Gore’s grand experiment has flatlined.
As we reported almost two weeks ago, the Gore and Pachauri advised Chicago Carbon Exchange (CCX) has closed. Closing price? A nickel per ton of CO2.
Here’s the final day closing page for posterity:
A 16 lb bag of charcoal briquettes is worth more than a ton of CO2. About 220x more.
Here’s more on the story:
Carbon Trade Ends on Quiet Death of Chicago Climate Exchange
Republican mid-term election joy deals financial uncertainty among green investors as the Chicago Climate Exchange announces the end of U.S. carbon trading.
The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) announced on October 21, 2010 that it will cease carbon trading this year. However, Steve Milloy reporting on Pajamasmedia.com (November 6, 2010) finds this huge story strangely unreported by the mainstream media.
To some key analysts the collapse of the CCX appears to show that international carbon trading is “dying a quiet death.” Yet Milloy finds that such a major business failure has drawn no interest at all from the mainstream media. Milloy noted that a “Nexis search conducted a week after CCX’s announcement revealed no news articles published about its demise.”
Not until November 02, 2010 had the story even been picked up briefly and that was by Chicagobusiness.com (Crain’s). Reporter, Paul Merrion appeared to find some comfort that while CCX will cease all trading of new emission allowances at the end of the year, “it will continue trading carbon offsets generated by projects that consume greenhouse gases, such as planting trees.”
Collapse is Personal Setback for U.S. President
Barack Obama was a board member of the Joyce Foundation that funded the fledgling CCX. Professor Richard Sandor, of Northwestern University had started the business with $1.1 million in grants from the Chicago-based left-wing Joyce Foundation enthusiastically endorsed by Obama. When founded in November 2000, CCX’s carbon trading market was predicted to grow anywhere between $500 billion and $10 trillion. Fortunately before its collapse Sandor was able to net $98.5 million for his 16.5% stake when CCX was sold.
Failure of European Climate Market May Follow
Milloy writes, “although the trading in carbon emissions credits was voluntary, the CCX was intended to be the hub of the mandatory carbon trading established by a cap-and-trade law. Trading carbon was, “the only purpose for which it was founded.” But with their resurgence after the mid-terms the Republicans have now put a new cohort of global warming skeptics into the corridors of power.
Unlike the American voluntary scheme, the European cousin of the CCX, the European Climate Exchange (ECX), continues to trade due to the mandatory carbon caps of the Kyoto Protocol. But the future of the ECX will be in doubt unless a new climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol is introduced. That treaty expires in 2012. But the ineffectual Copenhagen Climate Conference (2009) exposed an inability among international politicians to agree on climate change. If this stalement persists then the European ECX may likely suffer the same fate as Chicago’s CCX.
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Whose $98.5 million was it that Prof. Sandor trousered?
I’m not so sure that Elizabeth at 9:22 isn’t right when she says it might come back. It could be a case of “It’s dead, Jim, but not as we know it.”
This is excellent, news. I’m hoping for something from the National Post on it up here. NP/Financial Post has been Canada’s lone voice in the MSM to challenge the media blackout imposed on most real climate stories (except pro-AGW, of course) since Climategate.
May the collapse continue, eventually the CBC won’t be able to hide that decline either.
The cat obviously has more lives to live and markets to bounce. Richard Sandor, Time Magazine’s 2007 “Hero of the Environment” and “Father of Carbon Trading” has moved on to The Volatility Exchange (http://www.volx.us/) where his skills as “one of the foremost innovators in the derivatives market” will be used to “launch more creative products”.
Sandor is quoted as saying : “The Volatility Exchange is part of a tradition of invention and creativity in the futures industry. It brings innovative and transparent products that can appeal to a vast section of market participants and their risk-management needs.” Details at (http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/03112010/31/link-f-prnewswire-industry-icon-richard-sandor-joins-board-volatility-exchange.html)
Satisfied with your risk management needs? Nothing like publicly stimulated feline creativity. More catnip anyone?
Here in Europe, by good old feudal tradition we are reigned by unelected EU bureaucrats, which see the carbon trading as never ending stream of taxes, control and further expanding of the state regulations. Germans, Danes, Norwegians and Britons invested so much in the green bubble that until new generation of politics comes, they will never admit it was all just costly BS. Be sure we Europeans will claim high moral ground, as soon as US Climategate II investigations will start.
Please, start.
Can anybody tell me if the U.S. Congress has the mandate to investigate the operations of the CCX just like they did with Enron and Worldcom?
Yet another green initiative failure/myth not reported in the MSM:
Cellulosic Ethanol fall way short of government mandates yet again.
5-17 mg/yr instead of 250 mg/yr
The US taxpayer is on the hook for these failures via loans/subidies:
” EIA cuts cellulosic producers from 2011 list
By Kris Bevill
Posted Nov. 1, 2010
The U.S. DOE’s Energy Information Administration has completed its predictions for next year’s cellulosic biofuels production and estimates that actual production levels will be much lower than anticipated. Earlier this year, the U.S. EPA proposed a reduction in the cellulosic biofuels portion of the 2011 renewable fuel standard (RFS) to between 5 and 17.1 million gallons, down drastically from the 250 million gallons initially called for in the 2007 RFS. But according to an Oct. 20 letter sent from EIA Administrator Richard Newell to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, the EPA’s reduced target is still too high. The EIA suggests that a more likely 2011 production total for cellulosic biofuels is approximately 3.94 million gallons. Additionally, the EIA said half of the facilities on the EPA’s list won’t produce biofuels next year.
According to Newell’s letter, the EIA focused its cellulosic biofuels analysis on currently producing facilities and facilities that are expected to be complete by the end of this year. Facilities that are not mechanically complete this year are not expected to produce next year, according to the EIA. For that reason, several companies that appeared on the EPA’s expected producer list were removed by the EIA, including cellulosic ethanol producers AE Biofuels and Agresti Biofuels. The two companies were expected by the EPA to produce a combined 1.5 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol in 2011. Diesel-feedstock producers Bell Bio-Energy, expected by the EPA to produce 11.5 million gallons of fuel, and Cello Energy, expected by the EPA to produce 8.5 million gallons of fuel, were also removed from the EIA’s list. While the agency did not elaborate on its decision to omit Bell Bio-Energy from the list, it voiced skepticism regarding Cello’s operations. “The Cello Energy facility faces important financial, legal and technological issues that have yet to be resolved and that cast significant doubt on its ability to sell or introduce any cellulosic biofuel into commerce in 2011,” Newell stated in his letter. “
Barack Obama was a board member of the Joyce Foundation that funded the fledgling CCX. Professor Richard Sandor, of Northwestern University had started the business with $1.1 million in grants from the Chicago-based left-wing Joyce Foundation enthusiastically endorsed by Obama.
Obama, the usual deranged Communist Ideologue whose mission is to destroy individual freedom and capitalism, or simply the usual looter of whatever he can get his hands on? But at this point in time, maybe there’s no practical difference anyway.
Hmm – funny but I got an email only 4 days ago (from something called “Carbon Profits”) telling me that, according to Barclay’s Bank, “Carbon will be the world’s biggest market” with potential for 300%+ projected returns from the “Next Trillion Dollar Market”. My system thought it was spam. Seems it was right.
…and news just in: Al Gore announces his latest venture to sell snow to the Eskimos.
There is another Chicago exchange where carbon (hydrates) trading is flourishing, and it will for many years to come thanks to the CO2, essential element of the grain production.
I’d like to buy a billion tons at $0.00/ton. Make that a trillion.
In any case, with this, Gore’s quest to become a climate billonaire has certainly taken a hit. Divorce will probably take his wealth down to well below $100 million. His wealth and lifestyle has always rubbed me the wrong way.
Which is better: the free market, or government monopoly?
Here’s how free enterprise saved the whales.
@ur momisugly betapug says:
November 8, 2010 at 11:03 am
The cat obviously has more lives to live and markets to bounce. Richard Sandor, Time Magazine’s 2007 “Hero of the Environment” and “Father of Carbon Trading” has moved on to The Volatility Exchange (http://www.volx.us/) where his skills as “one of the foremost innovators in the derivatives market” will be used to “launch more creative products”.
Translation: “The Godfather of scams has moved on to the Snake Oil Exchange, where his skills as one of the most wanted con artists will be used to hype more imaginary get-rich-quick schemes. “
California is a dead state walking, is it too late to trade it back to Mexico for a couple of cases of beer?
Money for Nothing, taxpayer duped… again.
“Why are welfare queens sent to prison while eco-capitalists buy mansions? It appears that the carbon credit trading exchange some eco-capitalists sold just a few months ago for $634.5M is now worthless.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/11/money_for_nothin.html
Jimbo mentioned it above. Now you can bet the market on the weather! Check it out at http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/weather/rainfall.html
They are using the following weather stations:
* Chicago O’Hare International Airport (WBAN 94846)
* Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (WBAN 03927)
* Des Moines International Airport (WBAN 14933)
* Detroit Metro Airport (WBAN 94847)
* Jacksonville International Airport (WBAN 13889)
* Los Angeles Downtown USC Campus (WBAN 93134)
* New York LaGuardia Airport (WBAN 14732)
* Portland International Airport (WBAN 24229)
* Raleigh/Durham International Airport (WBAN 13722)
Maybe someone will have the idea to sprinkle the stations, just to earn some easy money 😉
Ecotretas
I started on this crusade for the sole purpose of killing the trillion dollar CO2 carbon trading scam back in June of 2009. The thought of taxing ourselves to death on the pretext that the air that comes out of our mouths is somehow causing the climate of such a huge planet to increase in temperatures inexorably, sounded completely preposterous to me. CO2 is plant food.
I learned a lot since the early days of my crusade. I found out my initial instincts were right. Promoting the death of the world wide carbon market was the right path to take, and I won everything I set out to achieve. I had a bit of help from old man sun and could not have done it without him.
“Solar Cycle 24 is anemic at best with some predicting it and solar cycle 25 will be a dud cycles at best. Original projections for solar cycle 24 to reach a sunspot maximum of 160 by 2010/2011 a have now been revised to possibly achieving sunspot maximum of 65 by 2013/2014. When low and elongated sunspot cycles correlate with cooling periods of earth (eg Dalton and Maunder minimum), and volcanic eruptions add another cooling signal then the future is definitely looking very dangerously cold.
Since Solar Cycle began we have seen a cooling and contracting of the upper atmosphere, cooling oceans and cooling climate. As the oceans absorb the heat from the sun and store it for a period, less heat coming in means a cooler ocean. The longer this period of lower sun heat persists then the more the oceans will cool. As the oceans regulate our climate on earth (keep it warm) a colder ocean means a colder climate.
Low sunspot cycles also have another effect. Svensmark also talks about how periods of low sunspot activity correlate with periods of high cloudiness. During periods of low sunspots more cosmic rays hit the earth which causes more water molecules to form in the atmosphere, meaning more moisture (or clouds) in the sky. If we have more moisture and colder temperatures then this means more snow. Snow (ice) is one of the deadliest killers of life on the planet.”
Natural historical climate cycles also interact with our weather. With the climate having entered a cold PDO (pacific decadel oscillation) which means 20 – 40 years of cooler, wetter weather, more prevalent and stronger La Ninas (like we are currently having), and less prevalent and weaker El Ninos. The current LaNina is already the strongest in over 60 years.
Consistent with all the above we are experiencing cold and record rainfall in many parts of the world. Based on the above this trend is not only likely to continue for decades, but deepen and potentially dangerously so. As it is the cold periods of earths history that reduces biodiversity and decimates humanity then this is what we should be concerned about and preparing for. Yet talk to any Climate Change department of any government and what do they have? Only global warming policies. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the UN is setting the world up for the fall – and by that I mean decimation – ensuring all our resources are put into preparing for the non existent, beneficial warming when it is the cold that kills. What better way to get the worlds population down to the 500 million.”
http://www.twawki.com/?p=9623
Who sold out at the peak ($7.50-ish)?
Did Al sell at the top or bail out somewhere in the $4-$5.00 range?
‘Twould be interesting to hear a little about any winners and losers.
I’d love to see the finances to see who made the most out of thin air.
I knew the world had gone mad when this happened, it would of made a great Sci-Fi story in the 60’s, a planet where you have to pay to breath or be blown up, run by the great and pwoerful Creature of Gore.
Did you mean JIM, the one of those nice trains…..which will take us all to re educational camps or …(my hunch) to improved kilns….
Wrongly educated kids become conceited kids, that when grown up, they psychologically, rather emotionally, remain being kids; so they usually join well protected social organizations that care after them and protect them from harmful environment and evil kids, like skeptics or like the WUWT’s ugly posters, the same Daddy and Mommy cared after them. That is why they like to be safely protected by Daddy State and Mommy society….
Got an idea: Let’s create a Prize for the GWr of the Year: A GREEN PACIFIER
@H.R.
> Who sold out at the peak ($7.50-ish)?
The price fell like a rock on that day, so if find the folks who got $7+ you will have also identified the “pump and dump” artists, who should be in jail for this fraud.
Polistra:
I cannot agree with your assessment of what is significant about the “carbon cult”.
I am far more concerned about the rise of tyranny (in the form of endless environmental regulation and confiscatory taxation) amongst “western” governments (particularly the USA) than about some Wall Street vultures looking to make a buck off the scam.
It’s time to start an oxygen options market. Who’s with me?!!