ADB plan to buy carbon credits after 2012
Raphael Minder | Wednesday, 9 July 2008
FT Syndication Service
BANGKOK: The Asian Development Bank is setting up a new climate change fund to invest in carbon credits that will be generated after 2012, the cut-off date for the Kyoto protocol.
Most carbon trading funds do not invest in credits that will be issued after the protocol has expired, given the uncertainty about its successor. Negotiations are continuing but will not be completed until the end of next year.
"$200m is not a silver bullet to solve the climate change problem but we hope this model can be replicated by others, either development or commercial banks," said Toru Kubo, a clean energy and climate change expert at the ADB who has been involved in launching the fund.
Countries such as Norway as well as the European Union (EU) and US states such as California have made commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2012. However, this week's Group of Eight meeting in Japan is expected to underline divergences on what international targets could be agreed beyond that date.
On arriving in Japan, President George W. Bush reaffirmed that Washington could agree to goals only if they were shared by China and India, Asia's new economic powerhouses.
Oil's rise towards $150 a barrel is already forcing Asian and other oil importers to promote renewable energy investments more aggressively, in order to cut their ballooning fuel import and subsidy costs. Some of the largest industrial companies in South Korea, the world's fifth-largest oil importer, agreed on Monday to invest Won2,790bn ($2.7bn, euro1.7bn,
BANGKOK: The Asian Development Bank is setting up a new climate change fund to invest in carbon credits that will be generated after 2012, the cut-off date for the Kyoto protocol.
Most carbon trading funds do not invest in credits that will be issued after the protocol has expired, given the uncertainty about its successor. Negotiations are continuing but will not be completed until the end of next year.
"$200m is not a silver bullet to solve the climate change problem but we hope this model can be replicated by others, either development or commercial banks," said Toru Kubo, a clean energy and climate change expert at the ADB who has been involved in launching the fund.
Countries such as Norway as well as the European Union (EU) and US states such as California have made commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions beyond 2012. However, this week's Group of Eight meeting in Japan is expected to underline divergences on what international targets could be agreed beyond that date.
On arriving in Japan, President George W. Bush reaffirmed that Washington could agree to goals only if they were shared by China and India, Asia's new economic powerhouses.
Oil's rise towards $150 a barrel is already forcing Asian and other oil importers to promote renewable energy investments more aggressively, in order to cut their ballooning fuel import and subsidy costs. Some of the largest industrial companies in South Korea, the world's fifth-largest oil importer, agreed on Monday to invest Won2,790bn ($2.7bn, euro1.7bn,