Carbon Traders Seem To Have Hit A Pothole.
This is not the best of news for carbon traders. The Guardian (UK) reports "Banks and investors are pulling out of the carbon market after the failure to make progress at Copenhagen on reaching new emissions targets after 2012....Banks had been scaling back their plans to invest in carbon markets before Copenhagen. Fewer new clean energy projects need to be financed as, because of the recession, there are fewer global emissions to offset. The price of carbon credits has also fallen, while plans to introduce national trading schemes, particularly in the US and Australia, remain uncertain."
The Guardian notes it is not yet clear if it is "a cull or a rout" of the carbon markets. Even so, given the state of play in China, India, and the U.S., it now seems prudent to begin reconsidering and possibly reformulating business plans that assume robust CO2 controls, trading, and markets anytime soon.
