The Global Resource for Carbon Market Intelligence
New Carbon Finance is the leading provider of high quality fundamental analysis of the European, North American and global carbon markets. Our team of analysts has been providing professional advice on carbon markets since 1998, including assistance in the design of various schemes and company-level strategic advice. During this time we have built up highly detailed fundamental market models that analyse the demand and supply balances and forecast prices on the European and global level, including North America.
US Carbon Market valued at 1 trillion dollars by 2020
Wednesday 12 November 2008 Montreal Exchange Ready For Canada CO2 Market LONDON - The Montreal Climate Exchange aims to become the central Canadian marketplace for carbon emissions trading, even before the government finalises the climate change legislation required to kick-start the market.
Friday 31 October 2008 VANCOUVER: CARBON TAX PUTS UNFAIR BURDEN ON POOR
The Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives says the provincial carbon tax aimed at reducing greenhouse gases places a heavier burden on the poor than on the rich. The tax increased the price of gasoline on July 1 by 2.3 cents a litre. According to the Centre's report on the issue, the tax will affect the poor because it increases over the years, while the wealthy will derive more benefit from offsetting income tax cuts even though the rich make relatively greater contributions to pollution. The document suggests eliminating the income tax cuts and using half the revenue from the gas tax to improving the low-income tax credit. The Centre recommends the rest go towards public transit, energy efficiency improvements for low- to middle-income families and worker transition programs.
And what does this 350 number even mean?
350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide--measured in "Parts Per Million" in our atmosphere. 350 PPM--it's the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change. Click herefor the Hi-res version of the animation.
Friday 26 September 2008 KAMLOOPS: NDP WARNS OF TWO CARBON TAXES
Also campaigning in BC, NDP leader Jack Layton lashed out against the plan by Liberal leader Stéphane Dion to impose a "carbon tax" on polluters as part of his party "Green Shift" plan. Many residents of the province are angry about the "carbon tax" already imposed by their provincial government. Mr. Layton claimed that Mr. Dion would triple the tax imposed by the government of Premier Gordon Campbell. Both Mr. Layton and Mr. Harper have warned B.C. voters that a Liberal government would force them to pay two carbon taxes, one provincial, the other federal. Mr. Dion has sought to explain that the two taxes would be harmonized. To voters worried about high gas prices, Mr. Layton said an NDP government would establish a minister of consumer protection who would investigate gouging and collusion and fine offenders.
Sunday 14 September 2008 Cool the overheated rhetoric on climate change
One commonly repeated argument for doing something about climate change sounds compelling, but turns out to be almost fraudulent. It is based on comparing the cost of action with the cost of inaction, and almost every major politician in the world uses it.
Friday 12 September 2008 MONTREAL, ST. JOHN: CARBON TAX THREATENS UNITY: PM
Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a connection on Thursday between the carbon tax proposed by his principal adversary in the national election campaign and national unity itself. Mr. Harper said in remarks in Montreal that taxes on producers of greenhouse gases would concentrate more political power in Ottawa, a development that would play into the hands of Quebec separatists. The prime minister predicts that the energy taxes proposed by Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion in its "Green Shift" would destroy the economy, a development which also wouldn't be positive for national unity. Mr. Dion reacted by accusing his adversary of irresponsibility, claiming that he has invented a reason for the separation of the country's largely French-speaking province, something that no other federalist leader has ever done. The Liberal leader says the question of global warming is more likely to unite citizens of all provinces.
Friday 22 August 2008 HALIFAX: NS AGAINST CARBON TAX
Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald has again come out against the environmental plan put forward by the federal opposition Liberal Party at the centre of which is a carbon tax. The rationale for the tax is that increasing the price of fossil fuels, consumers will use less of them. But Mr. MacDonald says the tax would be disastrous for Nova Scotia because fossil fuels produce 90 per cent its electricity and 60 per cent of its home heating. The premier predicts that a carbon tax would drive up the cost of everything that depends on fuel for production or delivery. Mr. MacDonald says Nova Scotia and the energy-producing province of Alberta would be the two most seriously affected provinces. His government is expected to produce its own climate change plan in the fall and while not revealing its contents the premier has said it won't include a carbon tax or a "cap-and-trade" system.
The country's two main political rivals are still in a virtual tie in public popularity, and Stéphane Dion's carbon tax plan - which experts suggest may be a key issue in the next federal election - doesn't seem to be pushing Canadians in either direction, suggests a new poll for Canwest News Service and Global National.
Of those who answered the Ipsos Reid survey of 1,002 adult Canadians, a slim majority, 52 per cent, said they either strongly or somewhat agree with Dion's approach. In contrast, 42 per cent of respondents said they strongly or somewhat oppose the plan, and six per cent were undecided.
While 62 per cent of respondents said they believed the plan - dubbed Green Shift by the Liberals - will reduce pollution in the country, about two-thirds (65 per cent) of respondents felt the Liberals' proposed carbon tax would lead to a major increase in the taxes paid by families, and 62 per cent said they thought it's likely to increase tension between Western Canada, Ontario and Quebec.
Saturday 21 June 2008 SASKATOON: LIBERAL CARBON TAX WOULD 'SCREW' EVERYBODY
Prime Minister Stephen Harper repeated on Friday his dismissal of the carbon tax project put forward on Thursday by Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion. The prime minister referred to the National Energy Plan implemented by the former Liberal government of the 1980s which he said "screwed" Western Canada, but claims Mr. Dion's plan would "screw everybody across the country." Mr. Harper says the Liberal plan would be bad not only for Western Canada but for the economic position of every Canadian family. The Liberals propose the imposition of a tax of $10 per tonne of toxic emissions, a rate that would gradually increase to $40 after four years, when the tax would yield $15.4 billion annually. The imposition would be offset by income tax cuts to lower-income earners, by increases in the child-tax credit and by a one-per cent reduction of corporate and small-business taxes. Standing next to Mr. Harper at an event in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall likewise denounced the Liberal plan, saying it would cause "the effective knee-capping of our economy."
TORONTO: ONTARIO PREMIER LIKES LIBERAL CARBON PLAN
Despite Mr. Harper's dismissal of the plan, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says he "likes the sound" of it. Mr. McGuinty says he appreciates the fact that the plan places a "real price" on pollution, offering the added benefits of reducing income taxes and a guarantee of "revenue neutrality." Under the plan, the federal auditor general would check to ensure that the scheme isn't discriminatory toward any group of taxpayers. Mr. McGuinty has apparently had a change of heart because he had twice rejected proposals for a carbon tax for his province.
Friday 20 June 2008 OTTAWA: OPPOSITION PROPOSES CARBON TAX
Opposition Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion has put forward a radical taxation plan aimed at reducing greenhouse gases. Mr. Dion says the plan would "make the polluters pay" and put the federal revenue from the tax back into the hands of the taxpayers through tax cuts. The Liberals propose the imposition of a tax of $10 per tonne of toxic emissions, a rate that would gradually increase to $40 after four years, when the tax would yield $15.4 billion annually. The imposition would be offset by income tax cuts to lower-income earners, by increases in the child-tax credit and by a one-per cent reduction of corporate and small-business taxes. Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper ridiculed the plan, saying that Mr. Dion's claim that it won't affect gasoline prices is ridiculous.
Tuesday Jun 17, 2008 Liberal carbon tax excludes gas
The Liberals are poised to propose a "green shift" in taxation policy this week, saying Canadians are..
Sunday 15 June 2008 For a real debate on a carbon tax
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives have managed to exploit the vagueness of Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion's proposed carbon tax with attack ads that would have Canadians believe Dion wants to impoverish them with a new tax on everything. Effective as they may be in scaring voters, the ads are a lousy substitute for a national debate on the efficacy of Dion's plan for combatting climate change – an issue Canadians care deeply about.
But that debate won't happen until Dion lays out a detailed plan.
Saturday 14 June 2008 EDMONTON: ALBERTA PREMIER TO PITCH GOVERNORS ON CLIMATE
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach will meet with the U.S. Western Governors Association at their meeting starting June 29 in Wyoming. The premier says he'll discuss ways of lowering carbon emissions without self-inflicting economic damage. The premier says he'll tout the procedure of carbon sequestration by which carbon emissions are piped into certain rock formations for permanent storage. The procedure is a cornerstone of the province's long-term environmental plan. The process has been successful on a small scale but not to the extent that would satisfy environmentalists critical of the greenhouse gases generated by Alberta's oilsands developments.
Tuesday 10 June 2008 OTTAWA: TORIES ATTACK ADS MAY NEVER AIR
The ads which the federal Conservatives want to show at gas stations to denounce the Liberal Party's proposed "carbon tax" may never been seen. The only Canadian company in the gas pump television business, Fuelcast Media Network, says it has a policy not to broadcast political messages. Fuelcast operates screens at 113 Esso stations in and around Toronto. The Conservatives say they signed a contract with Fuelcast and expect it to be honoured.
Tuesday Jun 10, 2008 Reducing emissions paramount
Carbon-trading systems will likely be a boon to lawyers, lobbyists and arbitrage junkies, a panel on emissions trading heard... ..In May, the World Bank reported that the carbon trading market more than doubled in value in 2007 to $64 million U.S. from $31 billion in 2006.
Monday Jun 9, 2008 Dion's carbon tax is under attack
The Tories launched a glossy, aggressive, multimedia campaign yesterday attacking Liberal leader Stéphane...
After spending a week dancing around the Bernier affair, the federal government was scrambling for good news this weekend. What the leadership in Ottawa definitely wasn’t looking for was unprecedented cooperation between Canada’s two largest provinces on a file that routinely tops the public agenda and is the bane of the federal Conservatives’ existence: the environment. But as a new week opened, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Quebec Premier Jean Charest—both Liberals—were poised to meet in Quebec City in a special joint meeting of both provinces’ cabinets. The premiers are expected to announce a plan to open an inter-provincial carbon cap-and-trade system that will operate independently of the federal government. McGuinty and Charest drummed up their budding relationship for the press over the weekend, with Charest telling the Globe that the relationship between the two provinces “is much stronger, much more rooted among our people, than the relationship that we have from time to time, for example, with the federal government.” It was a not-so-subtle jab at the tense relations between Quebec (and Ontario) and Ottawa. The cap-and-trade plan calls for hard caps, instead of the intensity-based targets that the federal government has trumpeted in its plan. It is also using the same base-line year as the Kyoto Protocol—1990—instead of 2006, which the federal plan uses to measure reductions.
Federal Environment Minister John Baird all but condemned the plan on CTV’s Question Period, and he did it loudly enough to get coverage in the Globe, the Star, the Post, the Citizen, and La Presse. Unfortunately for the steaming-mad minister, he missed CBC News: Sunday Night and CTV’s newscast last night. Baird called the Ontario-Quebec plan “smoke and mirrors,” “more talk and less action,” and “demonstrably weaker than ours,” referring to the federal plan to lower emissions. Baird does not like this cooperation; that much is certain. The Star’s Jim Coyle wrote that Baird and the federal Tories might have good reason to be worried. Ontario and Quebec are planning to work on a number of other initiatives, including a high-speed rail line that excludes the feds’ involvement. Coyle continues: “There are issues and interests here that the feds don’t or won’t get; Central Canada is a place where the all-purpose solution of tax cuts isn’t enough; there are areas in which the two provinces can move ahead without Ottawa.” No wonder Baird is upset. His home province might not need him anymore.
Saturday 31 May 2008 MONTREAL: CLIMATE CHANGE EXCHANGE LAUNCHED
The Montreal Climate Exchange was officially launched on Friday. Quebec Premier Jean Charest and federal Environment Minister John Baird were on hand for the inauguration. The exchange will allow industries that do not yet have the technology to begin cutting emissions to buy carbon credits so they can meet government-mandated targets. Companies that can meet emissions targets will get credits, which they will be able to trade at market value on this new exchange. The Montreal Climate Exchange is a joint venture with the Chicago Climate exchange and the Montreal Exchange, which is being merged with the TSX.
Friday 23 May 2008 Footprints in carbon, nitrogen and water CARBON footprints have become a widely accepted way to measure and describe humanity-s impact on the planet. But in principle, one can work out any kind of footprint. One=s turnip footprint would be the number of turnips (or root-vegetable equivalents) consumed in a lifetime. It wouldn=t be useful because it doesn’t capture anything that the world actually needs to know. That=s an important point when calculating a footprint: what is to be measured?
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 B.C. budget hikes fuel costs with new carbon tax ...be paying more at the fuel pump and less at tax time ...fuel — will be taxed at $10 per tonne of greenhouse gases generated, starting July 1, 2008.
= 2.4 cents per litre tax on gasoline at the pump and 2.8 cents per litre for home heating fuel. The carbon tax rate will rise by $5 a year for the next four years, until it hits $30 per tonne of greenhouse gas generated in 2012, Income tax rates for the first $70,000 earned will be cut by five per cent in 2009, giving B.C. the lowest personal income tax rate in Canada for those earning less than $111,000. see news taxs
Thursday, May. 15, 2008 Sizing Up Carbon Footprints global CO2 emissions total more than 28 billion tons a year,
Her seventh-grade Royal Acorns team is Carbonrally.com's reigning champ, having saved 11.21 tons of climate-changing CO2 to date.
... Americans, are responsible for more than 20 tons of CO2 per capita annually, even a homeless American would have a carbon footprint of 8.5 tons--twice the global average editor at the green website Grist.org also Wa$ted! on the new network Planet Green.
search for EU Emissions Trading Scheme Since 2005, some 10,000 large industrial plants in the EU are required to buy and sell permits to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The so-called Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) enables companies exceeding individual CO2 emissions targets to buy allowances from 'greener' ones and help reach the EU targets under the Kyoto Protocol. However, after pollution credits were grossly overallocated by several member states in the initial implementation phase, forcing carbon prices down and undermining the scheme's credibility, the EU is looking to toughen up the system.
Canada Greenhouse Gas Regulatory Framework OTTAWA - The Government of Canada today published details of the Turning the Corner regulatory framework originally announced on April 26, 2007. The documents, posted to Environment Canada's website, provide additional details about how the Government of Canada will move forward with its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Monday 19 May 2008 Anger over climate change loans
The government is accused of making stealth cuts to a fund set up to help poorer nations deal with climate change.
ONE of the most troubling aspects of climate change is the feedback loop. As the world warms, so frozen earth begins to melt, which releases greenhouse gases, which warms the world up further. Something similar seems to be happening with the literature of climate change. As people write books on global warming, so they generate interest in the subject, which increases demand, which leads to the writing of even more books. Both these cycles result in a lot of hot air. more
Green.view
The uncertain future of emissions trading ... more
Monday May 12, 2008 Liberals consider carbon tax
The idea was rejected 10 years ago by former prime minister Jean Chrétien in the midst of his three ...
Green.view
The uncertain future of emissions trading ... more
Monday 05 May 2008 A tax on carbon worthy of debate
Many Canadians, including a large number of Liberals, think Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion must be crazy. With oil prices close to $120 (U.S.) a barrel and gasoline approaching $1.30 a litre, Dion has been musing aloud about bringing in a carbon tax that would push those prices, in Canada at least, even higher. (See opposite page.)
Tuesday 22 April 2008 Carbon exchanges ripe for consolidation
Big three seen. Market is $60B and growing
A cutthroat battle is emerging to dominate trade in permits to emit greenhouse gases, which could grow to rival the $3-trillion oil trade, with dominant exchanges expected in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.
Friday Apr 18, 2008 'Carbon bomb' warning disputed
Ottawa-promoted opinion piece
Recent warnings that suggested that logging in the boreal forest could lead to a "carbon bomb" do not reflect the latest scientific research, according to a new opinion piece written by a senior federal government expert on forestry.
Monday Apr 7, 2008 A carbon tax trumps cap-and-trade system
British Columbia charged in last week where the federal government and other provinces are hesitating to go.
Sunday 23 March 2008 EU 'committed' to stiff CO2 cuts
Europe is still committed to ambitious cuts in CO2 emissions, the EU environment chief tells the BBC.
Saturday 15 March 2008 Property plan's 'low carbon' goal
Reducing buildings' energy use in North America is the quickest and cheapest way to cut emissions, a study says.
Fewer than 2% of US offices are classified as "green buildings"
Improving the environmental performance of buildings in North America can cut the region's carbon emissions more than any other measure, a study suggests.
The rapid take-up of current and new technologies could save the equivalent of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by transport in the US, it concluded.
However, it added that developers and homeowners were not willing to pay the extra cost for energy saving measures.
Buildings are responsible for about 35% of the region's man-made CO2 emissions.
Friday 14 March 2008 Banks and climate change The greening of Wall Street Tackling the carbon crisis amid the credit crisis
Thursday Feb 28, 2008 New global bodies are necessary to curb fossil-fuel use
We're always hearing about new steps to reduce the use of fossil fuels - the latest examples being the new federal budget's injection of $500 million into public transit across Canada, Via Rail's proposed revival of a Montreal-Sherbrooke passenger train and, most impressively, British Columbia's pioneering carbon tax.
Monday Feb 25, 2008 Ottawa urged to fire up a carbon tax
A carbon tax of $30 a tonne, a hike in the newly reduced GST and a higher tax rate for Canada's wealthiest...
Friday Feb 22, 2008 montrealgazette/ ', LEFT);" onmouseout="return nd();" target="_"> B.C. puts Quebec to shame
On Tuesday, British Columbia became the second province, after Quebec, to adopt a carbon tax. But the budget provision unveiled in Victoria hit much closer to the bull's-eye than did Quebec's Green Fund. It does much more to achieve what such a tax is supposed to achieve - reducing energy consumption, or at least slowing the growth of demand, while at the same time making sure that those who use more energy end up paying more. To see how B.C.'s carbon tax will work: www.bcbudget.gov.
Monday 11 February 2008 Carbon tax or cap and trade? Most business leaders in Canada now recognize that business must act to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We also recognize that there is a price attached to that action. Carbon abatement is fast becoming just another cost of doing business. It is a corporate responsibility.
Monday Feb 11, 2008 The downside of environmental research
A professor who is sheepish that his biodiversity research generated four times the carbon dioxide emissions...
Friday Feb 1, 2008 Conference Board supports a Canadian carbon tax
A carbon tax is one of the most effective ways to create a level playing field for consumers and industries to tackle climate...
Quebec energy consumers - not just energy producers - are the
ones who will end up paying for the province's new green fund. The
bills are in the mail.
Tuesday 15 January 2008 VANCOUVER: FEDERAL MINISTER PROMOTES COMMON CARBON TAX
Canada's finance minister, Jim Flaherty, is insisting that only a common carbon tax imposed across the country can effectively serve to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that harm the environment. Speaking on Monday to leading businesspeople in Vancouver, British Columbia, Mr. Flaherty said that Canada's automotive industry in particular is concerned about proposals to have several regional carbon taxes. The auto industry predicts that a system of various taxes would lead to different environmental standards on imported cars that would lead to higher car prices. Quebec is the only one of Canada's ten provinces that has already imposed a tax on carbon fuels. Mr. Flaherty generally supports imposing centralized rules for many industries.
Wednesday 09 January 2008 OTTAWA: GOVERNMENT OPPOSES CALLS FOR CARBON TAX
Environment Minister John Baird is opposing calls to impose a carbon tax on Canadian industry. He was responding to an announcement by a special panel for a long-term climate change strategy for Canada. The National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy recommends imposing a national price on carbon to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But Mr Baird says that the Conservative Party government would rather regulate emissions reductions. The government's plan also includes consumer incentives, money for the provinces, and a technology fund that industries must support if they are unable to reduce their greenhouse gases.
A TOXIC CARBON TAX by Josh Ginsberg January
8, 2008
What happens when the government’s own advisors suggest a
way to fight climate change? Nothing, apparently. The
National and the Star
lead, the
Citizen fronts, and La
Presse, the
Globe, the Post,
and CTV
News go inside with the Conservative government’s rebuff of a
suggestion that a carbon tax would be the best way to fight global
warming. Such a tax would be imposed on the production, distribution, or
use of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. According to the
National Roundtable of the Environment and the Economy, the tax will cause
consumers some pain, but might also prevent climate change from turning the
observation deck of the CN Tower into a seaport. Still, the Conservatives
rejected the idea out of hand, with Environment Minister John Baird
explaining that “a new tax sounds like a Liberal idea to
me.” He instead insisted that the Tory government’s plan
to impose mandatory restrictions for big polluters is the best way to
go. But the Liberals aren’t embracing the plan either. Despite his
environmentalist credo, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion has never supported a
carbon tax. This, however, didn’t prevent the Star from quoting a
Liberal source who called the report a “clarion call.” Liberal
MPs John Godfrey and David McGuinty were hardly clarion-esque when they
were quoted by the Post as saying that their party would immediately
“pay attention” to the report.
Reporting for The National, Keith Boag says that the idea of a carbon tax
used to be something that “politicians preferred not to discuss in
polite company.” If that’s the case, Finance Minister Jim
Flaherty’s former chief of staff David McLaughlin must be very rude
indeed. As head of the roundtable, made up of experts and business
leaders, he is certainly not a “raving environmentalist” of
the type likely to haunt Tory dreams. In addition, the Globe points out
that business leaders in the energy sector seem to be supportive of the
idea, which they find preferable to mandatory reductions. So what the Big
Seven need to flesh out is who the Conservatives are afraid of
offending. The Globe is the only source that editorializes on this issue,
with Jeffery Simpson astutely reading the ostensibly non-partisan report
as an indictment of the current Conservative plan. He points out that
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already lowered the bar on
Canada’s emissions reductions well below the country’s
commitment under Kyoto. An unsigned editorial critiques the report for
considering the tax in a hypothetical economic situation, but reserves
more ire for politicians who dismiss the plan as a political hot potato,
without looking carefully at its potential merit.
Sunday Jan 6, 2008 Do carbon credits make a difference?
The Canadian Football League announced plans in November to make the Grey Cup a "carbon neutral" event... The carbon-offset market was non-existent just a few years ago, but it is big business now, with researchers estimating the activity in North America was worth more than $100 million last year. So, what are the buyers getting? At best, they are spurring investment in an enterprise that reduces greenhouse-gas emissions. At worst, critics say, they are simply practising chequebook environmentalism, salving guilt by investing in a scheme whose benefits are negligible. Carbon offsets tend to be sold in two ways: either in bulk to a large company, like the CFL, which last year bought 300 tonnes worth of offsets as part of its Grey Cup initiative, or to individuals, such as Aeroplan members who can now tack on a few extra Aeroplan miles to offset the emission of their trip. In either scenario, the offsets are brokered by an intermediary who buys them from an environmentally beneficial enterprise.But for such a transaction to be truly "carbon neutral," the seller would have to use the offset money to create an environmental benefit that would not otherwise have happened.
Boreal forest the next battle
Canada's forest is emerging as an immense - truly immense - national and international player. Canada's forest is emerging as an immense - truly immense - national and international player.
The broad swath of often-scruffy timberland stretching from Yukon to Labrador is one of the largest stores of carbon on Earth, making it key to fighting global warming and climate change.
It holds an estimated 186 billion tonnes of carbon - about 27 times as much as is released globally by the burning of fossil fuels each year.
TORONTO: PANEL RECOMMENDS CARBON TAX
A special federal panel has proposed a long-term climate-change strategy for Canada. The National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy recommends a national price on carbon to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The panel comprised of leading environmentalists and figures in business also recommends either a carbon tax or a carbon-trading system as well as other measures to reduce air pollution by 65 per cent by 2050. A carbon tax would increase the cost of burning fossil fuels such as oil and gas. It targets industry or consumers. Both Prime Minister Stepher Harper and opposition Liberal Party leader Stéphane Dion reject the idea of a carbon tax.
BBC
Saturday 15 March 2008 
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