Witnesses representing a broad range of interests widely recognized the need to make improved building energy efficiency a key part of any effective climate change strategy. As several witnesses cited, recent studies have shown that the building sector accounts for about 40% of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use. By implementing simple, currently existing, building technologies and practices – such as more efficient lighting, water heating, and appliances, and more energy efficient design – annual U.S. energy consumption can be reduced by 11 percent by 2020. Thus, residential and commercial buildings offer the greatest opportunities for low-cost GHG reductions.
The Government today released its much-discussed green paper on the design features of its newly branded “Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme” for commencement in 2010. This follows Professor Garnaut’s release of his draft report on the scheme earlier this month, and the Government’s commitment to unveil the key features of the scheme by the end of this year. It proposes the introduction of a broad-based cap and trade scheme with the following features:
Broad coverage: petrol in, reforestation opt-in
Broad coverage to include stationary energy, transport, industrial processes, fugitive emissions, waste and forestry, with agriculture likely to be incorporated by 2015. The points of liability primarily fall on large facilities and upstream fuel suppliers. The proposed threshold for direct obligations is 25,000 t CO2-e or more a year, which will capture approximately 1,000 Australian companies. The impact of the inclusion of the transport sector, a highly sensitive issue, has been softened by a transitional measure of fuel tax cuts on a cent for cent basis, to be reviewed three years after the scheme starts. There was also a question mark around forestry: the Government has dealt with this by proposing that reforestation be included on a voluntary “opt-in” basis while deforestation is not.
Emissions trading is a mechanism that provides countries, companies, and environmentally-conscious individuals with flexible cost-efficient means to meet greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. Emissions trading operates similarly to commodities markets, with purchase and sale contracts defining the rights and obligations of the parties and allocating risk. In a series of articles, ClimateIntel will discuss significant issues arising under these emission reduction purchase agreements.
Although this Congress, and this Administration, will almost certainly not come to an agreement on comprehensive global climate change legislation, Congress continues to create the intellectual foundation for moving forward quickly once a new Administration is inaugurated next year. Two hearings this week should give some insight into how Congress intends to navigate some difficult issues.
This afternoon EPA unequivocally confirmed that the current administration will not propose, let alone implement, comprehensive greenhouse gas (GHG) regulation. In a long-awaited, 588-page Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANPR”), EPA surveys its Clean Air Act authority, outlines an analysis of whether GHGs endanger public health and welfare (and thus can constitute “regulated pollutants”), and reviews the applicability of climate change regulations under its stationary source, mobile source, and stratospheric ozone regulatory authorities. The Notice also opens a 4-month public comment period on the subject of GHG regulation.
Today, port authorities from around the world endorsed the World Ports Climate Declaration, in which they actively commit themselves to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality. The endorsement came at the conclusion of a three-day conference hosted by the City of Rotterdam and sponsored by, among others, the C40 Climate Leadership Group, an alliance of the world’s largest cities committed to tackling climate change. According to the conference chairman, 55 ports endorsed a framework that will lead to “concrete international measures.”
Subjects that will be addressed by the ports include the development of a standard method for quantifying CO2 emissions from ships. The ports also plan to develop a global indexing system that will enable them to reward climate-friendly ocean going ships, and punish the polluters. The next follow-up meeting will take place in Los Angeles in November.
The House Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality today held a hearing on a bill intended to drive the development and deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies as part of an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from coal-based electricity generation (H.R. 6258).
The Carbon Capture and Storage Early Deployment Act (”the Bill”) would allocate roughly $1 billion a year over a ten-year period to private, academic, and governmental entities to accelerate the commercial availability of carbon dioxide capture and storage technologies. The Bill contains detailed provisions for establishment, governance, and operation of a private “Carbon Storage Research Corporation,” which would be responsible for soliciting and issuing grants and awards on a competitive basis. The Bill finances these investments through a mandatory per-kilowatt-hour fee charged to power distribution utilities, calculated based on each utility’s unique fuel mix and resulting carbon emission footprint, which would be passed through to ratepayers without regulatory oversight.
Today’s hearing comes at a time when significant headway on more comprehensive climate change legislation appears unlikely. While hearing participants differed on certain legislative strategy and implementation issues, few appeared to question the underlying assumption that clean coal will need to be part of any long-term climate change solution. Key recurring themes at the hearing included:
On July 8, the European Parliament voted to expand the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) to cover aviation emissions as of January 2012. Based on a 2006 European Commission proposal, the approved legislation will require all commercial airlines, regardless of country of origin, to purchase and surrender carbon emissions allowances for all flights within the EU or departing from or arriving at EU airports. Total emissions for the civil aviation industry in 2012 will be capped at 97% of historical emissions, defined as average emissions from 2004-2006. The cap will decrease in 2013 to 95% of historical emissions, with the option of further tightening after 2013. Initially, the EU will provide 85% of permits for free and auction the other 15%; the percentage of auctioned permits may rise in subsequent years.
Recent Comments