Download or read book Reduce Carbon Compliance Costs written by Mike Taylor and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-09-14 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reduce Carbon Compliance CostsStrategies for California and Quebec facilities to reduce their compliance cost in the Carbon Cap and Trade Program. I have been tracking, trading, brokering and consulting in the environmental credit markets almost two decades in the United States and Canada. The California and Quebec carbon cap and trade program is by far the most complex system that exists for an environmental credit trading program. The target audience for this book is the environmental professionals or the procurement professionals who are managing the carbon cap and trade compliance for their facilities in California and Quebec. I am writing this book to provide a good overview of the program as well as to share some of the cost-cutting compliance strategies I have developed and deploy with my clients. From 2013 onwards, the Carbon Cap and Trade has added millions of dollars of cost to the many facilities located in California and Quebec that emit more than 25,000 tons of CO2e per year. The rules are complex and change almost yearly. Environmental professionals at these facilities already had a full-time job complying with all the other existing environmental regulations for their facilities before these carbon cap and trade programs were thrust upon them. Now they must also deal with coming to understand more than 400 pages of regulation in California and 117 pages in Quebec. This is a daunting task, to say the least. It is extremely difficult for an environmental professional to become an expert on all existing regulations, keep track of and analyze future potential regulation changes, track the trading market, become an expert on all the trading structures available in the evolving market, recommend the best trading strategies, and then execute the trades. This book will assist the environmental professionals and procurement professionals by providing an overview of the key elements of the carbon cap and trade regulations. In these pages you will find real-life trading strategies that will reduce the cost of compliance and, depending on the size of your facility, the savings could shave millions of dollars off your compliance costs which adds directly to the bottom line of the company's profitability.
Download or read book Climate Change written by Larry Parker and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Facets of the cost issue that have raised concern regarding a greenhouse gas reduction program include absolute costs to the economy, dist. of costs across industries, competitive impact domestically and internationally, incentives for new technol., and uncertainty about costs. Contents of this report: (1) Intro.: Price Versus Quantity Debate; (2) Five Dimensions of the Cost Issue; (3) Addressing Cost Concerns: Tonnage Options; Expand Supply Options; Carbon Tax: Economic-Based Circuit Breaker; Technol.-Based Timetable: Banking and Borrowing; Auctioning Permits; Safety Valve; (4) Illustrative Approaches; (5) Resolving the Price-Quantity Issue; (6) Selected Options to Address Cost Uncertainty of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Programs. Charts and tables.
Download or read book Reducing Co2 Year on Year written by Carbon Trust and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 1 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Citizen s Guide to Climate Success written by Mark Jaccard and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-06 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shows readers how we can all help solve the climate crisis by focusing on a few key, achievable actions.
Download or read book Economic Effects of Legislation to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions written by Barry Leonard and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report discusses one option for reducing emissions in a cost-effective manner: to establish a carefully designed cap-and-trade program. Under such a program, the government would set gradually tightening limits on emissions, issue rights (or allowances) consistent with those limits, and then let firms trade the allowances among themselves. Such a cap-and-trade program would lead to higher prices for energy from fossil fuels and for energy-intensive goods, which would in turn provide incentives for households and businesses to use less carbon-based energy and to develop energy sources that emit smaller amounts of CO2. Charts and tables.
Download or read book Managing Allowance Prices in a Cap and trade Program written by Terry Dinan and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientists generally conclude that rising concentrations of greenhouse gases are warming the Earth's climate. Concern about the damage that might result has led policymakers and analysts to consider policies designed to restrict emissions of those gases. One type of policy, a cap-and-trade program, could minimize the cost of achieving a limit, or cap, on emissions by allowing market forces to determine where, how, and to some extent when the cuts in emissions necessary to achieve the cap would be made. This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study--prepared at the request of the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources--examines the potential effects of features that would help manage allowance prices, and thus the cost of complying with a cap-and-trade program, by altering the number of allowances available to firms at various prices--Preface.
Download or read book Carbon Offsets as a Cost Containment Instrument written by Jieun Kim (S.M.) and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carbon offset is one type of flexibility mechanism in greenhouse gas emission trading schemes that helps nations meet their emission commitments at lower costs. Carbon offsets take advantage of lower abatement cost opportunities from unregulated sectors and regions, which can be used to offset the emissions from regulated nations and sectors. Carbon offsets can also meet multiple objectives; for example, the Clean Development Mechanism in the Kyoto Protocol encourages Annex I countries to promote low carbon sustainable projects in developing countries in exchange for carbon offsets. Alternatively, the costs under cap-and-trade policies are subjected to uncertainties due to uncertainties about technology, energy markets, and emissions. There are several cost-containment instruments to address cost uncertainties, such as banking, borrowing, safety valve, and allowance reserves. Although carbon offsets are verified to reduce expected compliance costs by providing a surplus of cheap allowances that can be used by Annex I countries to help meet their commitments, they have yet to be studied as a cost-containment instrument. Carbon offsets could potentially be a cost-containment instrument as purchasing carbon offsets during instances of high carbon price volatility could potentially provide some relief from high prices. This paper analyzes the effect of carbon offsets on carbon prices, specifically under carbon price uncertainty. I use carbon offsets from abatement activities that reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) as a case study example. My results show that carbon offsets reduce upside costs and thus can be an alternative cost-containment instrument, but cost-effectiveness can be limited by supply uncertainties, offset purchasing restrictions, emission target stringency and competition over demand. Carbon offsets, such as REDD, can serve as a flexibility instrument for developed nations, encourage global participation in reducing GHG emissions, and provide sustainable development support to developing nations.
Download or read book Managing Allowance Prices in a CapandTrade Program written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Climate Change Observations on the Role of Carbon Offsets in Climate Change Legislation written by John Stephenson and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carbon offsets ¿ reductions of greenhouse gas emissions from an activity in one place to compensate for emissions elsewhere ¿ can reduce the cost of regulatory programs to limit emissions because the cost of creating an offset may be less than the cost of requiring entities to make the reductions themselves. To be credible, however, an offset must reduce emissions below the quantity emitted in a business-as-usual scenario. This testimony examines: (1) the challenges in ensuring the quality of carbon offsets in the voluntary market; (2) lessons learned from the Clean Development Mechanism, an international offset program; and (3) matters that the Congress may wish to consider when developing regulatory programs to limit emissions. Illustrations.
Download or read book Leveling the Carbon Playing Field International Competition and US Climate Policy Design written by Trevor Houser and published by Peterson Institute. This book was released on with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines US domestic climate legislation in the face of foreign competition that is not bound to reduce emissions under the current international climate framework.
Download or read book Air Pollution written by DIANE Publishing Company and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1995-04 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Determines the extent to which trading is expected to reduce SO2 emissions and compliance costs, and the status of the allowance trading market; impediments to increased trading of allowances; and the implications for designing a similar approach to curb CO2 emissions. 18 charts and tables
Download or read book Carbon Markets written by Arnaud Brohé and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-16 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Choice Outstanding Academic Titles of 2010 award. This book is a comprehensive and accessible guide to understanding the opportunities offered by regulated and voluntary carbon markets for tackling climate change. Coverage includes: - An overview of the problem of climate change, with a concise review of the most recent scientific evidence in different fields - A highly accessible introduction to the economic theory and different constitutive elements of a carbon allowances market - Explanation of the Kyoto Protocol and its flexibility mechanisms - Explanation of how the EU Emissions Trading Scheme works in practice - Ongoing developments in regulated carbon markets in the US - Up-to-the-minute coverage of regulated carbon markets in Australia - Developments in New Zealand and Japan - Carbon offsetting and voluntary carbon markets. Combining theoretical aspects with practical applications, this book is for business leaders, financiers, carbon traders, lawyers, bankers, researchers, policy makers and anyone interested in market mechanisms to mitigate climate change. The carbon emissions resulting from the production of this book have been calculated, reduced and offset to render the bookcarbon neutral. Published with CO2 Neutral
Download or read book Containing the Costs of Climate Policy written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This policy brief outlines various options for containing costs under a cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Although cap and trade is generally considered a more cost-effective approach than traditional regulation, excessive allowance prices are a concern, particularly in the early years of a program when some low carbon technologies are not likely to be commercially available. High allowance prices could mean high compliance costs for regulated firms and high energy prices for consumers. A number of the design elements of a cap-and-trade policy--including the stringency of the emission reduction targets and the distribution of allowance value--will influence the cost of the policy. However, uncertainty regarding allowances prices, and in particular short-term price volatility and persistently high prices, are of concern to stakeholders. Policy options to address these concerns include allowing facilities to bank allowances, permitting firms or the government to borrow allowances from future allocations, allowing (or expanding) the use of offsets, allowing the use of multi-year compliance periods, setting a ceiling on allowance prices, or even relaxing the cap or emission targets associated with the policy. Each of these options has strengths and weaknesses and their desired results must often be weighed against the reduced certainty of meeting the environmental objective. A number of these polices, such as banking, could be established as part of the overall policy from the beginning of the program. Others could be set to be triggered automatically if allowance prices reach a certain level or at the discretion of a market oversight entity. It is likely that any viable cap-and-trade proposal will include a variety of cost containment mechanisms.
Download or read book Carbon Offsets written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carbon offsets-reductions of greenhouse gas emissions from an activity in one place to compensate for emissions elsewhere-are a way to address climate change by paying someone else to reduce emissions. To be credible, an offset must be additional-it must reduce emissions below the quantity emitted in a business-as-usual scenario-among other criteria. Assessing credibility is inherently challenging because it is difficult to make business-as-usual projections. Outside the U.S., offsets may be purchased on compliance markets to meet requirements to reduce emissions. In the U.S., there are no federal requirements and offsets may be purchased in the voluntary market. GAO was asked to examine (1) the scope of the U.S. voluntary carbon offset market, including the role of the federal government; (2) the extent to which mechanisms for ensuring the credibility of offsets are available and used and what, if any, related information is shared with consumers; and (3) trade-offs associated with increased oversight of the U.S. market and including offsets in climate change mitigation policies. This report is based on analysis of literature and data, interviews with stakeholders, and GAO's purchase of offsets. The scope of the U.S. voluntary carbon offset market is uncertain because of limited data, but available information indicates that the supply of offsets generated from projects based in the United States is growing rapidly. Data obtained from a firm that analyzes the carbon market show that the supply of offsets increased from about 6.2 million tons in 2004 to about 10.2 million tons in 2007. Over 600 organizations develop, market, or sell offsets in the United States, and the market involves a wide range of participants, prices, transaction types, and projects. The federal government plays a small role in the voluntary market by providing limited consumer protection and technical assistance, and no single regulatory body has oversight responsibilities. U.S. Supply of Voluntary Offsets by Volume and Number of Projects from 2000 through 2007 YearSource: GAO analysis of Point Carbon data.NumberVolume in millions(metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent)29180050100150200250024681012Number of projectsVolume (metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) 2007200620052004200320022001200011369934821113 A variety of quality assurance mechanisms, including standards for verification and monitoring, are available and used to evaluate offsets, but data are not sufficient to determine the extent of their use. Information shared with consumers on credibility is also limited. Participants in the offset market face challenges ensuring the credibility of offsets, including problems determining additionality, and the existence of many quality assurance mechanisms. GAO, through its purchase of offsets, found that the information provided to consumers by retailers offered limited assurance of credibility. Increased federal oversight of the U.S. voluntary market could enhance the market's transparency and improve consumer protection, but may also reduce flexibility, increase administrative costs, and stifle innovation, according to certain stakeholders. Including offsets in regulatory programs to limit greenhouse gas emissions could also lower the cost of compliance, according to recent EPA analyses and economic literature. However, some stakeholders said that concerns about the credibility of offsets could compromise the environmental integrity of a compliance system.
Download or read book Managing Climate Risk in the U S Financial System written by Leonardo Martinez-Diaz and published by U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission . This book was released on 2020-09-09 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication serves as a roadmap for exploring and managing climate risk in the U.S. financial system. It is the first major climate publication by a U.S. financial regulator. The central message is that U.S. financial regulators must recognize that climate change poses serious emerging risks to the U.S. financial system, and they should move urgently and decisively to measure, understand, and address these risks. Achieving this goal calls for strengthening regulators’ capabilities, expertise, and data and tools to better monitor, analyze, and quantify climate risks. It calls for working closely with the private sector to ensure that financial institutions and market participants do the same. And it calls for policy and regulatory choices that are flexible, open-ended, and adaptable to new information about climate change and its risks, based on close and iterative dialogue with the private sector. At the same time, the financial community should not simply be reactive—it should provide solutions. Regulators should recognize that the financial system can itself be a catalyst for investments that accelerate economic resilience and the transition to a net-zero emissions economy. Financial innovations, in the form of new financial products, services, and technologies, can help the U.S. economy better manage climate risk and help channel more capital into technologies essential for the transition. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5247742
Download or read book Air Pollution written by United States. General Accounting Office and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Climate Change written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carbon offsets--reductions of greenhouse gas emissions from an activity in one place to compensate for emissions elsewhere--can reduce the cost of regulatory programs to limit emissions because the cost of creating an offset may be less than the cost of requiring entities to make the reductions themselves. To be credible, however, an offset must be additional--it must reduce emissions below the quantity emitted in a business-as-usual scenario--among other criteria. In the U.S., there are no federal requirements to limit emissions and offsets may be purchased in a voluntary market. Outside the U.S., offsets may be purchased on compliance markets to meet requirements to reduce emissions. The Congress is considering adopting a market-based cap-and-trade program to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Such a program would create a price on emissions based on the supply and demand for allowances to emit. Under such a program, regulated entities could potentially substitute offsets for on-site emissions reductions, thereby lowering their compliance costs. Today's testimony summarizes GAO's prior work examining (1) the challenges in ensuring the quality of carbon offsets in the voluntary market, (2) the effects of and lessons learned from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), an international offset program, and (3) matters that the Congress may wish to consider when developing regulatory programs to limit emissions. In an August 2008 report, GAO identified four primary challenges related to the United States voluntary carbon offset market. First, the concept of a carbon offset is complicated because offsets can involve different activities, definitions, greenhouse gases, and timeframes for measurement. Second, ensuring the credibility of offsets is challenging because there are many ways to determine whether a project is additional to a business-as-usual baseline, and inherent uncertainty exists in measuring emissions reductions relative to such a baseline. Related to this, the use of multiple quality assurance mechanisms with varying requirements may raise questions about whether offsets are fully fungible--interchangeable and of comparable quality. Third, including offsets in regulatory programs to limit greenhouse gas emissions could result in environmental and economic tradeoffs. For example offsets could lower the cost of complying with an emissions reduction policy, but this may delay on-site reductions by regulated entities. Fourth, offsets could compromise the environmental certainty of a regulatory program if offsets used for compliance lack credibility. In a November 2008 report, GAO examined the environmental and economic effects of the CDM--an international program allowing certain industrialized nations to pay for offset projects in developing countries--and identified lessons learned about the role of carbon offsets in programs to limit emissions. While the CDM has provided cost containment in a mandatory emissions reduction program, its effects on emissions are uncertain, largely because it is nearly impossible to determine the level of emissions that would have occurred in the absence of each project. Although a rigorous review process seeks to ensure the credibility of projects, available evidence from those with experience in the program suggests that some offset projects were not additional. In addition, the project approval process is lengthy and resource intensive, which significantly limits the scale and cost-effectiveness of emissions reductions. The findings from these two reports illustrate how challenges in the voluntary offset market and the use of offsets for compliance--even in a rigorous, standardized process like the CDM--may compromise the environmental integrity of mandatory programs to limit emissions and should be carefully evaluated. As a result of these challenges, GAO suggested that, as it considers legislation that allows the use of offsets for compliance, the Congress may wish to consider, among other things, directing the establishment of clear rules about the types of projects that regulated entities can use as offsets, as well as procedures to account and compensate for the inherent uncertainty associated with offset projects. Further, GAO suggested that the Congress consider key lessons from the CDM, including the possibility that, (1) due to the tradeoffs involving cost savings and the credibility of offsets, their use in mandatory programs may be, at best, a temporary solution to achieving emissions reductions, and (2) the program's approval process may not be a cost-effective model for achieving emission reductions.
