News

• France unveils 'pact' to save energy

  01 November 2006

  French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has unveiled a "national pact for the environment" aimed at encouraging businesses and individuals to invest in energy-saving projects.

• Commission warns on NAPs

  01 November 2006

  The European Commission has sent warning letters to eight member states that have failed to submit their national allocation plans (NAPs) for Phase II of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

• Takara weather fund morphs into RenRe

  01 October 2006

  Weather and energy hedge fund Takara Capital Management has closed, but the business will continue within Renaissance Reinsurance, a Bermuda-based insurance and reinsurance group specialising in natural catastrophe risk.

• CME considers Canada

  01 October 2006

  The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is considering expanding its suite of weather derivative products into Canada, according to Felix Carabello, director of alternative investment products at the exchange.

• NOx cap-and-trade scheme brings down emissions

  01 October 2006

  Nitrous oxides (NOx) emissions in the eastern US fell 11% in 2005 compared with 2004, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, in its latest report on the NOx Budget Trading Program.

• US EPA 'simplifies' New Source Review

  01 October 2006

  The US Environmental Protection Agency has proposed changes that it says will simplify the New Source Review (NSR) programme for power and industrial plants.

• Investors to pour $80 billion into ethanol by 2021

  01 October 2006

  Investment in ethanol plants will top $80 billion over the next 15 years, according to a report by the McIlvaine Company.

• California bill could spawn giant REC market

  01 October 2006

  The California Legislature has passed a bill requiring 20% of electricity to come from renewables by 2011, and allowing trading of renewable energy certificates (RECs) to help achieve that goal.

• ANZ in the dock over logging

  01 October 2006

  Acoalition of non-governmental organisations, including the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), has lodged a complaint with the OECD over Australian bank ANZ's involvement with a major logging company's operations in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

• EU carbon prices fall, as uncertainty lingers

  01 October 2006

  Prices of EU carbon dioxide allowances (EUAs) fell in mid-September, with some market participants arguing that the EU Emissions Trading Scheme market could be beginning its long-anticipated trend towards zero. Meanwhile, other traders say that the delayed submission of member states' national allocation plans – setting emissions targets for Phase II of the EU ETS, from 2008, is harming the market. On 21 September, the European Climate Exchange's December 2006 EUA contract closed at €13.55 ($17.35)/t, down from €16.25 three days earlier.