Carbon trading prepares to tank--UN bullies only get so far

• "Elite" progressive types and run-of-the mill wimps thought it was 'inevitable,' resigned themselves but now find they made a mistake. We all like clean air and water, always have, and recognize the difference between weather and climate. The fantasies of George Soros and Prince Charles notwithstanding.

WSJonline: "Companies around the world had hoped the United Nations-sponsored talks would bring clarity on the new rules of the game in a new low-carbon world.

• They have had to think again.

"It's very frustrating at this stage that we haven't got a more-comprehensive agreement," said Richard Gledhill,

• head of carbon markets at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Much of the business elite in rich countries has already resigned itself

• to tighter restrictions on greenhouse gases. Companies in energy-intensive industries are already mapping out plans to drive down their emissions. Utility executives in the U.S.
• have been pouring money into lower-carbon technologies.

A legally binding treaty on emission cuts would have created a level playing field for clean energy, allowing it to compete on an equal footing with fossil fuels.

• No such deal emerged from the summit.

"If we'd had bankable emissions reduction targets for 2020, it would have given a stronger price signal for carbon," said Joan McNaughton, senior vice president, Power and Environment Policies, at Alstom Power SA, an engineering company which is a leader in clean coal.

• "That would have kick-started a lot of the needed investment in clean technology."...

Advocates of cap-and-trade -- which lies at the heart of climate legislation now stuck in the U.S. Senate -- dream of a global network of emissions-trading systems that could one day link up. In their view that would give industry what it needs to make decisions about long-term investments -- a robust and stable price of carbon.

• But Copenhagen has set back those hopes....

Europe's Emissions Trading Scheme is the world's largest market. If the U.S., the world's second-largest emitter after China, sets up its own system, that could help boost the global carbon market to $1.9 trillion by 2020, says New Carbon Finance, a London-based research firm.

• But regulatory uncertainty in sectors like power generation has driven down the carbon price on Europe market, and it had its biggest fall in six months on Thursday -- nearly 5% -- and stayed at that level Friday. And now it is falling even lower....

"We were hoping that a deal in Copenhagen would open up new opportunities for emissions trading," said Patrick Birley, head of the European Climate Exchange, one of Europe's main carbon marketplaces.

• That expectation has now faded, he says."...

WSJ online, "CO2 pact leaves businesses feeling up in the air," by Guy Chazan, 12/18/09 **********************

• Guys on radio shows tonight are talking like man made global warming is as big as ever. People today have lives and jobs based on something that doesn't exist, moreover that's a giant financial and social fraud.
• Will they all quit now? Maybe they can get jobs with Bud Selig at MLB.com. After all, he's promoted 'climate change' for a long time. ed.

Related: "Two Carbon Companies to Merge," Green Inc. NY Times blog

• "BLOW FOR CLEAN COAL AS UN SHUTS IT OUT OF EMISSIONS TRADING," UK Telegraph, by Rowena Mason, 12/16/09:

"The three Western countries and Saudi Arabia had strongly argued that advanced new clean-coal plants, which trap emissions underground, ought to earn credits for being a low-carbon source of energy.

• But a United Nations committee decided not to include the industry in its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which rewards companies
• that invest in green energy."...************

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