• Home
• Magazine
• Blog & Podcast
• Idealog TV
• Directory
• Celsias

• Business Magazine of the Year MPA Awards 2007, 2008 & 2009 Business Website of the Year MPA Awards 2009

When carbon went to market

// Markets

In 2005, the European ETS was implemented for European countries to meet their Kyoto obligations. Many lessons have been, and continue to be, learned as the Europeans continue with their quest.

The remaining Kyoto-obligated countries have been struggling to come up with their own schemes, with most embroiled in a mix of politics versus economics versus environmental impacts. Many a heated discussion inside nations include price caps, intensity regulations, domestic schemes, border taxes …

In the meantime, however, the world is marching forward, with some parts of the USA at the front of the pack, and the market is creating a momentum of its own— with or without in-country compliance-based emission trading schemes. This demand has created two very distinct trading markets—a compliance carbon market (only operational in Europe today, pending policy passing in New Zealand), and a voluntary carbon market.

In the compliance market, companies either purchase credits or invest in technologies and strategies to meet their legal carbon emission obligations.

In the voluntary carbon market (the fastest-growing market where interestingly the largest growth in 2007 came from the only compliance region—Europe—at 47 percent, according to the Ecosystem Marketplace report released in May 2008), companies are purchasing carbon credits to become carbon neutral, not necessarily to do the right thing by the environment, or for corporate responsibility reasons, but rather to ensure business sustainability.

As more and more companies recognise the necessity of understanding and implementing an environmental strategy that suits their business, they quickly grasp there are two opportunities: one is to purchase (and often trade) carbon credits, and the other is to find new and creative technologies in which to invest, in order to reduce their overall carbon emissions. The latter also results typically in more efficient and cost-effective business operations, and by default increasing overall company profitability and value.

And thus, a new era has been born. With a technology career and background spanning 25 years, I can only liken carbon markets to the information age of the 1980s. A market filled with excitement, disbelief, knowledge (and know-it-alls!), despair and opportunity.

Helen Robinson is the chief executive of TZ1, the carbon market for Asia–Pacific

Add your comment

HTML will be removed. Web addresses will be automatically hyperlinked.

Anonymous comments are queued before publishing and may take some time to appear. Or you can create an account and your comment will bypass our bureaucracy.

Your comment Name Email (hidden) Website Security check

Tweeted

Overheard

• Mark on Bigger, faster, more productive:
  Fantastic! Finally some vision in establishing a key infrastructure to support New Zealand's future prosperity and commercial competitiveness. Good work Rod, Sam and Steve - your country thanks you for your patriotism!  …
• Margaret Holmes on NZ Institute thumbs down Key's agenda:
  Unfortunately it is not just red tape - it is also the laid back kiwi attitude, compounded by educators who think achieving national standards is a bad thing.
• Tim Marshall on Smile, you’re in New Zealistan:
  The target of higher GDP per capita is all wrong. Aiming for it encourages more production and consumption, often at the expense of quality of life. We need to construct a Genuine Progress Index (GPI) to guide policy. Fr  …
• Peter McL on New note:
  "You got caught up in events at EMI.." and yet shes STILL with EMI - their local branch is distributing her new album. Wonder why?
  
  I blogged some more of Hollies comments on the details behind the fallout  …
• Phil Wollerman on Smile, you’re in New Zealistan:
  Brilliant, insightful article, VH.
  
  This situation has principally arisen because - simplistically - the world no longer wants what we are intrinsically advantaged in supplying.
  
  And yeah, it doesn't look like our co  …
• Anon on Smile, you’re in New Zealistan:
  The answer lies in a) increasing the returns to capital and b) decreasing the cost of capital. To do a) we need to reduce corporate and income taxes and replace them with land, resource, pollution and infrastructure char  …

• Back to top
• Looking for something else? Check the site map
• © 2005–2010 Idealog. All rights reserved. ISSN 1179–3465