reegle Blog

We must now focus on the opportunities for green growth that can put the global economy onto a stable and sustainable path, said Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat in a statement for Poznan negotiations. Worries about the costs of combating climate change and rifts between European Union states are likely to strain 185-nation talks, writes Reuters. The election of Barack Obama as U.S. president may, however, help the mood at the Poznan meeting. John Kerry, incoming chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will attend and report back to Obama. "After eight years of delay, destruction and denial, the United states is going to rejoin the international community in tackling this global challenge," he said last week. Read the full article at www.energy-enviro.fi

The draft report assembled proposals presented by countries and observer organizations since last year's U.N. talks in Bali, Indonesia, on what a new treaty should feature. The proposals will help lawmakers meeting at an upcoming U.N. climate summit in Poznan, Poland, to move closer to sealing a new agreement to confront potentially devastating global warming, writes Reuters. A major change is expected to happen in the U.S. position. In Bali, the U.S. said "any long-term global goal should be aspirational instead of binding". This week, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said he wants to reduce U.S. carbon emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020 and cut them by an additional 80 percent by 2050. Read the full article at www.energy-enviro.fi

Under rules set by the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), projects such as reducing the rate of tropical deforestation could get tradable credits for a voluntary market aimed at companies and individuals. "For the first time ever investors can rely on robust rules for crediting agriculture, agriculture and other land use projects," said David Antonioli, chief executive of the London-based VCS Association. The VCS is backed by the Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association, the World Economic Forum and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. The VCS is expected to help UN climate talks to find new ways to grant developing nations to combat deforestration. Read the full article at www.energy-enviro.fi

After a very long first day with hundreds of interested people at our booth we just started the second day at Carbon Forum Asia. My impression is that the most important thing for most of the attendees here is to get practitioneers and decision makers on one table and discuss about possible solutions for the fight against climate change. For REEEP it is a great opportunity to showcase how easy it is to find information about clean energy topics on the www and the feedback we get about the functionality is very positive. I took this opportunity to showcase our new design and asked visitors for feedback - it seems like our conceptional and design team did a great job

Back to the conference: One of the main parts of this conference and exhibition is the so called ’sellers pavillion’ where about 60 representatives from developing countries in Asia and the Pacific involved in clean energy and CDM projects promote their solutions. This pavillion is intensivly used by credit buyers o meet face to face with project developers and explore business oppotunities.

Today several very interesting workshops are taking place and I am looking forward to the final day of Carbon Forum Asia.

At the moment I am attending the Carbon Forum Asia 2008, which is a Trade Fair and Conference focusing on the opportunities presented by Carbon Markets and mechanisms in the Asia Pacific region. If you are attending this Forum, you can find the reegle booth at the exhibition hall 401 (A15).

What happened until now?

The conference has been opened by a speech of Mr. S. Iswaran, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry in Singapore. He stated that “Climate change is one of the biggest global challenges we face this millenium” and that it is “in our profound collective interest that we work towards a solution to sustain the world we live in”. He also mentioned that because of the global economic slowdown “governments will have to deal with compelling domestic imperatives” and that “this may adversely affect the process and progress of climate change negotations”. Nevertheless CO2 emssions needs “an urgent and collective solutio, with all parties playing commensurate roles, even in this period of global slowdown”.

After this opening session the exhibition opened for all participants and 258 exhibitors from more than 60 countries started to introduce their products and solutions to more than 3000 visitors.

At the moment Henry Derwent (IETA) is chairing the session about the actual state of the global carbon market which provides an overview about the most recent developments and market data in the Global Carbon Market.

In the afternoon there will be several other interesting session taking place and I am looking forward to hear more about Carbon Trading in Asia.

Will keep you up-to-date …