SOIL CARBON AND CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS

From Kansas State University's:

Consortium for Agricultural Soils Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases

(CASMGS)

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/ctec

Charles W. Rice, K-State Soil Microbiology, National CASMGS Coordinator

(785) 532-7217 cwrice@ksu.edu

Scott Staggenborg, K-State Extension Northeast Area Crops and Soils

Specialist (785) 532-5833 staggen@ksu.edu

Kent McVay, K-State Soil and Water Conservation Specialist (785)

532-5776 kmcvay@ksu.edu

Steve Watson, CASMGS Communications (785) 532-7105 swatson@oznet.ksu.edu

May 28, 2004

No. 34

National:

* Biomass Could Reduce CO2 Emissions

* Entergy Claims First Geo Sequestration Trade

International:

* Russia Seems On The Verge Of Ratifying Kyoto

* How Would Russian Ratification Affect The EU ETS And Other Carbon Credit Markets?

* Smaller-Scale Initiatives Push Ahead On Global Warming

* CO2 Emissions Trading In Europe May Remain Slow Through The End Of This Year

**********

Biomass Could Reduce

CO2 Emissions

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions could be significantly cut if countries used biomass -- fuel generated from agriculture and forest products -- instead of coal to generate electricity, according to a report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the European Biomass Association (AEBIOM). The report indicates that biomass fuel could reduce emissions of carbon dioxide CO2 by about 1,000 million tonnes each year — a figure equivalent to the combined annual emissions of Canada and Italy. 

According to the report, biomass provides a cost-effective and carbon-neutral source of energy that could provide 15 percent (from the current 1 percent) of the electricity demand from industrialized countries by 2020. It could supply power to 100 million homes, and is equivalent to replacing about 400 traditional large power stations. The report further shows that the substantial increase of biomass for clean power production would require less than 2 percent of land from industrialized nations and will not compete with food production and nature conservation. 

For more information, see:

http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/index.cfm

**********

Entergy Claims First

Geo Sequestration Trade

US energy firm Entergy has claimed the first trade of greenhouse gas credits generated by geological carbon sequestration through the newly formed trade registry of the Emissions Marketing Association.

The Emissions Marketing Association and CleanAir Canada in 2003 built the EMA Registry, an offset project inventory and trading registry for North America.

In December 2003, Entergy entered into an agreement with Blue Source LLC to purchase emission reduction credits (ERCs) covering 100,000 metric tonnes of CO2 sequestered. The ERCs are now lodged with the EMA registry. Blue Source, a North American CO2 emission reduction aggregator, sourced the credits at an enhanced oil recovery geological sequestration project, where CO2 is pumped into oil wells to help extract oil that would otherwise be left underground.

The quantity of extra oil extracted is unclear, although Entergy expects that each extra barrel of oil extracted would then lead to the release of 0.35 to 0.47 metric tonnes of CO2 depending on its usage. Entergy has declined to say how many extra barrels of oil would be extracted.

Blue Source has contracted for greenhouse gas emission reduction inventories exceeding 250 million metric tons through 2012.

-- Point Carbon, May 28, 2004

**********

(Note: The following commentary is from the May 28, 2004 issue of Carbon Market Europe. -- Steve Watson swatson@oznet.ksu.edu)

Russia Seems on the verge

of Ratifying Kyoto

After years of speculation, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently stated that Russia “supports the Kyoto Process,” and will now “accelerate the process to ratification.” Despite some skepticism, this statement of intent is for real, and it should not have been a surprise. There are three fundamentals that drive the Russian position.

The first is that Russia will benefit from Kyoto, although not on a grand scale. This benefit is small compared to what Russia cares the most about on the international stage, namely accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). That second fundamental, and the fact that the EU holds the key WTO cards, makes the broad nature of the deal transparent, however much people deny any formal linkage.

The third fundamental is that Russia has had -- and still perceives -- an interest in stringing out the ratification process, creating nervousness about its ultimate commitment. President Putin has now made an unequivocal commitment to Kyoto in principle.

But there remains so little fundamental trust between the EU and Russia that ratification is unlikely to be formalized until the final details of WTO accession are hammered out.

Russia will eventually ratify Kyoto, and the 122 countries that have so far ratified had better focus their minds on that fact. But don’t hold your breath for the actual deed: the final timing will suit Russia, and no one else.

-- Michael Grubb (with Anna Korppoo), Carbon Trust and Imperial College London

Carbon Market Europe, May 28, 2004

**********

How Would Russian Ratification Affect

The EU ETS And Other Carbon Credit Markets?

Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the agreement with the European Union (EU) over Russian membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) could only have a positive effect on the Russian process of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, and that the process would now be sped up. There is still a long way to go before Russia makes a final decision. However, President Putin’s comments did put the subject of Russian ratification firmly back on the agenda.

How will this affect the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)?

The EU National Allocation Plans (NAPs) for CO2 emissions could become stricter as the Kyoto Protocol suddenly becomes a reality, says Laurent Segalen, Director, Head of Climate Change at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

“If Russia ratifies the Kyoto Protocol and it enters into force, this will send a very strong political signal to regulators around the world. In Europe and Canada, it might lead to more stringent NAPs,” Segalen says.

Kyoto entering into force would force European governments, as well as Canadian and Japanese companies and governments, out into the market. If the Kyoto risk was removed, many buyers currently sitting on the fence would quickly start searching for viable carbon credit projects. Prices might increase in the short-term due to the combination of surging demand and constrained supply if Kyoto were to enter into force quite soon, as developing new carbon credit projects takes at least one to two years.

Remember, though, that all this is still hypothetical for a while.

-- Carbon Market Europe, May 28, 2004

http://www.pointcarbon.com

**********

Smaller-Scale Initiatives

Push Ahead On Global Warming

A growing number of local groups, governments and businesses are willingly adopting Kyoto-like measures to cut harmful gas emissions.

“What’s happening is really quite extensive,” says John Pershing, a climate-change expert at the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank in Washington.

Pershing says one of the main examples is the European Union’s emissions-trading scheme, which the bloc says will come into effect in January regardless of whether the Kyoto treaty is in force.

This will set limits on emissions for thousands of factories, and allow countries to buy and sell their allowances.

“It’s not just in Europe -- [climate-change initiatives] are around the world,” says Pershing. “Canada has them -- a series of programs at the national level. It includes a Canadian system for emissions trading, but also the same kind of efficiency programs and renewable energy projects, and general efforts in non-CO2 (carbon dioxide) gases. [There’s a] huge array [of programs], and the same can be said of Japan. These countries are moving forward, partly in compliance with Kyoto and partly developing national systems.”

In the United States, too, individual states are putting in place policies to address climate change.

“A trading program in the northeast of the U.S. is being developed,” Pershing says. “About 20 states have renewable portfolio standards, to promote renewable energy. Many states have got programs that look at transportation emissions, at forestry and agricultural emissions. So there are a whole set of projects under way -- which to me suggests a willingness to act.”

There’s activity at the corporate level, too. More and more top global businesses are setting their own targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, or investing in renewable energy.

Experts say that’s partly because many top companies now have to contend with legislation on greenhouse gas emissions. It’s also because they now realize it makes business sense.

There’s a growing awareness of the risk climate change poses to business -- particularly after last year’s European heat wave and other weather-related disasters.

That’s the view of Paul Dickinson, at the London-based Carbon Disclosure Project. The project is run by a group of international investors who survey top world companies on their greenhouse gas emissions.

“Companies and investors don'’ exist in isolation; they also have opinions on this. An example of a corporate leader is John Brown, the CEO of oil firm BP. He said in a conference recently that he believes there must be stabilization of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a certain level. He believes, and many agree with him, that there will have to be massive changes in the way the world consumes and acquires energy. And we’re beginning to see those changes coming into play. That is why 10 trillion dollars’ [worth] of investors are asking questions [via the Carbon Disclosure Project], and that is why 60 percent of companies we asked questions of are giving us full and exact responses.”

Still, experts say these Kyoto-like measures and voluntary initiatives are, on their own, not enough to seriously counter global warming. And if Kyoto is not, in the end, ratified, that could have a chilling effect on these efforts too. Pershing says some sort of international cooperation will still be needed if Kyoto does not come into force.

For full details, see:

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/05/c67793be-5513-4787-ab8c-6607943f05b4.html

**********

CO2 Emissions Trading In Europe May Remain

Slow Through The End Of This Year

Emissions trading in Europe has been relatively slow in recent months, and may remain so until the end of the year, unless Russia ratifies the Kyoto Protocol before that time. Potential emissions credit buyers are waiting to see how much demand there will be in 2005 for carbon credits within the European Union.

European countries have been submitting their national allocation plans (NAPs) for CO2 emissions to the European Commission for the past several weeks. NAPs must be in place before the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) can begin at the start of next year.

The NAPs allocate the amount of CO2 emissions that industries are allowed per year. If an industry normally emits more CO2 than this allocation, it must either reduce emissions or buy emissions credits.

To date, the NAPs allocated to industry by those countries that have submitted an NAP to the European Commission have been more generous than expected. This has been mildly disappointing to emissions traders in Europe since it means that there is less need for industry as a whole to buy emissions credits, at least through the end of this year.

“Will the anticipated volumes (of CO2 emissions trades) turn up at all this year? There is a significant danger for dedicated emissions traders and brokers that they won’t,” states Mark Meyrick, of EDF Trading, in the May 21, 2004 issue of Carbon Market Europe (http://www.pointcarbon.com). “Those with real assets do not, at this stage, need to trade. Stations are likely to get, on average, something between 83.5 and 87 percent of their baseline figure, if the UK NAP is anything to go by. With their core requirement freely allocated, it is unlikely that players will go into the market to cover their marginal requirement. At this stage they are unlikely to know what their 2005 running regime is going to look like. This will become much clearer sometime late this year.”

-- Steve Watson swatson@oznet.ksu.edu

**********

MEETINGS OF INTEREST (All dates are 2004 unless otherwise noted.)

June 10-11

Energy & Agricultural Carbon Utilization Symposium

Sustainable Alternatives to Sequestration

Athens, Georgia

Co-hosted by Eprida and the University of Georgia

For more information, see:

http://www.georgiaitp.org/carbon

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