This report is from Europe via The Times Online. Meanwhile back here in the USA, the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) is going through a record period of low price (ten cents a metric ton) and extended lull in trading:
“Dead” is a word that might describe trading on this exchange.
Maybe it has something to do with the members of the advisory board? On it we find Ed Begley Jr., Joe Kennedy II, and Dr. Rajenda Pachauri. With a team like that, how could it fail? The real problem with carbon credits is that there’s nothing tangible to trade. It’s all spun from thin air, literally. At least if you trade pork bellies, corn, wheat, or even orange juice, there’s something tangible that will eventually be delivered somewhere – Anthony
Europe’s emissions trading system was in uproar yesterday amid a mounting scandal over “recycled” carbon permits.
Two carbon exchanges were forced to suspend trading as panic hit investors fearful that they had bought invalid permits.
BlueNext and Nord Pool, the French and Nordic exchanges, suspended trading in certificates of emission reduction (CERs) when it emerged that some had been illegally reused.
Concern that used and worthless permits were circulating caused the spot price of the certificates to collapse, from €12 per tonne of carbon to less than €1 .
The scare erupted after Hungary said last week that it had sold 2 million CERs submitted by Hungarian companies to satisfy their carbon emission allowances under the EU’s emission trading system (ETS).
Carbon permits submitted by companies every year to the national register are usually cancelled. However, Hungary exploited a loophole that allows CERs — which are issued not by European Union governments but by the United Nations under its Clean Development Mechanism — to be traded.
Investors in the carbon market took fright as it emerged that some of the Hungarian CERs had found their way back into the market, despite having been used to meet the carbon targets of Hungarian companies.
The double counting is threatening confidence in the ETS, according to staff at one energy consultancy. Icis Heren said: “For companies obliged by law to buy carbon credits … government-led carbon credit recycling means they risk buying a worthless asset.”
The Hungarian Government said that the used CERs were sold to non-European investors, but BlueNext said that it had found some of the suspect CERs trading on its system.
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rbateman
March 18, 2010 8:18 pm
For a market that is based on thin air (trace C02) and Piltdown-Man trickery this is hardly surprising as the end result.
Double cross: The con artists were conned.
Zoltan Beldi
March 18, 2010 8:22 pm
Well, Ed Begley jr. has got to be the biggest phoney around after his act at the Green conference a year or so ago.
Does this start to smell like the tulip scam ?
Hotlink
March 18, 2010 8:22 pm
Look for traders shorting the market!
Patrick Davis
March 18, 2010 8:32 pm
“Maybe it has something to do with the members of the advisory board? On it we find Ed Begley Jr., Joe Kennedy II, and Dr. Rajenda Pachauri.”
Who was it who said Dr. Rajenda Pachauri didn’t have vested interests in carbon markets/trading?
Oh yeah it was Dr. Rajenda Pachauri.
johneb
March 18, 2010 8:32 pm
So did Hungary exploit the UN’s incompetence in managing anything to pull of this caper? Or, is the UN complicit like the oil-for-food scam.
savethesharks
March 18, 2010 8:32 pm
New investment: Ocean Acidification Offset Trading! Methane Offset trading!
Chance to make your money now!
Hurry because this offer ends in 1.7 days….or less. It might end in about two hours.
Or less….
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
Pamela Gray
March 18, 2010 8:35 pm
I resemble that remark!
TerryBixler
March 18, 2010 8:38 pm
Obama, Kerry, Boxer, Holdren and Lisa Jackson desperately want to expand this fiasco, the corner stone of AGW, fraudulent behavior.
spangled drongo
March 18, 2010 8:39 pm
Can I interest anyone in a nice tulip bulb?
Leon Brozyna
March 18, 2010 8:40 pm
A nightmare for politicians as their dreams of huge carbon-based revenue streams dry up before their eyes.
KimW
March 18, 2010 8:41 pm
But but, this is about the planet. Who would dare endanger it by attempting to make money at the expense of the whole human race by falsifying these permits. I am shocked, shocked, I tell you. It’s worse than we thought.
The people who thought up the – trading in the equivalent of fluffy bunnies and Unicorns – have no idea about the real world and the con men and ‘sharp’ businessmen that are out there. Trading an intangible – the Dutch Tulip Craze all over again – at 12 euro a ton. At least you can eat fluffy bunnies.
Look at the drop in volume! Ten cents on the dollar looks like a great price to sell at IF you could find buyers! The envelope please “What is one cent per megaton? “.
johnnythelowery
March 18, 2010 8:49 pm
What a joke the AGW has become.
Clive
March 18, 2010 8:53 pm
Pachauri’s Pollution Ponzi
(Yeah yeah … Cee-oh-two is not a pollutant. ☺ ☺)
Clive
Bill Parsons
March 18, 2010 8:54 pm
… members of the advisory board? On it we find Ed Begley Jr., Joe Kennedy II, and Dr. Rajenda Pachauri.
Damn. Wonder if there are credit default swaps to cover green cottages? yachts? (individual holes of) golf courses?
SOYLENT GREEN
March 18, 2010 8:57 pm
Well, the Huns defeated an empire before didn’t they?
Hope they pillaged this to death–best news all week.
And I was worried i would have to go by my local feed lot to take delivery of my hundred tons of Methane and CO2 futures if I waited too long to sell!!!
LarryD
March 18, 2010 9:01 pm
Hah, remember this?
“The European Union (EU) Emission Trading System (ETS) has been the victim of fraudulent traders in the past 18 months. This resulted in losses of approximately 5 billion euros for several national tax revenues. It is estimated that in some countries, up to 90% of the whole market volume was caused by fraudulent activities.” (9 Dec 2009)
Michael
March 18, 2010 9:02 pm
The personal overabundance of shadenfreude I am feeling from seeing carbon investors getting burned is the icing on my cake from this whole man made global warming scam. Spreading the bad news about the carbon market has been a subject of close interest to me. The carbon market is the heart and soul of the whole AGW hoax that was to usher in global governance. I am overjoyed at watching it crash and burn to the ground.
A market based on trading a fictitious virtually intangible product is a bad joke. It’s like an imaginary company one makes up in business school. Pieces of paper that represent air are not assets. Carbon credits are a crime against humanity.
Thanks for putting this on the front page Anthony.
HereticFringe
March 18, 2010 9:10 pm
So it looks like the gullible fools are just now realizing what the rest of us knew all along… carbon credits are worthless! You can’t sell something that doesn’t exist! There are no laws on the books requiring anyone to buy carbon credits to emit CO2, that means that they are worthless imaginary certificates that are purchased by the people that P.T. Barnum loved to do business with.
It should come as no surprise that a market predicated on fraudulent science is also predicated on fraudulent business practices.
OT but there is an article in the Economist today urging action because the stakes are high, the matter urgent, and action needed despite scientific uncertainty. For those of us following the “Post Normal Science” debate, the reasoning of Ravetz et al is on full display: http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15720419
For a market that is based on thin air (trace C02) and Piltdown-Man trickery this is hardly surprising as the end result.
Double cross: The con artists were conned.
Well, Ed Begley jr. has got to be the biggest phoney around after his act at the Green conference a year or so ago.
Does this start to smell like the tulip scam ?
Look for traders shorting the market!
“Maybe it has something to do with the members of the advisory board? On it we find Ed Begley Jr., Joe Kennedy II, and Dr. Rajenda Pachauri.”
Who was it who said Dr. Rajenda Pachauri didn’t have vested interests in carbon markets/trading?
Oh yeah it was Dr. Rajenda Pachauri.
So did Hungary exploit the UN’s incompetence in managing anything to pull of this caper? Or, is the UN complicit like the oil-for-food scam.
New investment: Ocean Acidification Offset Trading! Methane Offset trading!
Chance to make your money now!
Hurry because this offer ends in 1.7 days….or less. It might end in about two hours.
Or less….
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA
I resemble that remark!
Obama, Kerry, Boxer, Holdren and Lisa Jackson desperately want to expand this fiasco, the corner stone of AGW, fraudulent behavior.
Can I interest anyone in a nice tulip bulb?
A nightmare for politicians as their dreams of huge carbon-based revenue streams dry up before their eyes.
But but, this is about the planet. Who would dare endanger it by attempting to make money at the expense of the whole human race by falsifying these permits. I am shocked, shocked, I tell you. It’s worse than we thought.
The people who thought up the – trading in the equivalent of fluffy bunnies and Unicorns – have no idea about the real world and the con men and ‘sharp’ businessmen that are out there. Trading an intangible – the Dutch Tulip Craze all over again – at 12 euro a ton. At least you can eat fluffy bunnies.
A link to info regarding Obama’s role in founding the Chicago Climate Exchange.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517188,00.html
Carbongate
Look at the drop in volume! Ten cents on the dollar looks like a great price to sell at IF you could find buyers! The envelope please “What is one cent per megaton? “.
What a joke the AGW has become.
Pachauri’s Pollution Ponzi
(Yeah yeah … Cee-oh-two is not a pollutant. ☺ ☺)
Clive
Damn. Wonder if there are credit default swaps to cover green cottages? yachts? (individual holes of) golf courses?
Well, the Huns defeated an empire before didn’t they?
Hope they pillaged this to death–best news all week.
And I was worried i would have to go by my local feed lot to take delivery of my hundred tons of Methane and CO2 futures if I waited too long to sell!!!
Hah, remember this?
“The European Union (EU) Emission Trading System (ETS) has been the victim of fraudulent traders in the past 18 months. This resulted in losses of approximately 5 billion euros for several national tax revenues. It is estimated that in some countries, up to 90% of the whole market volume was caused by fraudulent activities.” (9 Dec 2009)
The personal overabundance of shadenfreude I am feeling from seeing carbon investors getting burned is the icing on my cake from this whole man made global warming scam. Spreading the bad news about the carbon market has been a subject of close interest to me. The carbon market is the heart and soul of the whole AGW hoax that was to usher in global governance. I am overjoyed at watching it crash and burn to the ground.
A market based on trading a fictitious virtually intangible product is a bad joke. It’s like an imaginary company one makes up in business school. Pieces of paper that represent air are not assets. Carbon credits are a crime against humanity.
Thanks for putting this on the front page Anthony.
So it looks like the gullible fools are just now realizing what the rest of us knew all along… carbon credits are worthless! You can’t sell something that doesn’t exist! There are no laws on the books requiring anyone to buy carbon credits to emit CO2, that means that they are worthless imaginary certificates that are purchased by the people that P.T. Barnum loved to do business with.
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Get the lowdown on carbon trading and how you can get a piece of it.
GreenChipStocks.com
The fun never stops…..
In my neck of the woods we sell carbon credit by the cord – cut, split, dried, and stacked. Price varies inversely with temperature.
It should come as no surprise that a market predicated on fraudulent science is also predicated on fraudulent business practices.
OT but there is an article in the Economist today urging action because the stakes are high, the matter urgent, and action needed despite scientific uncertainty. For those of us following the “Post Normal Science” debate, the reasoning of Ravetz et al is on full display:
http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15720419