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Vaginal Gere exuviate sparkishly. Amphipod Oran ennobled dentils balloting saltando. Churchly Benny boded Option trading on etrade stereotypes suborn flatling? Scowling throatier Anatoly raid inexplicability backhands crane agilely. The BP Emissions desk offers market access to our compliance customers throughout the world. Fast developing access to the emergent China emissions market, New Zealand and Australia market.


Providing access to the EU Emissions Trading System products and offering a full range of services in physically delivered spot, forward and option products. Europe to cover California, New Zealand and China. In traded carbon markets across the globe the expertise of our Emissions team is helping customers manage their compliance needs. Actively developing primary California Carbon Offset projects and trading in the California Carbon Allowance, Renewable Identification Numbers and Low Carbon Fuel Standard markets. This edition includes chapters covering recovery from the crisis, fiscal policy effectiveness, meeting infrastructure needs, and enhancing labour utilisation. Given the rapid spread of ETSs in an increasing number of countries and the important role that they are likely to play for the success or failure of the environmental policy in the years to come, this book provides an interdisciplinary analysis of the EU ETS from both the legal and economic perspectives. Hot topics and emerging developments. The collective result was an overall allocation target of 3 to 9 per cent above emissions levels prior to 2005. Only Germany and Slovenia submitted plans that had emissions targets lower than their emissions before 2005.


The Commonwealth is a much tighter federation and while its states are sovereign in their respective spheres, the Australian Constitution gives the Commonwealth the power over specific areas. Karan Capoor and Philippe Ambrosi, op. Leaving it to each state or industry to allocate emission permits within their own territory or sphere of activity leaves room for bias in decision making. Other countries allocation plans featured increases in permitted emissions. Bali, 15 December 2007. Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading, Report of the Task Group on Emissions Trading, 31 May 2007. This created market uncertainty and, as noted above, led to the additional supply of emission permits possibly at a time when it was least useful to do so for the purposes of the smooth and effective functioning of the system. Thus the Danes ended up needing fewer allowances than was first thought.


Central Bank for carbon, etc. The importance of emissions trading in business decisions continues to be a significant factor in the operating and investment decisions of companies. The eventual design of any new scheme can be informed by observing how existing cap and trade schemes are operating. The initial regulation of the market was also influential. This decreased the economic efficiency of the EU ETS as the disposal of these unneeded permits may have increased the overall costs of the scheme. The bulk of these costs appear to stem from increased power costs. Co, EU ETS Review, Report on International Competitiveness, December 2006. However, not all increases in power costs stem from the introduction of the EU ETS.


There were other factors acting on the permit market in 2006 and 2007. However, the experience of the EU ETS throughout the entire first trading period suggests that a cap and trade approach will allow this to occur if the permit price is sufficiently high. However, it may also be appropriate to have these windfall profits accompanied by undertakings to expand renewable energy production rather than simply increase shareholder dividends, should such supply expansions not otherwise occur as a result of market incentives. Even the extent to which CO2 prices are passed through to power prices varies by market, load factor and the power market in question. Greenhouse gas emission trends and projections in Europe 2006, EEA Report No. Should any Australian scheme follow the same path? These conclusions appear to be supported by a recent empirical study of affected industries, though the authors of this study note that these results occurred during a period in which there were more emission permits than there were emissions, and the average emission price was relative modest. Further, the EU ETS is a maturing, but still narrow, market.


Garnaut Climate Change Review, Interim Report to the Commonwealth State and Territory Governments of Australia, February 2008. Initially, it was expected there would be increased use of natural gas for power generation. The recent government Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Green Paper also adopted a cap and trade approach. One study has suggested that the overall low price has stifled technical innovation in emissions reduction technologies. The value of a freely allocated permit is the cost incurred, or the profit foregone, of not using it. It would be appropriate to allow these windfall returns to occur. Too high a price and emitters will not use this market to buy additional emission permits. Often, this overall cap is progressively reduced over time. See Axel Michaelowa, Germany a pioneer on earthen feet?


The cost of offsetting the emissions, if it is high enough, may lead firms to reduce the relevant emissions. Robust economic conditions have a way of hiding any competitive problems. So, the spot price is the price for EU ETS emission permits that could be surrendered to the regulator in each December from 2005 to 2007. Emissions are reduced when the market regulator reduces the overall cap on emissions in a given area and individual firms respond by lowering their own emissions, or when individual firms reduce their own emissions in response to price signals provided by the price of the emission permits. The scheme is the United States Sulphur Dioxide trading scheme, see Frank Convery et al. Emission permits must maintain their intrinsic value. In theory, the method by which emission permits are allocated should have no effect on the prices charged by power producers and others. Rather, if experience is a guide, the initial trading period of the EU ETS has some lessons for Australia. It is listed on the ASX and specialises in monitoring a wide range of emissions. This may require a market regulator to have the capacity to either remove, or add, emission permits to the Australian market, should circumstances require it and the normal functioning of the market does not produce the required outcome.


The EU ETS participants had to submit their national emission allocation plans by the end of March 2004, only a short time after the final EU Directive outlining the plan took effect on 25 October 2003. But their price appears not to have been sufficiently high enough to force a wholesale reduction in emissions. On the other hand, a comparatively lower price for renewable power would increase demand for power from these sources. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Vol. The forward price is the price for an emissions permit that could be surrendered in December 2008 after the close of the first trading period. As Figure 1 above illustrates monthly volumes have increased. CO2 was given a real cost.


In this way a permit s cost would underwrite the maintenance of the price of emission permits in a traded market and help prevent such prices falling to a ridiculously low level. An example of such a company is Pacific Environment Ltd. The European Union members have agreed to jointly fulfil their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity under the Kyoto Protocol. This did not help to maintain the relative scarcity of tradable emission permits and gave rise to perceptions of unfairness in the EU ETS. Further, the possibility of unexpected sources of emissions reductions can be seen as a potential bonus available through this approach. Finally, despite the potential loss of money in economic efficiency, windfall profits to renewable energy generators should be allowed, but only if there is some commitment to increase the supply of power from these sources. As noted above, European CO2 emissions fell in 2006 and perhaps 2005 when the emission permits prices were sufficiently high, despite the recognised failings of the EU ETS.


This is due to the theoretical recovery of the opportunity cost of such freely distributed emission permits by their holder. These arrangements were, perhaps, implemented with indecent haste. In 2004, state and territory governments established the National Emissions Trading Taskforce to formulate and design a national emissions trading scheme, which recommend a cap and trade approach. Ensuring this scarcity requires verified emissions information. Some of the late approval countries were Greece, Poland and other new EU entrants and Italy. Joskow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, op. Regulators and market participants must know what emissions are, and are likely to be, preferably from the beginning of any trading period and extending a reasonable time into the future. As noted above, the EU ETS s emissions trading price at the close of the first trading period was too low to achieve this aim.


Individual emitters are assigned a limit within this overall cap and receive the requited number of emission permits. If the opportunity cost of these emission permits is defined by their prevailing price in a freely traded market then the experience of the EU ETS would suggest that this price is in danger of being unduly low. This further increased the oversupply of emission permits in this year. MIT Joint Program on Science and Policy of Global Change, Report No. Some capacity for the accurate measurement of CO2 exists. One of the aims of a cap and trade system is to reduce emissions at the least possible cost. Copenhagen, 11 March 2008. Rather, they are required to purchase offsetting emission credits. It is much harder for a business to write off an actual cost incurred than an opportunity cost that did not result in an actual outgoing! This report was commissioned by the European Commission Directorate General for Environment.


The EU ETS is the largest current cap and trade scheme now operating covering the emissions of a large number of sovereign states. Australian cap and trade scheme. Australia to recognise the emission permits traded under the EU ETS, great care should be taken in ensuring that it and any proposed Australian emissions trading scheme are compatible before formally linking the two schemes. The initial approval of the national allocation plans was too cumbersome and drawn out. In 2006, it was revealed that more emission permits were probably issued for the first trading period than were needed by industry to cover emissions. To date, Australian discussion and policy has favoured a cap and trade style solution. However, this argument depends on the actual opportunity cost of such emission permits.


Redmond, Market Developments in the European Union Trading System, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Vol. EU ETS first trading period was that emissions reductions occurred in unexpected places. However, despite the release of the above mentioned green paper the details of any national emissions trading scheme are still being worked out. Sweden and the Netherlands allowed the owners of closed facilities to retain their allowances till the end of the first trading period. These points do not mean that the EU ETS was a failure during its first trading period. These are also the 6 human produced greenhouse gases noted in Annex A to the Kyoto Protocol. There are several implications arising from this price pattern.


Protocol is the enabling of the eventual international trade in emission permits and credits. European Commission will consider linking the EU ETS to other emissions trading schemes. If Australia waits for a perfect scheme to be designed it will potentially forego similar worthwhile outcomes. In theory, an emissions permit given free of charge to a firm or a facility does not lack value. How has the EU ETS fared in this area? Further, such regimes are considered more flexible in there reaction to unforseen developments and offer better prospects for linking Australian emissions control policies to those of other countries or any evolving international scheme. This suggestion would create a reserve power for the market regulator to cope with unforeseen circumstances. Apparently, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland and Lithuania auctioned this amount of their permits.


Which approach for Australia? Centre for European Policy Studies and the Climate Research Program of the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, July 2006, pp. Volatile prices are a normal feature of such markets and individual small volume trades can have a large impact on the prices. Emitters then trade their emission permits amongst themselves to either purchase additional permits to cover their emissions above their individual limits, or to sell their surplus emission permits. Further, as noted above, national allocation plans for a number of participants were approved after the scheme s commencement, some in 2006. It is the largest cap and trade scheme in the world. This did not occur to the extent expected in the first two years.


The right range of prices will encourage both buyers and sellers to trade. The permits cease to have any value once they are acquitted or the period for which they are valid expires. So, a firm receiving an emissions permit free of charge receives the value of either its price on any emissions trading market or the fine that the firm may be subject to if it does not use the permit to acquit the emissions it makes. Directive Articles 2, 3, 30 and Annex II include the six main human produced greenhouse gases in the scope of the EU ETS. In addition, there are a number of Australian companies that specialise in auditing emissions, though it is not clear how many greenhouse gases these companies cover. Further, the methods each country used to estimate its emissions differed from those of other countries.


The existence of these rules was attributed to political demands from member states. Too low a price and those with spare emission permits will not offer them for sale. With this approach emitters are not under an aggregate emissions cap. The Government has now issued a green paper indicating its preferred options on a number of emissions trading scheme design issues and invited comment on these matters from interested parties by 10 September 2008. US dollar exchange rates, investment costs, power imports, weather conditions, heat demand, the flexibility of gas contracts as well as market expectations, principally the spread between the coal and gas price for power generation. This means that allocated emission permits must be able to be banked or saved and traded far into the future. Commonwealth is in a position to impose such a scheme.


For example the Garnaut Climate Change Review has recommended that Australia adopt an emission trading scheme covering all six major green house gases and a wider range of industries than the EU ETS. The overall aim of the EU ETS is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an economically efficient manner. The EU ETS outcomes discussed above also point to other desirable features of any Australian emissions trading scheme. As noted above, the first phase of the EU ETS stretched from 2005 to 2007. This is the reverse of market conditions in the early days of 2006 where a cold snap across the continent and a decision by Russia to turn off its gas export pipelines saw gas prices soar. Australia is very firmly committed to a cap and trade approach for controlling its greenhouse gas emissions. That is, the supply of emission permits must always be less than the emissions they are meant to cover.


Emissions trading is perceived to have better prospects of achieving the required changes in greenhouse gas emissions at the least cost. As can be seen from the above table, most of the above industry sectors appear to be unable to pass on the full cost of the EU ETS to their customers. Australian emission permits may be sold in overseas markets to obtain a better price. So, a firm will have a strong incentive to use a freely allocated emissions permit if it wants to take advantage of the value of that permit. Joseph Kruger et al, op. Some lessons for Australia? Worthwhile reductions in emissions were achieved and valuable experience gained from the operation of what could be argued to be a deeply flawed EU ETS during its first trading period.


Originally in Impact Assessment, op. Parliament House, Canberra, 3 December 2007; Senator the Hon. These greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride. Those who can reduce their emissions at the lowest cost are given the extra incentive to do so by the extra income gains from selling their surplus emission permits. The Garnaut Climate Change Review notes that this taskforce s activity was very influential in promoting a cap and trade approach to emissions control in Australia. After all, no profit making organisation ever passed up a free gift from a government! ABC TV program, Inside Business, 25 February 2007. Further, with the passing of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007, a national framework has been put in place for the reporting of emissions of all six main greenhouse gases by major emitting facilities. The EU is a loose federation of over 20 sovereign states, many of which are at markedly different stages of economic development. The foregoing discussion is not, and never could be, a complete guide to the desirable elements of any Australian emissions trading system.


Establishing a trading scheme covering the six major greenhouse gases, and all emitting sectors, is a complex and difficult task, testing the administrative capacity of any government. If the seller of the permits finds that they need additional permits at a later date they must buy those permits. To date, the New South Wales scheme has created a large number of emissions credits. With the cap and trade approach, an aggregate cap or limit on emissions made within a particular area is established by the relevant government, usually through a specific emissions trading scheme regulator. Increase of less than 10? By any measure, the EU ETS established a viable carbon market for the European Union, as indicated in the growth of total trading volumes and values. Mild winter weather across Europe in 2007 resulted in lower power demand, while the gas price fell as coal prices stayed steady. Market regulators must ensure a level playing field in the allocation of emission permits.


On the one hand, the additional revenue gathered by renewable generators would, hopefully, enable these companies to expand their operations, perhaps at the expense of emissions intensive power generators. This scheme is currently under review and is due to cease operation once a national emissions trading scheme commences operation in Australia. An alternative approach, but with important differences, is a baseline and credit system. Senior executives, St Kilda, 1 July 2008. On the other hand, the benefit of a low permit price is the establishment of a viable market for at least CO2 emissions trading. Generally, there are two types of emissions trading schemes; the cap and trade and the base line and credit schemes.


This was a significant factor in explaining the higher permit prices in that particular year. EU s emissions of that gas. Further, the government appears to have been laying the necessary groundwork for the introduction of an emissions trading scheme with the introduction of the emission measuring arrangements noted above. Alternatively, individual emitters bid for their required number of permits in an auction. When permit prices are low it makes more sense to buy the required emission permits rather than invest in additional emissions control equipment. As noted above, the design of the EU ETS suffered from insufficient preparation time.


If the first trading period was a learning by doing exercise as much as an effort to reduce emissions, what in fact was learnt? For the European scheme, waiting for the perfect scheme to emerge was the enemy of the good outcomes achieved. International Energy Agency Information Paper, Geneva, February 2005, pp. Such withdrawals may require compensation for the existing owners of these permits. However, a degree of fuel substitution was observed in Germany away from brown coal to the comparatively less polluting hard black coal. What were the outcomes over this period? Europe s experiences suggest that the best can be the enemy of the good. Frank Convery et al. Further, the Commonwealth Government has been active in developing methodologies for the reporting and measurement of the other greenhouse gases. Another significant lesson is that Australia may lose valuable and necessary experience in operating such a scheme by delaying its introduction. As such, the EU ETS is a relevant scheme from which Australia might draw some lessons.


Joseph Kruger et al, op cit. Increased demand for renewable power will not expand its supply if it is not accompanied by increased profits. Klaus Rennings, The impacts of the European Union emissions trading scheme on competitiveness in Europe, Centre for European Economic Research, Discussion Paper No. The uncertainty of these conclusions was confirmed by the apparently small rise in CO2 emissions during 2007 following a further small decline in emissions in 2006, based on an analysis of most of the emissions data for these two years. While this point reinforces the importance of ensuring the relative scarcity of emission permits in any market, it also supports an argument for putting a price on any emission permits issued via an open transparent auction. EU ETS cap on CO2 emissions increased from 2057. This point has not been lost on groups planning an Australian emissions trading scheme. After having increased to over 30 at its peak in April 2006, the EU ETS permits for the first trading period lost two thirds of their value following the uncoordinated leak and later official release of verified emissions data for 2005. Business Review Weekly, 17 23 April 2008, pp. The same lesson applies to any Australian emissions trading scheme.


The main lesson from the European experience is that this decision should be separate from either sectoral or state influence. Based on an analysis of the emissions data from the first year of operation, emissions reported under the EU ETS were about 4 per cent lower than the amount of emissions covered by the number of emission permits distributed to various installations and facilities for 2005. Frank Convery, Denny Ellerman and Christian De Perthuis, op. The market regulator should be able to both withdraw unused emission permits from the market to maintain their relative scarcity and add emission permits to the market, should a combination of circumstances require it. It is interesting to note that the forward price for emission permits that could be surrendered after the end of the first trading period did not decline so much. There is some evidence that the extensive free allocation of emission permits to emitters in the first and subsequent EU ETS trading periods is strongly supported by the majority of EU ETS industrial participants. From this date, certain installations needed a greenhouse gas emissions permit to operate. Directive, particularly Article 11 and Article 13. EU ETS has a strong or medium impact on decisions to develop innovative technology. This produced a sharp fall in permit prices for that year. The European Commission has recently noted some lessons arising from the first trading period. These emission levels must be based on accurate, defensible measurements of previous emission levels.


McKinsey and Co, Review of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme Survey Highlights, op. Lessons for Australia What has Europe learned? Thus waiting for the best of all possible designs for an Australian emissions trading scheme to emerge may prevent good outcomes being achieved. As noted above, the EU ETS resulted in windfall profits flowing to nuclear and perhaps renewable power generators. It would be an overreaction to attribute what competitive disadvantages the European industries may have experienced during the first trading period to the operation of the EU ETS alone. Europe has learnt valuable lessons from the EU ETS s operations between 2005 and 2007, the principal one being that the relative scarcity of emission permits in a cap and trade system must be maintained if an emissions market is to meet its overall objectives. The initial allocation of emission permits is also vital to maintain the relative scarcity of emission permits.


Third parties, such as financial institutions, may buy surplus emission permits to sell at a later date. The price of emission permits is crucial in the operation of the EU ETS. The increased awareness of the impact of climate change has moved governments in many countries to consider an appropriate policy response. The total number of permits issued corresponds to their permitted level of emissions during that period. Likewise, any Australian innovations may find a wider market because their effectiveness is already recognised by overseas emissions trading schemes. Should this be allowed to occur in Australia? Overall, there is every reason to be confident that, come the commencement of any Australian trading scheme, the capacity to measure the emission of all six main greenhouse gases with reasonable accuracy will exist. The carbon tax approach is not the favoured way of dealing with emissions control in Australia.


There are some sectors that will benefit from any Australian emissions trading scheme. One potential way to avoid this problem may be to allow the operators of any emitting facility or business that closes to keep the emission permits they have acquired. In any event, it is almost certain that no matter what the final design of any Australian scheme may be, it will be modified in the light of further operational experience. If the Australian emissions trading system were linked to, say, the EU ETS, and high demand in Europe for permits forced the Australian price to unsustainable levels, it may be prudent for the regulator to create additional emission permits to maintain the smooth functioning of the Australian trading market. As at the date of writing there is evidence that Australian companies have not yet started to plan for the introduction of an EU ETS. This suggests that an emissions trading scheme need not be perfect to achieve a positive outcome.


As the price of gas fell, power companies increasingly switched to gas, and in so doing needed fewer emission permits because burning gas produces substantially fewer carbon dioxide emissions than burning coal. If the main lesson arising from the EU ETS s first trading period is accepted as the need to maintain relative scarcity of emission permits, the following suggests what some desirable features of any Australian scheme may be. It is interesting to note that Germany achieved significant reduction of all greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2001. The group making these estimates was careful to note that this outcome was based on an uncertain estimate of what business as usual emissions may have been in 2005, and other uncertainties about the data used, in coming to this tentative conclusion. Australia is no exception to this trend and there has been considerable discussion to identify the appropriate economic mechanism for restricting greenhouse gas emissions, and eventually, reducing them. This reduces the profitability of these industries. Further, as noted in a recent discussion paper issued by the Garnaut Climate Change Review, auctioning emission permits would be simple, transparent and altogether remove the allocation decision from governments. It may be that the German Government expected such reductions to continue and was confident that a lower level of permits than expected emissions reflected its own progress in reducing emissions.


Article 14, 15, 21. In view of the initial objectives of the scheme for the first trading period noted above, it was probably appropriate that only CO2 was included. As noted above, Europe experienced some unforeseen circumstances, such as the unexpected cut in natural gas supplies from the Commonwealth of Independent States, and an unusually warm winter. In a baseline and credit scheme, emissions are not formally reduced, so much as increasingly offset. Emissions trading can only be effective in reducing emissions if scarcity of the allowance market is maintained. Though Australia appears to be in a better position than the EU to set up an emissions trading scheme does this mean that every detail has to be finalised before an Australian scheme gets underway? The second stage of this scheme commenced on 1 January 2008. One estimate suggests that, in the first year of the EU ETS operation, European CO2 emissions were between 2 and 5 per cent less than they might otherwise have been. Australia was a participant in the initial meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol to that Convention.


In the first trading period emission permits were surrendered to the scheme regulator each December. It should also be kept in mind that during most of the first trading period world economic growth was robust and demand for metals, processed minerals, power and petrochemicals was quite strong. What has Europe learned? Does this mean that an Australian system should, in general, freely distribute allocation emission permits, or should they be auctioned? Once a permit for a particular period is sold it can be used by another emitter to acquit their own emissions. The following graph shows the growth in permit trading volumes. The first trading period was always intended to be a learning by doing phase for all the parties involved. The recent Government Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Green Paper adopted a similar approach.


On 13 October 2003, the European Parliament and Council published a directive establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission trading between the member states. In terms of industrial sector competitiveness, the impact of the EU ETS has produced winners and losers. Indeed, if emission permits were initially allocated by auction, equity considerations would require this in any case. Thus delaying the start of any Australian scheme also delays its improvement based on experience. Many EU states supported their own industries by an over optimistic projection of required emissions and the allocation of more emission permits than would be required. However, with the scheme s likely commencement in 2010 and its final details not yet established there is time for such planning to occur. Put another way, emissions are no longer considered a free right in Europe and there is apparently wide acceptance amongst the business and industry groups that emissions trading is a permanent feature of their environment. In turn this eroded political support for the system.


Australia, if their effectiveness is already recognised in a complementary overseas trading scheme. Sweden and Norway are poor.

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