SOIL CARBON AND CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS

 

From Kansas State University's:

Consortium for Agricultural Soils Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases

(CASMGS)

http://soilcarboncenter.k-state.edu

 

Charles W. Rice, K-State Department of Agronomy, National CASMGS Director

(785) 532-7217 cwrice@ksu.edu

Scott Staggenborg, K-State Department of Agronomy (785) 532-7214 sstaggen@ksu.edu

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

 

November 8, 2004

No. 39

 

Kansas:

* Kansas Coalition For Carbon Management Meeting Nov. 19

 

National:

* Chicago Climate Exchange Paves Way For Carbon Credit Sales By Forest Owners In California

 

International:

* Carbon Trading In Europe Triples Since Russian Move On Kyoto Market

* BP Tests Geosequestration In Algeria

* New International Report Foresees Increase In CO2 Emissions and Energy Demand

 

 

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Kansas Coalition for Carbon Management

Meeting Nov. 19

 

The Kansas Coalition for Carbon Management will meet at 10:00 a.m., on

Friday, November 19, 2004. The meeting will be held at Kansas State University, Throckmorton Hall, Room 2002.

 

The speaker for this meeting will be David Miller from the Iowa Farm Bureau. David will talk about the success and challenges of the carbon sequestration program in Iowa. We will be discussing how we might be able to partner with them on implementing a similar program in Kansas.

 

Chuck Rice will give us an update of his activities with CASMGS. There is no charge for the meeting, which is open to the public. We hope to adjourn by no later than 1:30 p.m.

 

For more information, call Gary Satter at 785-945-6292.

 

-- Eddie Ingalls, Flint Hills RC&D, Strong City, 620-273-6321

 

 

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Chicago Climate Exchange paves way for Carbon Credit Sales

By Forest Owners In California

 

California’s recently-adopted rules on accounting for carbon dioxide sequestration through forestry management were approved by the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) on Nov. 5, 2004.

 

The California Climate Action Registry, an organization that acts as a register for voluntary actions to cut emissions in anticipation of legislation, recently adopted rules on measuring the carbon reductions of forest conservation, management and restoration. The decision by the CCX to recognize those credits opens the door for California’s forest owners to sell them into CCX’s marketplace and provides a new source of revenue.

 

“The California standard links forest protection and climate protection by creating a ‘currency’ for forestland owners who use forest protection to sequester carbon. CCX’s decision gives real financial value to that currency by making it freely tradable on their exchange,” said Diane Wittenberg, president of the California Climate Action Registry.

 

The CCX saw increased trading in October as all four vintages (2003 to 2006 inclusive) traded up by on average 50 cents to around US$1.50, the highest levels since the exchange’s launch.

 

The two entities also announced steps to make it easier for companies to participate in both programs by undergoing a single certification audit by a certifier approved for both programs.

 

For more information, see:

http://www.climateregistry.org/docs/PRESS/Registry_CCX_press_release_11.5.04.pdf

 

 

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Carbon trading in Europe triples

since Russian move on Kyoto

The Financial Times of London, in its October 12, 2004 edition, reports that the amount of carbon dioxide being traded in Europe has almost tripled since Russia said it would ratify the Kyoto protocol. In the European Union, industries such as power utilities have the amount of carbon they can emit capped.

About 670,000 tonnes of carbon emissions were traded in the first week of October, according to Point Carbon carbon consultancy, compared with the record 1 million tonnes in September. Early this year, fewer than 50,000 tonnes were traded a month.

A European carbon trading scheme will start in January, leading many companies affected - chiefly in power generation, steel and cement production, and pulp and paper - to begin trading emissions allowances now in preparation, even though many allowances have still to be set.

-- Steve Watson <swatson@oznet.ksu.edu

 

 

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BP Tests Geosequestration

In Algeria

 

BP has started an industrial-scale test of geo-sequestration of carbon dioxide with Algeria’s national oil company, Sonatrach, in an effort to reduce the emission of gases blamed for global warming, BP Chief Executive John Browne said.

 

The geosequestration technology has its critics that claim there is no guarantee the carbon dioxide will not escape or leak over time. Pilot projects are being conducted in the North Sea and the US.

 

BP and Sonatrach are extracting natural gas from an Algerian field that also contains 10 percent carbon dioxide, most of which would normally be released into the atmosphere. In August, BP began re-injecting the carbon dioxide into the underground reservoir, Bloomberg reports.

 

The field will produce about 1 million tonnes of CO2 a year. Burying it instead of releasing it into the air is the environmental equivalent to taking 200,000 cars off the road, BP said.

 

“I believe that if the experiment works we will have opened up a new way forward,” Browne said at the Oil & Money conference in London. “Climate change is a manageable problem and this industry has a crucial role and a direct interest in working to ensure that the problem is resolved.”

 

Browne, who was one of the first oil-industry leaders to acknowledge an environmental threat from fossil-fuel gases, said in his speech today that “each new study emphasizes ever more strongly the risk of climate change, and the role of oil and other hydrocarbons in creating or increasing that risk.”

 

-- Point Carbon, Oct. 28, 2004

 

 

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New International Report foresees

increase in CO2 emissions and energy demand

 

Global carbon dioxide will increase by 1.7 percent per year over 2002 to 2030, according to the International Energy Agency's (IEA’s) world energy report, Outlook 2004. Two thirds of the increase in energy demand during that period will be driven by developing countries.

 

The IEA’s Outlook 2004 paints a sobering picture of the global energy system out to 2030, with demand increasing by 60 percent of today’s levels. Fossil fuels will continue to dominate the global energy mix, with the shares of nuclear and renewable energy sources remaining limited.

 

The world’s energy resources are adequate, but the increased demand raises questions about the security of supply, the investment needed to boost supply, and the rise in CO2 emissions. Emissions will rise to reach 28 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2010, the middle point of the Kyoto Protocol commitment period, up from 23 billion tonnes in 2002. By 2030, emissions will rise to 38 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2030, an increase of 60 percent on 2002 levels.

 

The IEA finds that nearly 70 percent of the increase in CO2 emissions will come from developing countries.

 

For details, see:

http://www.iea.org/Textbase/press/pressdetail.asp?PRESS_REL_ID=137

and

http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org

 

 

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UPCOMING CONFERENCES

 

November 17, 2004

Business and Carbon Sequestration: Realizing the Potential for Bio and Geo Sequestration in Australia

Melbourne Business School, Australia

For further information, see: http://www.aetf.net.au

 

 

December 7-10, 2004

The 2004 CO2 Conference and EOR Carbon Management Workshop

Midland, Texas 

For more information, see:

http://www.spe-pb.org/co2_conference/index.asp

 

 

January 13-14, 2005

Climate Change Risks & Opportunities: Learning from the Leaders

New York, NY

For details, see: http://www.ceepinc.org

 

 

January 16-20, 2005

Chapman Conference on the Science and Technology of Carbon Sequestration

San Diego, California

For more information see:

http://www.agu.org/meetings/cc05acall.html

 

 

March 1-3, 2005

Carbon Market Insights 2005

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

For more information, see: http://www.pointcarbon.com/article.php?articleID=3838&categoryID=141

 

 

March 21-24, 2005

USDA Greenhouse Gas Symposium

Baltimore, MD

For more information, contact Chuck Rice cwrice@ksu.edu

See:

http://soilcarboncenter.k-state.edu/conference

 

 

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