. John Dingell during a closed-door session of the House majority caucus. That was a significant action because Waxman has long been a vocal proponent of U.S. federal agencies, specifically the Environmental Protection Agency, taking a more proactive role in regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Dingell championed the interests of major American car companies, which generally opposed aggressive emissions legislation.
No matter what your political preference, it’s now a well-established fact that U.S supporters of greenhouse gas legislation, and emissions management in general, got a boost from two committed climate change intervention advocates ascending to positions of authority. Both events immediately signal that American emissions regulation will be more activist in nature, starting in early 2009.
If your business has put off implementing processes that address the reality of a carbon-constrained environment for manufacturing, you might want to rethink your position. Your company’s legislative affairs staff is probably preparing recommendations that will detail the implications to your operations. Allow me to provide a concise summary: There’s just been a seismic shift in the U.S. regulatory landscape for emissions management. Both the new president and legislative leaders have indicated that the current economic slowdown won’t affect their efforts to pass climate change legislation next year. And, apparently, the winds of political change are blowing in their favor.
Tags: climate change policy committee on energy and commerce global climate summit greenhouse gas legislation
November 21st, 2008
The carbon offset market took a big jump today with the alliance between E+Co and Goldman Sachs (GS). Goldman has agreed to purchase the majority of E+Co’s carbon offset portfolio and help promote E+Co’s goal of providing investment capital and support services to small, clean energy business ventures in developing countries.
E+Co is a 15-year-old nonprofit investment company started as a result of a Rockefeller Foundation study on opportunities for developing clean energy businesses in developing nations. It provides business support services and capital to clean energy businesses in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America and the United States.
E+Co also assists clean energy businesses with the aggregation, validation, verification and creation of high quality GHG offsets, including those that will be sold to Goldman Sachs. The carbon financing provides the enterprises with additional capital that supports, sustains and helps clean energy ventures grow.
Goldman has made a big bet on the growth of the U.S. carbon offset market and on the continuing pressure to do something about climate change issues. Small-scale clean energy projects, while supporting important social and environmental benefits, can struggle to attract sufficient capital to assure success. The financial backing and business development services provided by E+Co assists small businesses in those developing nations to supply clean and affordable energy to those regions, efforts that simultaneously increase employment opportunities and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Goldman’s move is just another subtle reminder that smart companies are preparing now for the advent of a U.S. carbon trading market. Even though companies must exercise prudence in order to survive this market correction, executives must be mindful that failure to address both current and future market shifts will put your organization at a competitive disadvantage.
We anticipate the mounting wave of clean energy activity will generate greater pressure for companies of all sizes to measure and monitor their GHG emissions and acquire those carbon credits Goldman Sachs will help E+Co create.
Tags: carbon credits carbon offset market carbon trading e+co ghg emissions goldman sachs greenhouse gas
November 12th, 2008
While reading CSR reports recently, I noticed a huge shift in both the kind of sustainability reporting that is done and the manner in which it is done. All of this bodes well for green initiatives, even in a down economy. This trend is further evidence that the sooner you implement an integrated platform for collecting and reporting data across the enterprise, the more money you can save.
First of all, there is now a widely-accepted framework for sustainability reports created by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) that enables the reader, or investor, to compare common data. GRI guidelines call for measurement and monitoring. Now in its third generation, companies have had a chance to get comfortable with them and stakeholder input has made the process much more user-friendly.
Nearly 200 leading global organizations comply with GRI guidelines, and that number is expected to grow rapidly. GRI compliance is “voluntary,” but it’s really not. You get the drift. Your company’s investor relations and corporate communications people already know that investors and customers are closely examining these reports…or the lack thereof.
The important takeaway about GRI guidelines is that it drives companies to watch what they’re doing in relation to their footprint, collect data about it and make that data transparent. Exactly how does a particular company emit greenhouse gasses? Through its product? Through its manufacturing process? Can that process be changed? Can equipment be retrofitted, or new equipment purchased that is more energy efficient? Answers to those questions are now available for public examination.
I’m going to guess that many corporate executives were only summarily aware of their unsustainable operating processes or the non-sustainable ingredients in their products, before that information became accessible for public viewing. It’s possible that decision makers at the head of the enterprise were not getting accurate, adequate and actionable data from their facilities. Furthermore, the data, and its implications, were difficult to comprehend. Once executives became aware of the implications of the data, they demanded appropriate action, as did their stakeholders.
In every report I’ve read, companies have reduced emissions and waste since they starting measuring. Almost all of them have set goals to continue on a more sustainable path. Some of them have established BHAGs (big, hairy audacious goals) like WalMart’s goal of zero waste, and equally ambitious target dates and accountability for executing them.
But here is something more important. Companies that execute on their sustainability goals are also reducing their operating costs. This is crucial because in business, at the end of the day, the goal is to reduce costs and make profits. Sustainability goals are not just nice, feel-good items; they’re necessary. Cutting costs, especially in these tough times, is a must.
Tags: compliance csr reports global reporting initiative greenhouse gas gri sustainability sustainability reporting
November 10th, 2008
The deepening global economic recession could delay implementation of a U.S. cap on carbon emissions and reduce demand for carbon credits in states that have enacted regional carbon limits. However, both U.S. presidential candidates support alternative energy programs and climate change initiatives. In our view, it’s not a matter of whether these regulations will be implemented. They will. It’s simply a matter of when they will take effect.
The recession is expected to slow industrial production and reduce demand for carbon offsets. Nonetheless, a recession is a good time to prepare for widely anticipated legislative mandates. The drought will eventually end and companies need to be ready for the post-recession regulatory era.
The EU is already tightening regulations on GHG emissions. Now we’re watching to see what the American election will bring in the way of commitment to climate change initiatives, which have to be balanced with the slowing US economy.
Even though U.S. legislative initiatives may be delayed, companies would still be wise to move forward with their investments in technology, including integrated carbon management solutions. Implementing a proactive strategy will lower your company’s risk exposure to carbon market fluctuations. Delaying your decision could be very costly going forward.
The global carbon market is on pace to grow more than 80 percent this year to $116 billion, according to New Energy Finance, a clean-technology research and analytics firm. That growth can be attributed to consistently high prices for carbon allowances and credits in European Union countries that are bound by the Kyoto Protocol cap on heat-trapping gases.
The volume of carbon emissions transacted will grow 31 percent this year to 3.9 gigatons. European Union allowances, which constitute about 68 percent of trading by volume, have averaged about $34 a ton. Meanwhile, collective trades in secondary certified emission reductions (CER) more than doubled to $10 billion.
Although the trading volume of secondary CERs increased by 100 percent, the volume of the new CDM market — the main currency of the European Union’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) market — fell 26 percent. New Energy Finance analysts underscored that there has been a drop in the size, but not the number of carbon mitigation projects, such as industrial heat recovery and afforestation investments.
Experts are projecting that when the U.S. — the world’s top per-capita CO2 emitter — adopts an emissions cap-and-trade scheme, the global carbon trading market will reach $3 trillion annually by 2020.
Investing in carbon management technology tools can minimize companies’ exposure to the growing carbon market. As organizations prioritize their IT expenditures, carbon management systems should be at the top of the list. Addressing emissions now means your company won’t be at risk whenever government officials put new limits in place.
Tags: carbon management certified emission reductions ghg emissions global carbon market kyoto protocol new energy finance
October 24th, 2008
Prior to the Olympics, some experts were concerned about whether the Chinese government would withdraw from its commitment to addressing climate change once the games ended. However, Chinese officials recently made good on their pledge when the National People’s Congress (NPC) passed a law, signed by President Hu Jintao, that is expected to boost sustainable development through energy saving and emission reduction measures.
The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, contains provisions including tax breaks, special spending and other measures to promote sustainable economic growth.
Chinese officials will conduct closer monitoring of resource-intensive and heavily polluting industries such as steelmaking, non-ferrous metal production, power generation, oil refining, construction and printing, according to Xinhua, China’s official news industry.
Much of China’s pollution is caused by the use of coal as a power source; China consumed 1.16 tons of coal every 10,000 Yuan of GDP in 2007, down 3.66 percent from 2006, and the government has set a 2010 target of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent and major pollutant emissions by 10 percent from 2005 levels.
The law will also encourage industries to adopt water-saving technologies and use cleaner sources of energy such as natural gas and alternative fuels and promote recycling of waste materials such as straw, livestock waste and farm by-products to produce marsh gas.
The pollution control portion of the law is especially important for slowing the impact of further climate change. Studies by American scientists at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration have revealed that pollution from manufacturing, as well as cooking and heating in Chinese homes could create summer hot spots in Europe and the U.S. by mid-century.
Tags: china climate change NPC pollution sustainable economic growth
September 9th, 2008
