Eco (atlantic) Oil & Gas Share Discussion Threads

[kozel] 27/6/2007 16:34

There seems to be no stopping this share. An impressive rise again on what's been a generaly lousy day all round.

[praipus] 27/6/2007 13:45

Climate Exchange House of Representatives


RNS Number:1115Z
Climate Exchange PLC
27 June 2007





Press Release
For Immediate Release
27 June 2007



CLIMATE EXCHANGE PLC

United States House of Representatives to offset its carbon dioxide emissions
though the Chicago Climate Exchange


On 22nd June, U.S. Representative Mark Kirk announced that his amendment
requiring the U.S. House of Representatives to offset carbon dioxide emissions
through the Chicago Climate Exchange ("CCX"), a wholly owned subsidiary of
Climate Exchange Plc, was passed by 216 votes to 176.

The amendment was attached to the 2008 Legislative Branch appropriations bill
which requests that the House Chief Administrative Officer purchase Carbon
Financial Instruments from American projects through the Chicago Climate
Exchange to offset carbon produced by all House operations after renewable
energy and efficiency improvements have been made.

Congressman Kirk said: "This amendment will ensure that the House of
Representatives becomes 'carbon neutral', an important component of the House
Chief Administrative Officer's plan to green the Capitol. By purchasing offset
credits, we can mitigate the emissions generated by the Capitol Power Plant and
the House's massive electricity use. The House should set the standard for
environmental responsibility - this amendment helps us reach the goal. As
private organizations like the Chicago Climate Exchange step up to address the
environmental needs of our nation, we know that they will receive the necessary
support from the House."

Dr. Richard Sandor, Chairman of Climate Exchange Plc, said: "We are proud to
welcome the participation of the Untied States House of Representatives in the
CCX. It showcases the House's Administrative Office foresight and leadership in
the issue of global climate change. The U.S. House of Representative's purchase
of CCX Carbon Financial Instruments highlights the contribution that U.S.
farmers, ranchers, foresters and other providers of renewal energy are having in
the building of environmental and financial institutions that can
cost-effectively help address environmental concerns for generations to come."


Contact

Neil Eckert, CEO, Climate Exchange Plc 0207 382 7801
Dr. Richard Sandor, Chairman Climate Exchange Plc 001 312 554 3370
Peter Rigby, Haggie Financial 0207 471 8989


About Climate Exchange Plc

Climate Exchange Plc is a holding company whose subsidiaries are principally
engaged in owning, operating and developing exchanges to facilitate trading in
environmental financial instruments including emissions reduction credits in
both voluntary and mandatory markets. The two main businesses are the Chicago
Climate Exchange (CCX) which operates a voluntary but legally binding cap and
trade system including an exchange for CO2 emissions as well as SOx and NOx
contracts in the US and internationally, and the European Climate Exchange (ECX)
which operates an exchange focussed on compliance certificates for the mandatory
European Emissions Trading Scheme.


About Chicago Climate Exchange, Inc.

CCX is a financial institution whose objectives are to apply financial
innovation and incentives to advance social, environmental and economic goals.
CCX is the world's first and North America's only legally binding rules-based
greenhouse gas emissions allowance trading system, as well as the world's only
global system for emissions trading based on all six greenhouse gases. CCX
members are leaders in greenhouse gas management and represent all sectors of
the global economy, as well as public sector innovators. Reductions achieved
through CCX are the only reductions in North America being achieved through a
legally binding compliance regime, providing independent third party
verification provided by NASD and price transparency. The founder, Chairman and
CEO of CCX is economist and financial innovator Dr. Richard L. Sandor, who was
named a Hero of the Planet by Time magazine for his founding of CCX. For a full
list of CCX members, daily prices and other Exchange information, see
www.chicagoclimateexchange.com.

CCX, a US corporation, launched its trading platform in 2003. In 2005, CCX
launched the European Climate Exchange (ECX), now the leading exchange operating
in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. CCX also launched the Chicago
Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE), a CFTC-regulated futures exchange for U.S. SO2
allowances and U.S. NOx Ozone Season allowances, the world's first environmental
derivatives exchange. Since 2006, CCX, ECX and CCFE have been owned by Climate
Exchange Plc, a publicly traded company listed on the AIM of the London Stock
Exchange.


About European Climate Exchange

The European Climate Exchange (ECX) manages product development and marketing of
Carbon Financial Instruments (CFI) futures and options contracts on CO2 EU
allowances traded under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

ECX CFI contracts are listed and traded on the ICE Futures electronic platform,
offering a central marketplace for emissions trading in Europe with standard
contracts and clearing guarantees provided by LCH.Clearnet. ECX/ ICE Futures is
the most liquid, pan-European Exchange for carbon emissions trading. More than
80 leading global businesses have signed up for membership to trade ECX
products. In addition, several hundred clients can access the market via banks
and brokers.

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

Also worth watching TRE as they have significant stocks of CER's so wouldnt be surprised to see America buying this PM.

[markralph] 27/6/2007 13:33

...Slightly off topic BUT i noticed there was an advert on eFinancial Careers for 'Carbon Credit Broker needed at established interdealer broker.' I might call the recuritment co and see if it is who I am thinking of (ICAP?).

[markralph] 27/6/2007 13:29

WJCCGHCC - excellent point.

I think this type of alt asset class is only going to get more 'popular' and I am in the mind frame that both CLE and ECO are leaders in what they specialise in. TRE seems to be a bit of a halfway house - that said, I own all three.

[wjccghcc] 27/6/2007 13:11

They don't really have similar drivers though. Eco is a long play on CER prices whereas CLE is a play on volume of CER trading. A bit like comparing an asset manager with the LSE.

[andrbea] 27/6/2007 13:06

in November 2006 eco had a higher price than cle
now cle is 4 times higher than eco..

should suck eco up with it methinks
or provide a temporary haven for cle holders (if that gets targeted by shorters)

in eco's statement they talked of 'accelerated expansion into the rapidly evolving US carbon market'.
My view:

At some point eco's consultancy could be become an acquisition target (synergy, complementary?) for bigger mkt cap brother cle (which is also based in North America = Canada+America). I.e. the likelihood of consolidation? Also western agencies may need to consolidate to compete with Asian (Chinese) rivals?

[andrbea] 27/6/2007 12:32

Canada
interest in cap-and-trade systems

[andrbea] 27/6/2007 12:17

Brown & climate change

BBC site (27 June)

Mr Brown commissioned and accepted the results of the report on climate change by Sir Nicholas Stern in October 2006, which said that global warming could shrink the world economy's potential by between 5 and 20%. He has supported EU and British targets for carbon reductions. So he is on board for international action over climate change, which has come increasingly to dominate world economic discussions. In March 2007 he said: "The foundation of this must of course be a new international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2012." He added: "My ambition is to build a global carbon market, founded on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and centred in London." He has even appointed the former US Vice President Al Gore as an adviser and action on global warming is another issue on which he is likely to differ from President Bush.

[andrbea] 27/6/2007 11:27

up on "house of reps" news (over on CLE)

Europe not still either..

EU ministers to tackle waste and CO2 trading
Published: Monday 25 June 2007 | Updated: Wednesday 27 June 2007
The agenda of the 28 June Environment Council is filled with agenda items, including potentially difficult matters such as mercury storage and the revision of the Waste Framework Directive. Negotiations, to be held in Luxembourg, are expected to last well into the night.

[andrbea] 27/6/2007 10:46

carbon trading seminar (to be held in California, July 17th 2007)

"Carbon trading is a new asset class for hedge fund finance and investment," said Gould. "Indeed a recent report by the National Venture Capital Association showed that while U.S. venture capital investments as a whole were down by 33 percent in 2006 compared to five years ago, investments in American cleantech companies were up 243 percent in that time--more than two and a half times the growth rate of the next strongest industry over that period."

[andrbea] 27/6/2007 08:39

April 20
another viewpoint



It costs Asian firms much less to produce one ton of carbon emissions than it does in Europe. So by the same logic, reckon the European Union's world-savers in Brussels, it must also cost less to cut the production of carbon emissions.

Asian industrialists can thus pull new carbon credits out of thin air – simply by tweaking their production forecasts – and sell them to guilt-ridden or PR-hungry businesses in Europe. Net-net, global emissions won't slow, much less shrink. But polluting companies here in the West get to buy their way out of guilt, while the Asian manufacturers get to fund fresh investment.

SRF, a leading Indian chemicals and textile manufacturer, recently announced that selling its 2007 carbon credits raised $117 million. SRF produces fluorochemicals and chloromethanes – refrigerant gases high on the list of greenhouse offenders. The cash it's raised will cover 70% of SRF's entire expansion costs since 2004, enabling it to grow faster still – and pump out yet more greenhouse gases in future.

[andrbea] 27/6/2007 08:20

article on CERs and CDM in India

[andrbea] 26/6/2007 13:18

The ADB noted that Asia now accounts for one-quarter of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, with about 70 per cent of the region's energy needs dependent on fossil fuels - a primary source of greenhouse gases.
Asia urged to invest more on clean energy sources

Jun 26, 2007


/...


'Without a change in course, it will get worse,' Kuroda warned. 'As greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere for many decades, we must prepare for the inevitable worsening of climate change.'

Last year, the ADB announced it plans to increase spending on its clear energy programme to 1 billion dollars a year.

Kuroda said that while the ADB's efforts were 'only a small fraction' of the region's needs, he hoped that the bank's contribution would catalyze significant additional resources.

It is estimated that Asia will need up to 5 trillion dollars in energy infrastructure between now and 2030, most of which would have to be directed toward electricity supplied by coal-fired power plants.

[andrbea] 26/6/2007 12:41

carbon trading (Kenya)

25-June-2007: Listed companies are catching up on the carbon trade market, with cement rivals Athi River Mining and East African Portland Cement considering separate approaches to cash in on the lucrative business.

[andrbea] 26/6/2007 12:38

Credit Suisse's investment in EcoSecurities is part of a broader strategic relationship between the two companies.

Credit Suisse stated that this relationship will capture synergies between EcoSecurities' deep expertise in all aspects of greenhouse gas emission reduction projects and Credit Suisse's strong balance sheet, its carbon trading, origination and risk management capabilities and its vast institutional and governmental client base.

"We are excited by the opportunities that EcoSecurities will capture with additional capital and the expertise that Credit Suisse can provide as a partner," said Bruce Usher, CEO of EcoSecurities.

June 22

[andrbea] 26/6/2007 12:28

The government hasn't made it clear which areas will be available for plantations, Ardiansyah said.

Companies want to plant more oil palm trees as prices of the vegetable oil, used also as cooking oil and to make soap, have almost doubled in the past year on surging demand from China and India, the world's biggest buyers of the commodity.

Palm oil for August delivery, the most actively traded contract on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, rose 60 ringgit, or 2.3 percent, to a record 2,661 ringgit ($781.60) a ton at 4:24 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur.

Oil palm production in Indonesia has been a major reason for deforestation, the World Bank said in a report titled ``Indonesia and Climate Change'' released yesterday.

The move to expand biofuel production is ``still risky and problematic'' it said.

Indonesia, which has the world's third-largest expanse of tropical forest, adds 2,000 million tons of carbon dioxide a year from forest fires and decomposition of peatlands.

Indonesia's peatlands stretch across an area the size of the U.K., Jack Rieley, a geographic professor at the University of Nottingham in England, said on Oct. 30. Peat, from which coal is formed, can burn for months and release gases that produce sulfuric acid.


June 6

[andrbea] 26/6/2007 11:24

INTERVIEW - Climate Exchange plans Asian carbon exchanges soon

[andrbea] 26/6/2007 10:51

Greenhouse report points finger at Indonesia
Email Print Normal font Large font Jakarta
June 5, 2007

INDONESIA is among the world's top three greenhouse gas emitters because of deforestation, peat land degradation and forest fires, a World Bank and British Government climate change report says

/..

Indonesia will host the next annual Kyoto Protocol meeting in Bali in December

[andrbea] 26/6/2007 10:06

June 25

Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) and London-listed carbon-credit company EcoSecurities have signed a deal to try and make Dubai the regional centre for trading carbon offsets.

The two are eyeing several projects in the UAE that could cut greenhouse gas emissions and generate carbon emissions reduction certificates (CER) under a United Nations scheme. Later, they will look at similar projects across the booming Middle East economies.

[andrbea] 26/6/2007 10:05

26 June

Carbon investment company EcoSecurities Group ended 36p to the good at 403½p as the group went on its roadshow to drum up support for its £38m share placing. Credit Suisse has already bought a 9.9% stake.

[andrbea] 26/6/2007 09:57

on 21 June there was a chunky buy after hours (16.43)

360k x 370p = 1.33 million pounds

[andrbea] 26/6/2007 09:21

A better article: (I'll stop now....) :-)

The figures compelled the foremost scientific panel on climate change to acknowledge the huge impact of degraded peatlands on climate change at its meeting last month in Bonn. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) subsequently concluded that "restoration of drained and degraded peatlands is one of the key low-cost greenhouse gases mitigation strategies".

Global Environment Centre director Faizal Parish said if left without intervention, the disturbed peat swamps of the region would continue to emit CO2 for the next 285 years even if clearing is stopped. GEC is a partner in a project to quantify present and future emissions from drained peatlands in South-East Asia.

Drainage of peatlands leads to aeration and decomposition of the peat material and hence to oxidation that triggers CO2 emission.

"Peatland is like concentrated carbon. It is the most efficient climate regulator, sequestering billions of tonnes of carbon for the last 8,000 years. Besides the release of stored carbon when it is cleared, drainage of every hectare of peat soil will emit 100 tonnes of CO2 per year and continues until the peat thickness is eroded. And then, there is the fire," he said.

It is estimated that two billion tonnes of CO2 (8% of the global figure) is released annually into the atmosphere from these areas. Over 90% of this emission originates from Kalimantan and Sumatra of Indonesia, which puts the country in the third place (after the United States and China) in the global CO2 emission ranking.

Out of the over 27 million ha of peatlands in the region, 12 million ha (45%) are currently deforested and mostly drained. Peatlands make up 12% of South-East Asia's land area. Some 25 million ha of peatlands are in Indonesia and the remaining two million ha in Malaysia.

Forested tropical peatlands in South-East Asia store at least 42,000 megatonnes of soil carbon that is increasingly being released to the atmosphere due to drainage and fires associated with plantation development and logging.

Parish said the recognition from IPCC could lead to further prioritisation of conservation and restoration of peatlands.

"South-East Asia can offer the world an almost immediate solution as there are millions of peatlands being drained. It is easy to contain and it doesn't cost much. It has been a liability for the region (with the haze problem) but we can turn it to our advantage by rehabilitating these scourged lands," said Parish.

He said there is urgent need for a new financing mechanism as prevention of emissions from peatlands is not included under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and new funding arrangements would only be negotiated after 2012 when the Protocol sets new emission reduction targets.

(CDM allows developed nations to fund emission reduction projects in developing countries to assist the former in meeting its emission targets. Most CDM projects focus on development of renewable energy.)

"That's five years away and in the meantime more forests will be cleared and a significant amount of stored carbon will be released. (Getting recognised by) IPCC is just the first step, we need to get the convention to acknowledge the importance and make allocation for peatlands rehabilitation," added Parish.

Together with Wetlands International, GEC has been involved in peatlands research and restoration projects.

Currently, there are four pilot sites in Kalimantan where the Suharto-era mega rice project had dug 4,600km of channels, and in Sumatra where peatlands have been illegally logged.

GEC and Wetlands International are developing simple technologies to block the draining and maintain a high water level in the peat soil to keep it moist, effectively putting a lid on carbon emission and preventing fire caused by dried peat.

Parish said Malaysia could do its part to curb greenhouse gas emissions from its degraded peatland in Selangor, Pahang and Sarawak.

"There are 500km of abandoned logging canals in the northeast region of Selangor. We have tested three blocking methods there with the co-operation of the state Forestry Department. However, the project is not moving fast enough due to funding shortage," he laments.

He cautioned that the rapid clearing of peatswamp forests in Sarawak would accelerate Malaysia's CO2 emission. It has been reported that Sarawak had cleared one million hectares of peatlands, mostly for growing oil palm.

[andrbea] 26/6/2007 09:14

bought in this week

after seeing a TV programme last week about the denuding of the wetlands for palm oil cultivation in SE Asia

the wetlands, once exposed, dry out and exude tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere

Given that the clearing of fertile land for palm oil cultivation is a major growth industry (for biodiesel), the CO2 emissions can only get worse methinks
= more focus on CO2 mitigation projects by the World Bank etc in Indonesia (where eco have offices)


here's the salient points about the palm oil v CO2 crisis in Indonesia

"A number of recent studies have helped reduce concerns that focusing on deforestation will shift the debate away from finding more efficient ways to use energy. The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, commissioned by the British government, last year highlighted the urgent need to bring deforestation into efforts to fight global warming. In March, a report by the World Bank and Britain's Department for International Development found that Indonesia was the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the U.S. and China. That conclusion -- Indonesia's economy is relatively small -- stems from rampant deforestation caused by forest fires that sometimes envelop much of Southeast Asia in haze, emitting huge amounts of carbon dioxide."

Indonesia emits more CO2 than Russia, Brazil or India

(see table of emitters in the link)