New Zealand’s Conservative government has released its first annual report on its New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS), and the general assessment is that it is working well. In the report, released August 1st, climate minister Nick Smith implied that he was pleased with how smoothly the scheme is progressing in achieving its twin [...]

The EU’s commitment to taking serious action on aviation emissions has been courting controversy of late due to its proposed inclusion of the international transport sector in the EU ETS. From 2012 all arriving and departing flights in the EU will have to be covered by corresponding emissions allowances (EUAs). Regulating flight operators will be entrusted [...]

A recent report by Sandbag, a leading emissions trading think tank, has revealed that under the EU ETS leading industrial firms have amassed a surplus of 240m emissions allowances (EUAs) between them during the 2008-2010 period. The surplus is estimated to be worth €4.1bn in the market, and is due to the combined effects of [...]

Article by Guest Contributor: David Hall New Zealanders are not usually known as passionately political. So when tens of thousands of protesters marched through downtown Auckland, as they did on 1st May this year, it was obvious a nerve had been struck. The issue was environmental. The centre-right National Government had proposed opening 7058 hectares [...]

Article by Guest Contributor: David Hall On July 1st this year, New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) began to turn the screw on its greenhouse gas emissions. With forestry liable since 2008, the energy and industrial sectors finally entered the carbon era. Fuel and power companies immediately displaced the cost of greenhouse gas emissions onto [...]

Following five weeks of intense negotiations between the Rudd government and the Opposition, the Australian Senate voted once more, by 41 to 33, against bills that would have established the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). The Greens, Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, and Family First Senator Steve Fielding joined the Opposition (Liberals + Nationals) in voting [...]

After the Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme’s defeat in Senate last August, the Australian Opposition, the Coalition (Liberals + Nationals), had until last Sunday to propose amendments before the reintroduction of the bill in November (for previous developments, see here). After a Party meeting lasting more than four hours yesterday, Mr. Turnbull, the Opposition leader, [...]

On Thursday (13/08/09), the Australian Senate defeated the Rudd Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), a legislative package made up of a Carbon emission trading scheme and ten related bills (click here for previous developments). The Opposition, Greens, and the independents, Nick Xenophon and Steve Fielding, voted to defeat the package 42 to 30. Prime [...]

The economics of reducing greenhouse gas emissions are a complicated business. And this is especially true when you want to set up a domestic cap and trade system in a carbon-dependent economy, a process both the USA and Australia are in the process of beginning to work through. At the outset there are the problems [...]

Following El’s blog a few minutes ago, I wanted to give some details and thoughts that are coming in from those around the EU delegation here in Poznan. Despite predicted NGO criticisms of not going far enough, this package was not easy to achieve, as evidenced by concessions that have been made to industrial communities as [...]