California carbon emissions rights are likely to trade for less between 2013 and 2020 due to a lower emissions forecast and other factors, Thomson Reuters predicted Aug. 22. The company’s carbon analysts downgraded their average price expectation from $40/ton of carbon dioxide equivalent to $36/ton, a 10 percent reduction. Thomson Reuters Carbon North America head Emilie Massacurati attributed the lower price outlook to a planned delay from 2012 to 2013 in enforcing the state’s carbon cap-and-trade program, as well as the potential for a second recession. California carbon emissions rights currently are trading in the $15.75/ton to $17.25/ton range, according to the company. * * * * * Power plant owners and other carbon polluting industries are able to electronically report their requisite 2010 greenhouse gas emissions to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA launched an electronic reporting tool Aug. 22 to assist 28 industrial sectors in submitting last year’s carbon pollution data. The data, due by September 30, is to provide the public with “information about the nation’s largest stationary sources of greenhouse gas pollution. Industries and businesses can also use the data to help find ways to decrease carbon pollution, increase efficiency and save money,” according to EPA. About 7,000 large industrial greenhouse gas emitters are expected to report their emissions. EPA’s greenhouse gas reporting program began in October 2009. Covered entities are required to submit data annually to the EPA. The agency plans to publish non-confidential data by the end of 2011. * * * * * In an action that mirrors what California is doing, Environment Canada Aug. 19 proposed new greenhouse gas standards for coal power plants that require them to emit no more carbon dioxide than natural gas-fired combined-cycle generating plants. The proposed standards would apply to new coal plants and to existing coal plants once they reach the end of their economically useful life spans. The Canadian agency estimates the proposed standards--which are expected to be issued in final form in 2012 and to take effect in 2015--will cut gas emissions by 31 megatonnes by 2020. California already has banned utilities from making investments that extend the life of out-of-state coal plants that supply the state’s grid with power unless the plants are retrofitted to emit no more than combined cycle natural-gas fired plants. The ban is under SB 1368.
