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Brazilian Carbon Credits Foster Investment Boom
Sao Paulo (AFP) Nov 24, 2006 Programs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions are blossoming in Brazil, with the "carbon credit" system winning interest from companies in industrialized countries. Brazil ranks second among developing countries, behind India and ahead of Mexico and China, in the number of these investments, though under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change it is not required to cut emissions of its greenhouse gases. "Developing countries are committed to introducing clean techniques but they do not have quantitative targets," as highly industrialized countries bear most of the responsibility for curbing these emissions, said Luiz Fernandes, the science and technology ministry's executive secretary. In total, 102 projects have been approved so far in Brazil. Fifty-eight more are under review as part of the clean development mechanism. These projects represent an overall reduction of 189 million tonnes of CO2, or 18 percent of Brazil's emissions in 1994, ministry data show. Under the Kyoto Protocol, highly industrialized countries obliged to reduce greenhouse gases can invest in emissions reducing projects in developing countries as an alternative to carrying out costly changes in their own countries. Known as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the reductions generated in the developing countries can help meet emissions targets for industrialized nations, according to the UN, under which the Kyoto Protocol operates. "It works," says Fernandes, who believes Brazil offers important potential for CDM projects. And Brazil already has been in the forefront on energy policy. More than 80 percent of its power is generated in hydraulic plants, and Brazil has been on the cutting edge of biofuel use. It has invested in and embraced ethanol use in its vehicles, while deforestation in the Amazon has dropped 52 percent in two years, said Fernandes. Almost a third of the CDM projects involve power generation with biomass, from such sources as sugar cane crop waste. Others involve recovering gas from garbage dumps, small water-powered generators and even pig waste. Among countries leading in the trading are Britain, with 26 projects, the Netherlands, with 18, and Japan with eight. Brazil also is the first developing country to plan a carbon credit trading market. Launched in 2005, the project is in an initial phase with emissions-reducing proposals due to be approved by government agencies. Officials with the Brazilian stock exchange hope the carbon credit market will offer its first auctions in early in 2007.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Kyoto Protocol Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
Finance Minister Brown Backs Taxes On Air Travel And Gas Guzzlers
London (AFP) Nov 24, 2006British finance minister Gordon Brown backs substantially increasing taxes on air travel, and gas guzzling cars, the Financial Times reported on Friday. Citing unnamed British civil service sources, the newspaper said that Chancellor of the Exchequer Brown supports indirect taxation on some of the biggest carbon emitters as a way to change behaviour. |
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