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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Michael
March 18, 2010 9:24 pm
Not out of the woods yet. Those with a vested interests will try to keep the game going as long as possible. Beware.
“Glossop says the closures at the exchanges could last some time. “The exchanges need to sort out their internal problems and ensure surrendered carbon credits cannot be transacted on the exchanges and that might take a little bit of time,” he adds.
A list of surrendered CERs is publicly available and the exchanges will now need to cross-check the serial numbers on their CERs with this list.
A spokesperson for BlueNext said it has not got specific date for the reopening of CER trade in place as yet, but the exchange was working to ensure the closure would be as short as possible.”
Recycled CER scandal could push carbon trading over the counter http://www.risk.net/energy-risk/news/1597003/recycled-cer-scandal-push-carbon-trading-counter
Henry chance
March 18, 2010 9:33 pm
All that is needed is a printer to knock out certificates. This is the best scam in a long time. Where do you go when you find your valuable certificates of CO2 were fake???
Michael
March 18, 2010 9:34 pm
Is it even moral to limit the number of carbon credits a carbon unit will be allowed to use each day? Knowing CO2 has virtually no effect on the climate as it always changes with or without the influence of CO2, why would we bestow on our leaders the right to limit the number of carbon credits I may expel each day? Oh I forgot, the Illuminati have to have control of everyone and everything.
Some Guy
March 18, 2010 9:35 pm
Let’s see… What else did people once buy to assuage their guilt?
It’s official: the greenies are a religion, and they’re selling indulgences.
The article says “Europe’s emissions trading system was in uproar yesterday amid a mounting scandal over “recycled” carbon permits.”
Hey, WTF? I thought that Greens LIKE recycling?? Sounds very sustainable to me….sell the same credits over, and over, and over…..
kim
March 18, 2010 9:49 pm
It’s raining dead cats and dogs.
=================
Baa Humbug
March 18, 2010 9:57 pm
Was listening to “All Things Considered” on NPR Radio, (we get it here in OZ via our ABC News Radio). A farmer was interviewed about carbon credits. He apparantly receives credits for not tilling his soil, (in order not to release the CO2 in the soil). He said, and I paraphrase…”We used to get enough money to buy dinner once in a while, now that the price (of carbon?) has dropped to a nickel, we get enough to buy lunch at a takeaway.”
He is hopefull the market comes back. I wouldn’t hold my breath. Go back to good farming practice, till away me old son.
Baa Humbug
March 18, 2010 9:59 pm
Re: Michael (Mar 18 21:24),
Cross check the serial no’s ha? Jo Nova has the serial numbers at her blog. They are 911 911 911
JohnD
March 18, 2010 10:00 pm
It’s mean, I know. But I just can’t stop laughing 😀
James Sexton
March 18, 2010 10:04 pm
Sadly, I’m too drunk to comment much. I don’t think it has much to do with Hungary. I think the skiddish weasels are using them as an excuse. Consider, the weight of Hungary’s Carbon credits compared to the rest of the EU. If Hungary totally collapsed then we should have seen a reduction of what?? 1/20th of the total value of “carbon credits”? That’s a 5% loss. Yes, I know what traders do. They scare at a shadow. But the loss is because they don’t know how much traction the debacle and debunking of the AGW science is going to get. When people bought into it, they thought the cat was in the bag, now they’re doubting.
People that feed off of someone’s perceived misery(investors in carbon trading)…….carpetbaggers.
Tsk Tsk
March 18, 2010 10:12 pm
On a completely unrelated side note the UAH temps are toasty. We’re almost a quarter into the year and it’s been well above average. Looks like the warmers have a good shot to claim 2010 is the hottest year on record. :/
AEGeneral
March 18, 2010 10:14 pm
The real problem with carbon credits is that there’s nothing tangible to trade.
I disagree. Bull**** is tangible, and has a very distinct scent.
LightRain
March 18, 2010 10:18 pm
So at 10¢ a metric tonne, how many would I need to buy so I don’t have to spend 1,000’s upgrading my house etc.
For a $100 I’d get 1000 metric tonne exemption for my CO2 footprint. How long would that last me? A year, a decade, my life?
Al Gored
March 18, 2010 10:19 pm
Hide the decline!
They actually were used carbon offset salesmen. It can’t get much worse.
Poor Gore. He must have lost a fortune. His planet is in peril.
Let’s hope they appoint Madoff as the new IPCC head.
Fred
March 18, 2010 10:19 pm
You people caused this!
I hope you’re proud, now the sea levels are going to rise and flood 30 million people living in coasts throughout the world. Millions more will die of thirst because the glaciers that provide water to their communities will melt and vanish. There will be more hurricanes, more tornadoes, more floods, more ice storms that will affect untold millions more planet wide. The amazon rain forest with it’s life giving fauna will dry up and die, and with it, most of the earth’s population.
Behold your great achievement! may God have mercy on your souls.
James F. Evans
March 18, 2010 10:23 pm
It couldn’t happen to a nicer group of guys…cough…cough.
Oh, the web we weave when first we deceive.
F. Ross
March 18, 2010 10:30 pm
Hotlink (20:22:54) :
Look for traders shorting the market!
I understand your intent and agree with it, …but usually a short sale is based on the assumption that the price of the traded issue will go down. In the case of these junk carbon credits, the “price” is already so low that it cannot go much lower.
You probably knew that already so apologies if so.
Michael
March 18, 2010 10:35 pm
Al Gored (22:19:31) : wrote
“Hide the decline!
They actually were used carbon offset salesmen. It can’t get much worse.
Poor Gore. He must have lost a fortune. His planet is in peril.
Let’s hope they appoint Madoff as the new IPCC head.”
Nominated best comment.
“Used carbon offset salseman” ROTFLMAO. They really do exist.
ZT
March 18, 2010 10:45 pm
Question for statisticians and economists (not climatologists):
Can the Enron stock price be superimposed on the CFI chart?
James Sexton
March 18, 2010 10:50 pm
What I meant to say, was, THERE IS NO VALUE TO CARBON1111 There is only a perceived value, but nothing intrinsic. They can trade fantasy value all they wish. If people reject the value, then none of it is worth anything,……. That’s where you kick them.
Ed Murphy
March 18, 2010 10:51 pm
OT but… Warming globe? http://m.naplesnews.com/news/2010/mar/15/cold-kills-record-number-manatees-193/
NAPLES — The largest manatee die-off ever recorded in Florida is playing out in the state’s backwaters and bays this winter…
…The 193 manatee deaths probably are just the tip of the iceberg, scientists say.
Another 151 manatee deaths have been categorized as undetermined or their carcasses unrecovered, but most of them likely are cold weather related as well, De Wit said.
Manatee hospitals around the state are so busy caring for cold stressed manatees that Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is keeping manatees in its above-ground — and heated — pool…
In all, 368 manatees have died between Jan. 1 and March 5 — only 61 deaths short of the record 429 manatees that died in all of 2009….
Latest update: 206 cold related and 393 total: http://m.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100317/GREEN/100317043/-1/WAP&template=wapart
Florida’s 2010 manatee death count nearing record news-press.com
With more than nine months left in 2010, Florida’s manatee death count is closing in on the single-year record.
Through March 12, 393 manatees died in state waters; the record, set last year, is 429.
Manatees are extremely cold sensitive, and this year, a record 206 manatees have died from cold stress; the record for cold-stress deaths, also set last year, was 56… http://myfwc.com/NEWSROOM/Index.htm should have a press release soon. Though it may be under manatee research.
stumpy
March 18, 2010 10:51 pm
“Elizabeth Dowdeswell is internationally recognized for her global and highly diverse experience in building consensus and managing change. She advises both public and private sectors on environmental issues worldwide. Ms. Dowdeswell is a former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Before joining UNEP, Ms. Dowdeswell was the Assistant Deputy Minister of Environment Canada. In that capacity she played a leading role in global efforts to negotiate the treaty on climate change adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. She was Canada’s permanent representative to the World Meteorological Organization, principal delegate to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and Canadian Chair of the Great Lakes Water Quality Board. ”
Experiance in building concensus and managing change!?! is that a joke? That says it all really!
“Pachauri is currently Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCCC), one of the recipients of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize; a Director of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (a Fortune 500 company); ”
So Pachauri is a Director of Indian Oil Corporation Limited – So he runs big oil??? Surely thats far worse than being funded by big oil isnt it?
Not out of the woods yet. Those with a vested interests will try to keep the game going as long as possible. Beware.
“Glossop says the closures at the exchanges could last some time. “The exchanges need to sort out their internal problems and ensure surrendered carbon credits cannot be transacted on the exchanges and that might take a little bit of time,” he adds.
A list of surrendered CERs is publicly available and the exchanges will now need to cross-check the serial numbers on their CERs with this list.
A spokesperson for BlueNext said it has not got specific date for the reopening of CER trade in place as yet, but the exchange was working to ensure the closure would be as short as possible.”
Recycled CER scandal could push carbon trading over the counter
http://www.risk.net/energy-risk/news/1597003/recycled-cer-scandal-push-carbon-trading-counter
All that is needed is a printer to knock out certificates. This is the best scam in a long time. Where do you go when you find your valuable certificates of CO2 were fake???
Is it even moral to limit the number of carbon credits a carbon unit will be allowed to use each day? Knowing CO2 has virtually no effect on the climate as it always changes with or without the influence of CO2, why would we bestow on our leaders the right to limit the number of carbon credits I may expel each day? Oh I forgot, the Illuminati have to have control of everyone and everything.
Let’s see… What else did people once buy to assuage their guilt?
It’s official: the greenies are a religion, and they’re selling indulgences.
The article says “Europe’s emissions trading system was in uproar yesterday amid a mounting scandal over “recycled” carbon permits.”
Hey, WTF? I thought that Greens LIKE recycling?? Sounds very sustainable to me….sell the same credits over, and over, and over…..
It’s raining dead cats and dogs.
=================
Was listening to “All Things Considered” on NPR Radio, (we get it here in OZ via our ABC News Radio). A farmer was interviewed about carbon credits. He apparantly receives credits for not tilling his soil, (in order not to release the CO2 in the soil). He said, and I paraphrase…”We used to get enough money to buy dinner once in a while, now that the price (of carbon?) has dropped to a nickel, we get enough to buy lunch at a takeaway.”
He is hopefull the market comes back. I wouldn’t hold my breath. Go back to good farming practice, till away me old son.
Re: Michael (Mar 18 21:24),
Cross check the serial no’s ha? Jo Nova has the serial numbers at her blog. They are 911 911 911
It’s mean, I know. But I just can’t stop laughing 😀
Sadly, I’m too drunk to comment much. I don’t think it has much to do with Hungary. I think the skiddish weasels are using them as an excuse. Consider, the weight of Hungary’s Carbon credits compared to the rest of the EU. If Hungary totally collapsed then we should have seen a reduction of what?? 1/20th of the total value of “carbon credits”? That’s a 5% loss. Yes, I know what traders do. They scare at a shadow. But the loss is because they don’t know how much traction the debacle and debunking of the AGW science is going to get. When people bought into it, they thought the cat was in the bag, now they’re doubting.
People that feed off of someone’s perceived misery(investors in carbon trading)…….carpetbaggers.
On a completely unrelated side note the UAH temps are toasty. We’re almost a quarter into the year and it’s been well above average. Looks like the warmers have a good shot to claim 2010 is the hottest year on record. :/
The real problem with carbon credits is that there’s nothing tangible to trade.
I disagree. Bull**** is tangible, and has a very distinct scent.
So at 10¢ a metric tonne, how many would I need to buy so I don’t have to spend 1,000’s upgrading my house etc.
For a $100 I’d get 1000 metric tonne exemption for my CO2 footprint. How long would that last me? A year, a decade, my life?
Hide the decline!
They actually were used carbon offset salesmen. It can’t get much worse.
Poor Gore. He must have lost a fortune. His planet is in peril.
Let’s hope they appoint Madoff as the new IPCC head.
You people caused this!
I hope you’re proud, now the sea levels are going to rise and flood 30 million people living in coasts throughout the world. Millions more will die of thirst because the glaciers that provide water to their communities will melt and vanish. There will be more hurricanes, more tornadoes, more floods, more ice storms that will affect untold millions more planet wide. The amazon rain forest with it’s life giving fauna will dry up and die, and with it, most of the earth’s population.
Behold your great achievement! may God have mercy on your souls.
It couldn’t happen to a nicer group of guys…cough…cough.
Oh, the web we weave when first we deceive.
I understand your intent and agree with it, …but usually a short sale is based on the assumption that the price of the traded issue will go down. In the case of these junk carbon credits, the “price” is already so low that it cannot go much lower.
You probably knew that already so apologies if so.
Al Gored (22:19:31) : wrote
“Hide the decline!
They actually were used carbon offset salesmen. It can’t get much worse.
Poor Gore. He must have lost a fortune. His planet is in peril.
Let’s hope they appoint Madoff as the new IPCC head.”
Nominated best comment.
“Used carbon offset salseman” ROTFLMAO. They really do exist.
Question for statisticians and economists (not climatologists):
Can the Enron stock price be superimposed on the CFI chart?
What I meant to say, was, THERE IS NO VALUE TO CARBON1111 There is only a perceived value, but nothing intrinsic. They can trade fantasy value all they wish. If people reject the value, then none of it is worth anything,……. That’s where you kick them.
OT but… Warming globe?
http://m.naplesnews.com/news/2010/mar/15/cold-kills-record-number-manatees-193/
NAPLES — The largest manatee die-off ever recorded in Florida is playing out in the state’s backwaters and bays this winter…
…The 193 manatee deaths probably are just the tip of the iceberg, scientists say.
Another 151 manatee deaths have been categorized as undetermined or their carcasses unrecovered, but most of them likely are cold weather related as well, De Wit said.
Manatee hospitals around the state are so busy caring for cold stressed manatees that Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park is keeping manatees in its above-ground — and heated — pool…
In all, 368 manatees have died between Jan. 1 and March 5 — only 61 deaths short of the record 429 manatees that died in all of 2009….
Latest update: 206 cold related and 393 total:
http://m.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100317/GREEN/100317043/-1/WAP&template=wapart
Florida’s 2010 manatee death count nearing record news-press.com
With more than nine months left in 2010, Florida’s manatee death count is closing in on the single-year record.
Through March 12, 393 manatees died in state waters; the record, set last year, is 429.
Manatees are extremely cold sensitive, and this year, a record 206 manatees have died from cold stress; the record for cold-stress deaths, also set last year, was 56…
http://myfwc.com/NEWSROOM/Index.htm should have a press release soon. Though it may be under manatee research.
“Elizabeth Dowdeswell is internationally recognized for her global and highly diverse experience in building consensus and managing change. She advises both public and private sectors on environmental issues worldwide. Ms. Dowdeswell is a former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Before joining UNEP, Ms. Dowdeswell was the Assistant Deputy Minister of Environment Canada. In that capacity she played a leading role in global efforts to negotiate the treaty on climate change adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. She was Canada’s permanent representative to the World Meteorological Organization, principal delegate to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and Canadian Chair of the Great Lakes Water Quality Board. ”
Experiance in building concensus and managing change!?! is that a joke? That says it all really!
“Pachauri is currently Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCCC), one of the recipients of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize; a Director of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (a Fortune 500 company); ”
So Pachauri is a Director of Indian Oil Corporation Limited – So he runs big oil??? Surely thats far worse than being funded by big oil isnt it?
FYI here is an annotated Enron chart:
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2006/01/the_astonishing.html
“The information that Enron was giant fraud was out, and yet the stock took over a year to collapse.”
Too bad that Gore’s house(s) and houseboat(s) cannot collapse in a proportional way. 😉
Omigod, dhogaza is jumping out of his pants at Bart’s.
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