Posts Tagged ‘quotas’

The practice of buying climate quotas

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

According to the deal made in Kyoto the Norwegian CO2 emissions are far too high. The government intends to solve this by buying climate or CO2 quotas in diverse projects all over the world.

So far the government has bought quotas for NOK 1,5 bill. or USD 250 mill.. For 2010 the Government  has a budget of NOK 1,22 bill. or USD 203 mill.

The control that the cuts are done as intended is done by the UN via third-party companies like the Norwegian Veritas. The Norwegian government is participating in specific projects,  and the list of projects spans from Africa (South African biomasspower), Asia (Chinese windmills), South America (Chilean compost), etc….

There are no guarantees what happens with the projects, and so far only 660 mill. tons out of the projected 12 bill. tons contracted are in the clear – the rest is waiting for a UN approval.

The system is not fully developed – the practical, legal, practical consequences are not fully in place. There also seems to be two markets – UN and EU with different prices.

2008: In the EU CO2 quotas of about 1600 mill. tons were traded at a price of about EUR 30 per ton. There is criticism the traders are busier making money than achieving emissions cuts! The money must flow into projects of sustainability.

Let us be content that trading has started, money is being pulled in, and gradually we improve the system.