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Climate Change Initiative Newsletter
April 2002 (22)
Table of Contents
Climate Change Initiative
1. Kids learn about climate change
2. Second CCI Sequestration Training Course in Kharkiv
Upcoming Events
May 28-30, 2002 – Sumy
Training seminar “GHG Mitigation Project Preparation and Financing”
Organizers: CCI, Sumy regional “Energy Efficiency Center”
International conference “Investment and Climate Change: Opportunities for Ukraine”
Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine and the Climate Change Initiative announce the international investment conference that will take place in Kyiv on July 10-11, 2002. The Conference main target is to attract investments in climate change mitigation activities in Ukraine. For more information about the event please see the CCI special announcement on the web site. Registration for the Conference is requested by May 15.
U.s. Climate change activity
3. Fuel consumption and emissions projections from the US government
4. Biomass energy production to be launched in Illinois and Oklahoma
5. World’s largest fuel cell installation to work soon
International climate change news
6. Slovak parliament ratifies Kyoto protocol
7. Raising climate consciousness and encouraging action through electricity bills
8. Elephant grass seen as à UK fuel of the future
9. Many species threatened, if not extinct, due to Global warming
10. Biodiversity may help reduce the rate of climate change
11. Emission trading will be started in Norway in 2005
12. BP and Imerys Trade Carbon Credits: New British System at Work
13. Global wind power 5-fold rise seen
14. Great interest in Carboncredits.nl JI submission period
15. Environment Canada striving to make Environment meetings real “clean”
16. The first transatlantic GHG trade
17. Norway plans “recycling” CO2 to observe the Kyoto targets
1. Kids learn about climate change
On the Earth Day eve, the CCI organized à climate change awareness presentation for the UNESCO Center at the "International Relations Lyceum 51” (IRL).
On April 19, the CCI participated in the UNESCO Center meeting devoted to the environment. The UNESCO Center is set up in the IRL as part of the UNESCO school networking program, and participates in all UNESCO calendar events, organizes discussions among the students and representatives from the Ukrainian and foreign governments, and the UN institutions. The Center also arranges lectures, concerts, and theatrical events for the IRL students. The UNESCO Center members learn the key UNESCO operating principles through the direct event preparations.
At the meeting the CCI public awareness specialist, Maria Ogorodnyk, talked about climate change, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and also about those little things that every student can do to contribute to climate change mitigation. The meeting participants watched the UN film “What is the greenhouse effect?”. The CCI public service announcements (Psas) were also presented to the students and generated à lot of questions and comments from the audience.
Other CCI training and informational materials were posted at the Earth Day exhibition organized by the IRL.
2. Second CCI Sequestration Training Course in Kharkiv
On April 23-25, the Climate Change Initiative in cooperation with the Ukrainian Research Institute of Forestry and Forest Amelioration (URIFFA) in Kharkiv organized its second seminar on carbon sequestration. The first seminar was delivered in Kyiv in January 2002. Based on the feedback from the Kyiv seminar participants, the URIFFA experts modified the course addressing the needs of the Ukrainian sequestration project developers and focusing the course content on the regional aspects. The URIFAA Director and the Head of the Kharkiv Oblast Environmental Authority welcomed the training course participants. The Kharkiv seminar on “Carbon Sequestration in Forestry and Agriculture” brought together about 40 forestry experts, government, NGO, and private companies representatives along with local scientists from the Kharkiv, Cherkassy, Sumy, and Poltava oblasts.
The seminar participants rated the instructors’ performance very high. In the instructors’ view project proposals developed during the Kharkiv seminar were more specific and feasible than those that had been presented at the Kyiv seminar in January. It was agreed that the CCI staff helps each oblast finalize its project proposals for the inclusion into the CCI project database.
3. Fuel consumption and emissions projections from the US government
WASHINGTON - World oil demand is expected to grow an average 2.2 percent annually over the next two decades, helping to spew an extra 3.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions à year into the atmosphere by 2020, à U.s. government energy agency said, - with major emissions share coming from the developing countries.
According to the US Energy Departmentús analytical service the world carbon dioxide emissions are projected to rise from 6.1 metric tons in 1999 to 7.9 billion metric tons per year in 2010 and 9.9 billion metric tons in 2020. "Much of the projected increase in carbon dioxide emissions is expected to occur in the developing world, where emerging economies are expected to produce the largest increase in energy consumption", Energy Information Administration (EIA) said. Even if the industrialized nations act to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the agency warned that continued heavy reliance on coal and other fossil fuels in developing countries means greenhouse gases spewing levels will "Grow substantially" over the next two decades.
To tackle carbon dioxide emissions industrialized nations would lower their greenhouse gas levels the most under the pending Kyoto Treaty, while individual developing countries would not have to curb their pollution as much, if at all. The Bush administration said the United States would not take part in the treaty, because industrialized countries would be subject to harsher emission limits that the White House feared would hurt the U.s. economy.
The EIA data say that oil, which is à major source of greenhouse gas emissions, is expected to remain the worldús dominant energy source through 2020, with à 40-percent share of total energy consumption. World oil demand is forecast to increase from the current 76 million barrels per day (bpd) to 119 million bpd by 2020, EIA said. Most of the increase in oil use would come from transportation fuel, especially in the developing world where improving economies will enable more people to own vehicles. Still, oilús share of the world energy pie will not increase over the coming two decades because many countries are expected to switch from petroleum to natural gas and other fuels, especially for electricity generation, EIA said.
Demand for coal, the biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions, is expected to grow at à slow 1.7 percent per year through 2020. Coalús share of energy use is projected to fall from 22 percent to 20 percent, but the decline would be greater except for large increases in coal demand in developing Asian countries like China and India, EIA said.
Natural gas demand will have the fastest growth in global energy consumption, increasing 3.2 percent annually from the current 85 trillion cubic feet à year (Tcf) to almost 162 Tcf by 2020, the agency said.
(by Tom Doggett, REUTERS, March 27)
4. Biomass energy production to be launched in Illinois and Oklahoma
WASHINGTON - Switchgrass grown on idled cropland in Illinois and Oklahoma will be used in tests as an alternative to coal at electric power plants, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said.
In late 2000, Congress authorized the nationwide pilot program on use of biomass for energy production, which will run at least 10 years. With grain prices mired at low levels, interest in farm products as à source of renewable energy has grown. Farmers work towards larger market for ethanol, distilled from corn (maize), and à wider spread of biodiesel, or diesel fuel derived from soybeans.
When Congress authorized 6 last biomass fuel projects, it said à total of up to 250,000 acres could be used in six sites. Harvesting was allowed once every two years and growers must accept à 25 percent reduction in rental payments on the harvest year.
In the project, switchgrass will be harvested from an Illinois River watershed near Havana in central Illinois. It will be converted into pellets and used to co-fire energy plants that normally use coal. In Oklahoma, the program will allow researchers to seek markets for agricultural biomass and study methods to combine grass pellets with high-sulfur Oklahoma coal to see if à cleaner-burning product could be sold to power companies. Grass used in the project will come from five counties in the Panhandle and include some native varieties.
"Both projects promote the use of à renewable fuel and à cleaner environment", said Veneman, who announced approval of the projects. "The grass is easily obtained compared to coal, à fossil fuel."
(REUTERS, March 28)
5. World’s largest fuel cell installation to work soon
SOUTH WINDSOR, Connecticut - Diversified manufacturer United Technologies Corp. said its fuel cell unit sold seven power plants to Verizon Communications to power à call-routing center on Long Island that will be the worldús largest fuel cell installation.
United Technologies Fuel Cells declined to disclose terms of the deal. Normally, the fuel cells - price at about $900,000 each, said company spokesman Peter Dalpe. The seven Pc25 units, which each produce 200 kilowatts of electricity and 900,000 Btus of usable heat, will form the largest fuel cell installation in the world, the company said, noting it surpasses the Pc25 installation at the Connecticut Juvenile Training Center in Middletown. The units will be installed at à facility in Garden City, New York that delivers local phone service to about 40,000 Verizon customers.
Fuel cells operate without combustion, minimizing pollution. As à traditional generating system produces as much as 25 pounds of pollutants to generate 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, the Pc25 power plant produces less than an ounce.
(REUTERS, March 22)
International Climate Change NEWS
6. Slovak parliament ratifies Kyoto protocol
BRATISLAVA – On March 20, the Slovak parliament ratified the Kyoto protocol, binding the country to cut emissions by 8 per cent between 2008 and 2012 as compared to 1990 base year.
Environment Minister Laszlo Miklos said after the approval: "Slovakia has expressed its political will to join up with the European Union (EU) states that intensively support Kyoto." At the same time he stated that Slovakia’s position regarding its emission reduction commitment is satisfactory. If the country maintains its current level of GHG emissions it may not need any major mitigation measures undertaken, suggested the Minister.
Minister Miklos also commented the protocol rejection by the United States, saying that this was to be expected, since the USA produced 35 per cent of all emissions and would have to make major investment to cut that to 8 per cent...
(BBC Monitoring, March 20)
7. Raising climate consciousness and encouraging action through electricity bills
Australian householders are to receive electricity bills, which report their individual greenhouse gas emissions. The state of Victoria wants to highlight how much the origin of the power they use is affecting the environment.
The state has traditionally used polluting brown coal to meet the majority of its energy needs. The bills will include information about how customers can apply to their energy company to use more power from renewable sources.
The Melbourne Age reports most electricity companies in Victoria now offer "Green power" packages. These allow customers to reduce their consumption of coal-powered electricity in favour of hydro, wind and solar sources, although costs can be different. Victoriaús government last year pledged to purchase 5% of its power needs from green energy sources and cut its electricity use by 15% by 2005.
Premier Steve Bracks is also to announce the introduction of "Sustainability covenants" between the Environment Protection Authority and companies. Firms entering the covenants will be allowed to market themselves as government-accredited "green" businesses.
8. Elephant grass seen as à UK fuel of the future
LONDON - It may look like an overgrown ornamental bamboo, but elephant grass is seen by Britainús government and agricultural bodies as à key to helping embattled farmers and generating green power.
"This is à crop we take very seriously, and we wish to see the opportunities for growers increasing", said Nick Starkey of the National Farmers' Union (NFU).
The plant, which originates in the Far East and grows to five metres tall, can be burned to generate electricity in biomass power stations, and in smaller boilers to produce heat for individual farmerús houses, he said. He said the crop, also known as miscanthus, was quick-growing and yields about 15 tonnes à hectare every year. Growers of the crop can receive grants to cover the relatively high costs of planting the rhizomes the perennial plant grows from.
Biomass power has been overlooked for years, owing to its expense and à lack of government support, but à new plan called the renewables obligation, which obliges power companies to buy electricity from green sources, is seen as guaranteeing it à market. Britain currently has about 100 megawatts of biomass generating capacity, and the industry says 10 times this amount is needed if the government is to meet its target of generating 10 percent of the Ukús power from green sources by 2010.
Dr Paul Carver of Bical, à western England-based company which specialises in growing miscanthus, said that to generate enough power under the renewable energy plan, 125,000 hectares of all energy crops were needed. Carver said it was very easy to harvest with traditional machinery, and required no chemical fertilisers or pesticides.
Neil Bond of Energy Power Resources Ltd (EPR), which built and runs the worldús largest straw-fuelled power station near Ely, Cambridgeshire, said the company had tried burning miscanthus and was interested in its further use as à fuel.
(by Oliver Bullough, REUTERS, March 28)
9. Many species threatened, if not extinct, due to Global warming
LONDON - From dying coral reefs to later autumns and endangered male painted turtles, global warming has started to affect plant and animal life across the planet, scientists assumed.
The worldús mean temperature increased by around 0.6 degrees Celsius in the 20th century - most of the rise came in the last 30 years - and its impact is already being felt by flora and fauna from the equator to the poles. The conclusions of à research, collated by Geobotanist Gian-reto Walther from the University of Hanover in Germany from across the branches of the natural sciences, highlight the seriousness of global climate change by showing parallel trends in plants, birds, animals and fish.
"This is à major concern", Walther told Reuters, adding extinction for some species was inevitable. "The big difference between now and previous periods of climate change, like the Ice Age, is that seven billion people live on earth now and many migration corridors for species are blocked", Walther said.
One of the most dramatic barometers of climate change has been the worldús coral reefs, which have been devastated by 'Coral bleaching' - à direct result of warmer ocean water. In the worst case of mass bleaching, in 1998, an estimated 16 percent of the worldús reef-building coral died, Nature Journal said. Meanwhile in Europe, trees are starting to show their autumn colour between 0.3 and 1.6 days later per decade, while some migrating birds are changing their travel plans.
Walther welcomed governments' gradual waking-up to the problems of climate change, widely recognised as the result of greenhouse gases, but said nobody had à clue where it would all end. "It is good they are now talking about measures to try and keep at à certain level of emissions. Maybe this can slow the warming process, but so far there is no measurement of how it is slowing", Walther said.
Britainús Meteorological Office predicts global temperatures will rise between 1.4 degrees Celsius and nearly six degrees over the next century, depending on the success of greenhouse gas policies.
Even at the lower end of these estimates, the outlook is bleak for the male painted turtle. "In painted turtles, offspring sex ratio is highly correlated with mean July temperature, and the production of male offspring would be potentially compromised even by modest (two to four degrees) temperature increases", Nature said.
(by Ed Cropley, REUTERS, March 28)
10. Biodiversity may help reduce the rate of climate change
Biodiversity is an important factor in regulating how ecosystems will respond to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide according to à research team at the University of Minnesota.
The team found that diverse plant ecosystems are better able to absorb carbon dioxide and nitrogen, both of which are on the rise due to human activities and industrial processes. The experiment, called BIOCON, is the first field study to test the theory that plant species diversity influences responses to elevated CO2 and nitrogen levels in the ecosystem.
The scientists say the greater uptake of CO2 and nitrogen may be due to positive interactions among the species. For example, in areas with greater diversity of species, some plants bloom all year and can absorb CO2 and nitrogen over the entire growing season rather than just part of it.
Biodiversity is considered important by biologists because it ensures continued possibilities for adaptation of species in à changing and uncertain world. But biodiversity is decreasing worldwide.
11. Emission trading will be started in Norway in 2005
OSLO - Norway will start à limited scheme by 2005 to open for trading the right to emit greenhouse gases, the Environment Ministry announced.
"The main reason for introducing à quota-based emissions trading system at this early date is to stimulate further cost-effective action in Norway", Environment Minister Boerge Brende said in à statement. The proposal will allow companies currently exempt from à carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions tax to buy the right to emit CO2. Norway demands à CO2 emissions tax of 300 Norwegian crowns ($34.34) à tonne, while analysts say the quotas will only cost between 75-150 Norwegian crowns per tonne of CO2. The CO2 tax would be continued until 2008 to avoid creating more pollution by companies taking advantage of cheap quotas, the ministry said.
By 2008, the system will be expanded to all sectors as part of the Kyoto protocol. "It will ensure that we really achieve cuts in emissions and give industries and the authorities useful experience of emissions trading", Brende said. The ministry also proposed that Norway should ratify the Kyoto protocol.
(REUTERS, March 25)
12. BP and Imerys Trade Carbon Credits: New British System at Work
BP PLC said it has sold 1,000 carbon credits to Imerys enabling both companies to gain first-hand experience of trading on the Ukús newly introduced emissions trading scheme.
Imerys, the international minerals processing group formerly known as English China Clay, was the first energy customer to benefit from à BP service designed to support the Ukús recently introduced Emissions Trading Scheme and help customers lower emissions. The service enables customers to access information on the emissions trading market and track their own environmental performance against agreed targets. It will help customers build their capability in using the Emissions Trading Scheme to reduce emissions cost-effectively. BP is currently securing similar service agreements with other customers, it said in à statement.
The UK Government launched the emissions trading scheme to help companies in the climate change levy agreement process to achieve their emission s targets by trading emission allowances. However, traders said take-up was expected to be slow as many taking part are getting to grips with the scheme and the possibilities it offers, including secondary trading.
13. Global wind power 5-fold rise seen
FRANKFURT - Global wind energy capacity may rise nearly five-fold by 2010 to 120,000 megawatt (MW) from presently 25,000 MW, according to à study from German Wind Energy Institute DEWI.
"The growing world market offers wind energy companies very good and, most importantly, long-term development opportunities", the study said. It recommended that wind technology firms in Germany, the worldús leading wind energy country, participate in planned expansions in Spain, Italy, France, Poland and Turkey. Further down the line, Brazil and China were also identified as future growth markets because of their vast wind and land resources coupled with rapidly increasing energy demand.
The study said that up to the year 2002, Germanyús yearly rate of building new wind capacity was the same as the rest of Europe put together. Last year, Germany added 2,659 MW of new turbines to arrive at à total 8,750 MW, equivalent to 3.5 percent of its total power consumption.
As part of efforts to bring down greenhouse gas emissions, Germany encourages investment in the new energy sector by guaranteeing producers higher revenue from their power input into the general grid than that earned from conventional power.
But the study said the construction of new German capacity would slow in the coming years as onshore sites were limited and offshore wind parks needed yet to be built, giving other European countries à chance to catch up with Germany. After 2007, European growth rates would be overtaken by those elsewhere in the world, it said.
(REUTERS, April 2)
14. Great interest in Carboncredits.nl JI submission period
Companies from all over Europe have expressed interest in the JI round of the Dutch Carboncredits.nl programme. Through this programme the Dutch government buys reductions in CO2 emissions achieved in projects in Central and Eastern Europe and industrialised countries. Expression of interest' by à total of 27 companies have been submitted for this second round of the programme of which 18 have been accepted for evaluation.
The projects that have been registered are well distributed over the various countries. Top runner so far is Bulgaria (6) followed by Romania (5), Hungary (3), Slovakia (2) and Estonia (1). Unexpectedly Senter received also an Expression of Interest related to à project located in New Zealand.
The 18 projects amount to an emission reduction of 22.9 million tonnes of CO2e. The reduction per project ranges from 0.5 to 3.8 million tonnes of CO2e. The estimated average price per tonne of CO2e is EUR 4.93. Most of the projects (7) aim to improve energy efficiency in fossil fuelled installations, e.g. power plants and district heating. Other categories are renewable energy (4), waste processing (3), biomass (2) and reforestation (1).
Over the coming weeks Senter will assess the companies and Project Idea Notes (Pins). Senter will review whether the companies are sufficiently creditworthy and have enough experience to achieve the proposed reductions. The Minister of Economic Affairs will most likely sign contracts out of this round by the end of this year.
(Carboncredits.nl, April 9)
15. Environment Canada striving to make Environment meetings real “clean”
Banff, Alberta – Environment Minister David Anderson announced the purchase of greenhouse gas emission reductions to make the G8 Environment Ministers meeting, April 12-14, 2002, emissions neutral. The transaction was facilitated by greenhouse gas brokerage CO2e.com, à wholly- owned subsidiary of the Cantor Fitzgerald Group.
Through the initiative, Environment Canada has purchased greenhouse gas emission reductions from an energy efficiency housing project in South Africa. "Canada is committed to finding innovative partnerships and solutions to fight the challenges of climate change", said Environment Minister David Anderson. "These projects demonstrate how the government and the private sector can partner to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also investing in sustainable development."
Environment Canada also offset greenhouse gases associated with the recent Health and Environment Ministers of the Americas meeting, March 4-5, 2002, through the purchase of emission reductions from à biomass power generation project in Brazil.
Both projects reduce carbon dioxide and other air emissions, while delivering high sustainability and social benefits. Greenhouse gas emissions associated with both meetings have been calculated at 1900 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (including air travel, car travel and hotel accommodation). These emissions were neutralised through purchasing emission reductions from the South African and Brazilian emission reductions projects.
Corinne Boone, Managing Director of CO2e.com is pleased to have facilitated the transactions. "These projects illustrate the power that emissions trading brings to enabling greenhouse gas reductions", said Ms. Boone.
Dr Lilia Abron, President of PEER Africa (pty.) Ltd, the engineering firm working to implement the energy-efficient housing in South Africa, explained that funds from the sale of the emission reductions will be used to purchase ceilings, insulation, and other energy efficient features to be installed in the homes that will also “help protect the environment by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that would otherwise have been produced."
"This emissions trading illustrates the potential for integrating renewable energy projects with sustainable development in developing nations", said Carlos de Mathias Martins Jr., Director of Ecoinvest, representing the biomass project in Brazil.
(PR Newswire, April 12)
16. The first transatlantic GHG trade
LONDON - A British company paid à U.s. forestry conservation group for helping reduce carbon dioxide emissions, marking the first transatlantic trade giving credit for improved woodland conservation, the company said.
London-based firm Future Forests Ltd said it bought 7,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide offsets or credits from the Pacific Forest Trust (PFT). Future Forests cannot sell the offsets on to other companies as the voluntary deal was not done under à recognised international emissions trading system. However, it has corporate clients that pay it for taking positive environmental action on their behalf.
"Private entities are clearly forging ahead with global warming solutions despite the continued debate over à global warming strategy", said Laurie Wayburn, president of the PFT, à California-based NGO.
The PFT said it had earned the credits by improving forestry management practices, enabling the woodlands it looked after to absorb more carbon. Previously Future Forests has reduced greenhouse gas emissions mostly through tree planting, he said.
Forest Futures has 120 corporate clients and around 12,000 individual customers that pay it to make their businesses or lives carbon emission free. Its clients wanted to reduce their environmental impact or to be seen as environmentally friendly, while the insurance industry in particular was worried about the effects of unpredictable climate change on its business, Fowkes said.
(by Neil Chatterjee, REUTERS, April 23)
17. Norway plans “recycling” CO2 to observe the Kyoto targets
LONDON - Norwegian state oil company Statoilús shipping division believes it has engineered à revolutionary tanker design that could help the Scandinavian country meet U.n. carbon dioxide emission targets.
A spokesman for Navion, which owns and operates à fleet of 60 ships, said it had approached leading shipbuilders with à blue print design for à tanker that can carry liquefied carbon dioxide. "This could be à smart solution to extracting and storing CO2said Edna Brathammer, who said Norway had to remove millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2010 for it to comply with its Kyoto obligations.
Emissions from oil and gas production now make up 17 percent of Norwegian gas emissions measured as CO2 equivalents. These emissions have increased by 50 percent from 1990 according to figures from the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority. The U.n. Kyoto Protocol commits the country to increase emissions by no more than one percent between 2008 and 2012 compared with 1990 levels.
The CO2 would be extracted from power stations or industrial plants and transported under pressure at à temperature of -50 degees centigrade to an oilfield. There it would be used as à subsitute for more precious commodities like natural gas or water as à medium for pressurisation. "We have submitted the design to à number of shipbuilders and we expect to see bids in the near future", Navionús Brathammer told Reuters. He said à fleet of vessels which he likened to customised liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tankers would be "More flexible and less costly" than à dedicated pipeline which could reach up to 3 billion Norwegian crowns ($350.8 million).
Navion declined to say how many ships would be built. "As à rule of thumb two ships would be needed to carry all of the CO2 extracted from à standard European gas-fired power station", the spokesman said.
(Stefano Ambrogi, REUTERS, April 24)