Russia Signs New Law Regulating CO2 Emissions

Simon H
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Russia Signs New Law Regulating CO2 Emissions

President Vladimir Putin signed legislation in early July mandating the country’s top greenhouse-gas emitters (GHG) to submit carbon data to a new government agency.

This marks Russia’s first moves toward controlling carbon emissions since joining the Paris climate agreements in 2019.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, the new law requires carbon reporting beginning in January 2023 for firms generating 150,000 tonnes of carbon or more. This is set to decreased down to companies producing 50,000 to 150,000 tonnes by January 2025.

“An accounting system is being implemented, and carbon dioxide is becoming a regulated substance,” Greenpeace spokesperson Vladimir Chuprov told Reuters. “A system for accounting and reducing emissions is evolving. This is a need for a trading system for greenhouse-gas emissions.”

With such measures in place, Russia hopes to achieve its Paris Agreement commitment of reducing emissions to 70% of 1990 levels by 2030.

The new rule will, predictably, have the greatest impact on Russia’s oil and gas industry as Russia flares the most associated gas of any country on the planet.

gas flaring volumes 2016-2020 in billion cubic meters

After a 2012 World Bank research projected that flaring cost the economy $5 billion in yearly costs, Russia began to take the issue seriously.

According to Bloomberg, oil and gas exports will account for 40% of Russia’s national budget in 2021, and while European demand for oil declines, Russia is increasing investment in East Siberian production, such as Rosneft’s Vostok project, to serve Asia, where demand for oil continues to rise.

Russia’s target date of 2023 for starting GHG reporting coincides with the same year that the EU will implement the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which The Bank of Russia estimates could cost Russia up to 8.2 billion Euros per year.

Source: https://jpt.spe.org/russia-to-require-carbon-reporting-under-new-climate-change-law

Carbon Credit Market to Reach $100 Billion a Year By 2050

Simon H
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Carbon Credit Market to Reach $100 Billion a Year By 2050

The Institute of International Finance’s CEO believes voluntary carbon credits have great upside potential and projects the market may be worth up to $100 billion per year by 2050.

Governments and corporate leaders are under increasing pressure to deliver on pledges made as part of the historic Paris Agreement in advance of this year’s COP26, which will be hosted in Scotland, in early November.

The Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM) released the second phase of its roadmap for developing a large-scale and transparent carbon credit trading market recently.

According to the TSVCM, it will enable more companies to put their net-zero promises into action by investing in emissions-reduction projects, where they believe it would have the greatest impact.

The private-sector-led project, established last year by former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, believes a broad-based carbon market is “essential” to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels – the global aim outlined in the Paris Agreement.

Carbon credits are permits that allow a corporation to emit a specified quantity of greenhouse emissions. They are intended to provide a financial incentive for high-polluting businesses to reduce their pollution.

The voluntary carbon offset market is distinct from cap-and-trade programs such as Europe’s flagship Emissions Trading System (ETS), which has a finite carbon budget and allows emitters to sell allowances.

Companies in the voluntary market, on the other hand, are more likely to be attempting to reach internal targets to decrease their carbon footprint.

The TSVCM had previously stated that in order to fulfil the Paris climate objectives, the voluntary carbon market would need to increase 15-fold and might be valued up to $50 Billion by the end of the decade.

A Carbon Floor Proposal

Simon H
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A Carbon Floor Proposal

Staff at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have suggested a carbon-price floor to reduce global warming over the next decade, claiming that climate change poses significant threats to the world’s economies.

A report was issued earlier in June and is being discussed by the IMF executive board and members. The reports recommended varying minimum carbon-price levels for nations based on their stage of development as one possibility.

By using a 3-tier price floor ($25, $50, $75 per tonne) among United States, China, the European Union, India, the United Kingdom, and Canada. This could help cut global emissions by 23 % from baseline levels by 2030.

According to IMF officials, this would substantially improve the efficiency of the Paris Agreement aim of limiting temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius.

The concept is similar to the argument over a minimum worldwide corporation tax rate.

By focusing on a small number of large emitters, this would make negotiations easier and could still cover a large percentage of global emissions, thereby taking a major step towards the cuts in greenhouse gases.

While a tax is one possibility for establishing the price floor, the IMF believes it may also be accomplished through regulation or carbon trading.

With Carbon trading, the proceeds may be used to compensate consumers for price increases as well as to assist firms and people in transitioning from high- to low-carbon activities.

According to IMF officials, the proposal would be more successful and less controversial than border-adjustment carbon taxes, which are charges on the carbon content of imports.

And if it is expanded out to cover the whole G20 nations (which emit 85% of global carbon-dioxide emissions), the proposal may stimulate a slight additional decrease in emissions, according to the IMF experts in the paper.

Original source: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/imf-staff-propose-carbon-price-floor-to-slow-climate-change-1.1618752

Global Carbon Dioxide Levels Reach 4 Million Year High

Simon H
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Global Carbon Dioxide Levels Reach 4 Million Year High

Based on geological data gathered over the six decades that scientists have been measuring atmospheric CO2, this year’s peak seems to be the greatest in up to 4.5 million years.

Geological data reveal the three centuries ago, before the industrial civilization began, there were 280 CO2 molecules for every million molecules of air.

The amount of CO2 measured in PPM (Parts Per Million) shot up to 316 PPM back in the late 1950’s. Since then, it has climbed upwards to 419 PPM.

In other words, by burning fossil fuels in generators and automobiles, humanity has raised concentrations of the most significant greenhouse gas by 50%.

Researchers projected as early as April 2020 that pandemic-related economic disruptions that substantially lowered emissions will have almost little influence on CO2 trajectory.

The May average increased by 1.8 ppm over May 2020, which was somewhat less than the yearly growth rate in 2017 and 2011.

CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere change year to year, averaging around 2.5 ppm each year from 2010 to 2019.

The figures are influenced not just by pollution, but also by changes in the rate at which seas and plants absorb CO2.

The atmospheric concentration has a seasonal cycle, with a high in May when plants in the Northern Hemisphere (where the majority of them reside) begin to take CO2 into tissue.

Original source: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/co-reaches-its-highest-level-in-more-than-4-million-years-1.1613801

Russian Petrochemical Giant Plans to use Forest Carbon Credits to Offset Emissions

Carbon Credits
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Russian Petrochemical Giant Plans to use Forest Carbon Credits to Offset Emissions

Sibur PJSC intends to offset part of its emissions beginning in 2024 by exploiting the carbon-capture potential of Russia’s vast forests. Sibur will explore purchasing carbon credits from projects that plant trees or increase the ability of existing woods to absorb CO2, making it one of the first Russian firms to do so.

Sibur is already assisting with a pilot carbon monitoring project in western Siberia to examine the potential of local forests as carbon sinks.

The Russian government is eager to capitalize on the “carbon sink” potential of its enormous forests, but such initiatives have been criticized by climate experts.

President Vladimir Putin estimated in April that Russia’s biosphere absorbs roughly 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent each year, however this amount has to be confirmed scientifically.

Carbon-offset schemes have been criticized by scientists and campaigners for a lack of adequate monitoring. Europe, which aims to be the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050, does not accept any offset contributions in its emissions-reduction strategy.

According to Sibur’s head of sustainable development, Sibur wants to proceed with the offsets because “they are essential to our investors, our clients; it is precisely one of those situations when market needs go beyond regulatory expectations.”

To maintain a level playing field for domestic businesses, the EU intends to impose a charge on emissions contained in some imported goods. The so-called Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) would apply to businesses such as cement and power, and would be implemented as early as 2023. The EU has said that countries with comparable emission-reduction efforts may be exempt from the charge.

Later this July, the European Commission is expected to release a draught legislation outlining the mechanism’s specifics. According to Russia’s Energy Ministry, the levy may cost the country’s oil and gas industry $3 billion to $4 billion each year.

Sibur is concerned about the likelihood of the tax, but has yet to submit an estimate for its own possible losses and is waiting for the commission’s recommendation. The firm is revising its environmental, social, and governance plan through 2025, which will be available in the second half of this year and may contain more aggressive emission-reduction objectives.

Source: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/sibur-plans-to-use-russia-s-forests-to-offset-carbon-from-2024-1.1609726

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