Published: May 24, 2010 at 4:21 PM
BRUSSELS, May 24 (UPI) -- An international scheme to build a nuclear fusion reactor in France has come under fire due to ballooning funding concerns.
Overall costs for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor have risen from an initial $6 billion estimate in 2006 to around $18 billion, German news magazine Der Spiegel reports.
The research reactor is to be built by 2015 in Cadarache in southern France by a consortium including the European Union, China Japan, Russia, India and the United States. It is then to operate for another 20 years. The aim of ITER is to show that atoms can be fused together inside a reactor to produce electricity. Conventional nuclear power reactors do the opposite, harnessing energy released from splitting atoms apart.
The EU, which at the start of the project pledged to shoulder 40 percent of the costs, said its share has grown by more than $1.7 billion to at least $9 billion.
Der Spiegel reports that new technical and safety standards have caused the cost increase. The commission is now mulling to pass on the additional costs to member states, which are not amused.
The commission's proposals, which include demanding guarantees from member states to shoulder all additional costs until 2020, "are not acceptable," the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper quoted a German diplomat as saying. France and Germany have already suggested ways to cut costs by some $740 million, he said.
Germany has said that it wants to support ITER but not at just any price.
Brussels aims to secure the additional funds before June 18 talks with the additional partner countries.
Observers hope that nuclear fusion can one day produce CO2-free base-load power on a large-scale.
Once the technical challenges -- and there are many -- are overcome, fusion power has potential advantages including the existence of abundant fuel, a relatively safe energy generation producing only low-level waste and no production of greenhouse gases.
But critics say the international community is investing too much money into an energy source that might never, or at least not anytime soon, benefit the ordinary population in the form of large-scale energy generation.
A 2006 editorial in New Scientist magazine said that "if commercial fusion is viable, it may well be a century away."
Thursday, 27 May 2010
MIT plugs 'living lab' in energy efficiency
by Martin LaMonica
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is out to prove that green buildings don't have to be all that high tech.
MIT and utility Nstar on Wednesday announced an energy efficiency initiative to cut its electricity usage by 15 percent over the next three years. If met, the reduction will be 34 million kilowatt-hours, or about the same as 4,500 homes in Massachusetts in a year.
The efficiency push, which MIT hopes will be a model for other institutions, is an offshoot of the MIT Energy Initiative launched five years ago, which has helped make MIT a vibrant source of clean-energy technology research and development. The university wanted to create a "living lab" for clean energy and efficiency, students and school administrators said during a press conference here.
The measures that MIT facility managers plan to take at its campus here, for the most part, won't include cutting-edge technologies. Instead, the reductions will come by modernizing existing equipment, with a focus on lighting and on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC).
The total investment will be about $13 million over three years. The payback period will vary depending on the project, from less than one year to about eight years, according to MIT. The school plans on reinvesting the savings into more efficiency programs.
About half of the electricity reductions will come in the form of more efficient lighting systems. The university will put in new lighting products, such as more efficient LEDs, and use lighting controls, such as sensors to detect daylight or when a person comes into a room, explained Peter Cooper, the manager of sustainable engineering and utility planning at MIT.
"LEDs are really advancing every year and you can buy more reliable, proven products," Cooper said, although MIT plans to put in florescent bulbs as well, which are also getting more efficient.
A significant amount of the electricity reduction will come from modernizing the HVAC systems. MIT will put in variable-speed drives in the motors that run the air handling systems and will install a sensor system from Aircuity to monitor air humidity and carbon dioxide level, which indicates how many people are in a room.
That data, which will be fed to the Carrier building energy management system, will help determine how much conditioned air needs to be moved around. Typically, HVAC systems are designed for maximum room occupancy and run at the same rate all day and night. With the air data, the building management system can be programmed to slow down at night or to reduce the amount of air that gets pulled in if, for example, it's very humid outside.
MIT has done HVAC improvements in the past and found that about two-thirds of the energy savings come from less heating and about one-third from less electricity use by fans and motors, Cooper said.
NStar provides an incentive, in the form of a payment to MIT, for the investments in efficiency, which is funded by a small surcharge on ratepayers, said Andrew Coffin, a program manager for NStar. The utility is interested in reducing its peak-time demand, which means it can defer investments in new power generation. State regulators have also set "aggressive" targets for energy efficiency at utilities, which is also driving the utility to run efficiency programs, Coffin said.
Although many of the efficiency savings are expected to come from upgrading to new equipment, MIT is also working on changes in behavior to cut usage. For example, the university's labs consume two to three times as much as average buildings. By closing the sash on fume hoods after experiments, students can save the equivalent of two homes' energy use, while improving safety, Cooper said.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is out to prove that green buildings don't have to be all that high tech.
MIT and utility Nstar on Wednesday announced an energy efficiency initiative to cut its electricity usage by 15 percent over the next three years. If met, the reduction will be 34 million kilowatt-hours, or about the same as 4,500 homes in Massachusetts in a year.
The efficiency push, which MIT hopes will be a model for other institutions, is an offshoot of the MIT Energy Initiative launched five years ago, which has helped make MIT a vibrant source of clean-energy technology research and development. The university wanted to create a "living lab" for clean energy and efficiency, students and school administrators said during a press conference here.
The measures that MIT facility managers plan to take at its campus here, for the most part, won't include cutting-edge technologies. Instead, the reductions will come by modernizing existing equipment, with a focus on lighting and on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC).
The total investment will be about $13 million over three years. The payback period will vary depending on the project, from less than one year to about eight years, according to MIT. The school plans on reinvesting the savings into more efficiency programs.
About half of the electricity reductions will come in the form of more efficient lighting systems. The university will put in new lighting products, such as more efficient LEDs, and use lighting controls, such as sensors to detect daylight or when a person comes into a room, explained Peter Cooper, the manager of sustainable engineering and utility planning at MIT.
"LEDs are really advancing every year and you can buy more reliable, proven products," Cooper said, although MIT plans to put in florescent bulbs as well, which are also getting more efficient.
A significant amount of the electricity reduction will come from modernizing the HVAC systems. MIT will put in variable-speed drives in the motors that run the air handling systems and will install a sensor system from Aircuity to monitor air humidity and carbon dioxide level, which indicates how many people are in a room.
That data, which will be fed to the Carrier building energy management system, will help determine how much conditioned air needs to be moved around. Typically, HVAC systems are designed for maximum room occupancy and run at the same rate all day and night. With the air data, the building management system can be programmed to slow down at night or to reduce the amount of air that gets pulled in if, for example, it's very humid outside.
MIT has done HVAC improvements in the past and found that about two-thirds of the energy savings come from less heating and about one-third from less electricity use by fans and motors, Cooper said.
NStar provides an incentive, in the form of a payment to MIT, for the investments in efficiency, which is funded by a small surcharge on ratepayers, said Andrew Coffin, a program manager for NStar. The utility is interested in reducing its peak-time demand, which means it can defer investments in new power generation. State regulators have also set "aggressive" targets for energy efficiency at utilities, which is also driving the utility to run efficiency programs, Coffin said.
Although many of the efficiency savings are expected to come from upgrading to new equipment, MIT is also working on changes in behavior to cut usage. For example, the university's labs consume two to three times as much as average buildings. By closing the sash on fume hoods after experiments, students can save the equivalent of two homes' energy use, while improving safety, Cooper said.
'Bacterial pockets' could be mini factories for biofuel
Researchers have cloned specific genes in E Coli bacteria, above, which cannot naturally produce so-called microcompartments
IN Cork and Kent have succeeded in making specialised compartments in bacteria that pave the way for a new method for manufacturing medicines, writes BETH O'DONOGHUE
The research proves yet again that the best things really do come in small packages. “The way it works is that bacteria can be manipulated to construct internal pockets inside themselves that work as mini factories (bioreactors) where biofuels and medicines could be produced,” says Prof Michael Prentice, professor of microbiology at University College Cork who led the Cork-based research.
Animal and plant cells have built-in structures called organelles, which keep different cell reactions separated. Being smaller and less complex than human cells, most bacteria do not contain these microcompartments, Prentice explains.
Researchers in Ireland funded by Science Foundation Ireland, and at the University of Kent by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, cloned specific genes into E coli bacteria which cannot naturally produce the microcompartments.
The E coli could then produce empty microcompartments that consisted only of a protein shell. The scientists managed to produce individual microcompartments that filled up to 70 per cent of the bacterial cell’s total volume.
Bacteria are already used as inexpensive and effective factories for chemicals and medicines ranging from insulin to food preservatives. The production of these microcompartments is particularly exciting because they separate specific reactions away from the rest of the cell’s activities, Prentice explains.
This increases efficiency when using the microcompartment because it prevents interactions with other compounds in the cell. It also makes it easier for scientists to target and manipulate specific processes. Having these microcompartments enables bacteria to produce toxic substances such as antibiotics that are too harmful to be produced in the main bacterial cell area.
As the scientists write: “The [microcompartment] meets all the criteria required of a nanoscale bioreactor.” This includes their minute size, the ability to keep the manufactured substance in one area and preventing the substance from being contaminated by the rest of the cell contents.
For all these reasons, the study’s success in creating empty microcompartments has very exciting implications for the Irish biotechnology industry. Products produced in these “mini factories” may include vitamins, medicines and designer chemicals, he says.
A solution to the looming energy crises may also be held within these bacterial pockets. The production of energy products such as ethanol and hydrogen gas in the microcompartments would reduce our dependency on oil- based products, he suggests.
Prentice points to Lactobacillus reuteri as another promising bacterium offering possibilities for future research. Under very specific circumstances, L reuteri forms these microcompartments by itself, using them to produce antibacterial compounds. These antibacterial substances are produced to kill other bacteria competing with L reuteri for nutrients.
It is expected that further studies will enable scientists to develop medicines for humans using similar methods, he says. “The next step forward is to investigate the shape of these compartments and how theyre assembled,” says Prentice.
IN Cork and Kent have succeeded in making specialised compartments in bacteria that pave the way for a new method for manufacturing medicines, writes BETH O'DONOGHUE
The research proves yet again that the best things really do come in small packages. “The way it works is that bacteria can be manipulated to construct internal pockets inside themselves that work as mini factories (bioreactors) where biofuels and medicines could be produced,” says Prof Michael Prentice, professor of microbiology at University College Cork who led the Cork-based research.
Animal and plant cells have built-in structures called organelles, which keep different cell reactions separated. Being smaller and less complex than human cells, most bacteria do not contain these microcompartments, Prentice explains.
Researchers in Ireland funded by Science Foundation Ireland, and at the University of Kent by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, cloned specific genes into E coli bacteria which cannot naturally produce the microcompartments.
The E coli could then produce empty microcompartments that consisted only of a protein shell. The scientists managed to produce individual microcompartments that filled up to 70 per cent of the bacterial cell’s total volume.
Bacteria are already used as inexpensive and effective factories for chemicals and medicines ranging from insulin to food preservatives. The production of these microcompartments is particularly exciting because they separate specific reactions away from the rest of the cell’s activities, Prentice explains.
This increases efficiency when using the microcompartment because it prevents interactions with other compounds in the cell. It also makes it easier for scientists to target and manipulate specific processes. Having these microcompartments enables bacteria to produce toxic substances such as antibiotics that are too harmful to be produced in the main bacterial cell area.
As the scientists write: “The [microcompartment] meets all the criteria required of a nanoscale bioreactor.” This includes their minute size, the ability to keep the manufactured substance in one area and preventing the substance from being contaminated by the rest of the cell contents.
For all these reasons, the study’s success in creating empty microcompartments has very exciting implications for the Irish biotechnology industry. Products produced in these “mini factories” may include vitamins, medicines and designer chemicals, he says.
A solution to the looming energy crises may also be held within these bacterial pockets. The production of energy products such as ethanol and hydrogen gas in the microcompartments would reduce our dependency on oil- based products, he suggests.
Prentice points to Lactobacillus reuteri as another promising bacterium offering possibilities for future research. Under very specific circumstances, L reuteri forms these microcompartments by itself, using them to produce antibacterial compounds. These antibacterial substances are produced to kill other bacteria competing with L reuteri for nutrients.
It is expected that further studies will enable scientists to develop medicines for humans using similar methods, he says. “The next step forward is to investigate the shape of these compartments and how theyre assembled,” says Prentice.
‘Smart’ appliances to ensure a smooth power supply
Ben Webster, Environment Editor An energy-saving trial that will shut down home appliances when peaks of demand threaten to overwhelm the network began this week.
About 300 homes in Sandwell in the West Midlands have received fridge-freezers that turn themselves off when the grid is overstretched. Altogether, 3,000 homes will take part in the two-year trial, run by npower.
Energy companies plan to offer grants and cheaper tariffs to encourage all households to switch to such appliances. If all homes had smart fridges, Britain’s annual emissions would fall by two million tonnes, the equivalent of taking 700,000 cars off the road or closing a large coal-fired power station.
The technology, which is known as “dynamic demand”, works by monitoring second-by-second changes to the frequency of the national grid. When the frequency drops below 50Hz, the system starts to switch off appliances and continues until the frequency returns to normal .
Some large industrial customers, such as steel works, already have contracts that allow the national grid to disconnect them at times of peak demand in return for cheaper energy bills. The Sandwell trial is extending the idea to domestic appliances and measuring how much carbon dioxide will be saved for each additional home that joins the scheme.
Npower said that customers would not notice the system working and would be in no danger of losing the contents of the fridges and freezers.
A spokesman said appliances would switch themselves back on if their temperature rose above the recommended level.
He said the same technology could be used to control the charging of electric cars, which will begin to be mass-produced by the end of this year and will become eligible from January for £5,000 government grants. The emissions savings from switching to electric cars will depend on how successful power companies are in managing the potentially huge increase in demand for electricity.
Electric car owners will be able to negotiate a cheaper tariff in return for allowing their energy company to control when their batteries are charged.
The driver will simply plug in and specify when the car will be needed. The grid will ensure that the battery is full at that time.
Paul Lazarevic, managing director of RLtec, which supplied the dynamic demand technology for the trial, said the grid could even draw power back from electric car batteries in order to respond to surges in demand.
However, he said more research was needed into what effect this would have on the life of the batteries.
The npower trial is being conducted under the Government’s Carbon Emissions Reduction Target scheme, which obliges power companies to reduce energy consumption in the home by promoting efficient technology.
Meanwhile, Sony has launched a smart television that automatically dims and reduces power consumption when viewers look away from the screen.
The Bravia LX900 has a camera that uses face recognition technology to detect when viewers are looking down to read a book or have fallen asleep.
About 300 homes in Sandwell in the West Midlands have received fridge-freezers that turn themselves off when the grid is overstretched. Altogether, 3,000 homes will take part in the two-year trial, run by npower.
Energy companies plan to offer grants and cheaper tariffs to encourage all households to switch to such appliances. If all homes had smart fridges, Britain’s annual emissions would fall by two million tonnes, the equivalent of taking 700,000 cars off the road or closing a large coal-fired power station.
The technology, which is known as “dynamic demand”, works by monitoring second-by-second changes to the frequency of the national grid. When the frequency drops below 50Hz, the system starts to switch off appliances and continues until the frequency returns to normal .
Some large industrial customers, such as steel works, already have contracts that allow the national grid to disconnect them at times of peak demand in return for cheaper energy bills. The Sandwell trial is extending the idea to domestic appliances and measuring how much carbon dioxide will be saved for each additional home that joins the scheme.
Npower said that customers would not notice the system working and would be in no danger of losing the contents of the fridges and freezers.
A spokesman said appliances would switch themselves back on if their temperature rose above the recommended level.
He said the same technology could be used to control the charging of electric cars, which will begin to be mass-produced by the end of this year and will become eligible from January for £5,000 government grants. The emissions savings from switching to electric cars will depend on how successful power companies are in managing the potentially huge increase in demand for electricity.
Electric car owners will be able to negotiate a cheaper tariff in return for allowing their energy company to control when their batteries are charged.
The driver will simply plug in and specify when the car will be needed. The grid will ensure that the battery is full at that time.
Paul Lazarevic, managing director of RLtec, which supplied the dynamic demand technology for the trial, said the grid could even draw power back from electric car batteries in order to respond to surges in demand.
However, he said more research was needed into what effect this would have on the life of the batteries.
The npower trial is being conducted under the Government’s Carbon Emissions Reduction Target scheme, which obliges power companies to reduce energy consumption in the home by promoting efficient technology.
Meanwhile, Sony has launched a smart television that automatically dims and reduces power consumption when viewers look away from the screen.
The Bravia LX900 has a camera that uses face recognition technology to detect when viewers are looking down to read a book or have fallen asleep.
EDF to press ahead with nuclear plans after assurances from Chris Huhne
Energy and climate change secretary "will take pragmatic approach" to new power stations, says EDF's Vincent de Rivaz
Terry Macalister The Guardian, Thursday 27 May 2010
EDF Energy will announce today that it has received sufficient reassurances from the energy and climate change secretary, Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne, to continue planning for a new generation of nuclear plants in Britain.
There were fears that the Lib Dems' manifesto commitment to halt the construction of any more nuclear reactors, and recent sceptical signals from Huhne, could derail its £20bn building programme.
But Vincent de Rivaz, the chief executive of EDF in Britain, will tell a conference he is convinced that both sides are committed to the same goal: new reactors without subsidies and at a viable cost.
"What has emerged very quickly from the coalition government is clarity over its commitment to deliver a low carbon future, together with a commitment that new nuclear will play a part in the new administration's plans," de Rivaz will say. "Chris Huhne … has already provided important reassurances that he will take a pragmatic approach to new nuclear power as long as it can be built without subsidy.
"The commitments from the coalition government envisage a proper role for nuclear and have reassured us at EDF, as we contemplate the very serious investment we are proposing to make in nuclear power in the UK," he will add in a speech to the Global Energy Capital Market Conference in London.
EDF says it has been particularly pleased by comments about the introduction of a floor to the carbon price plus a commitment to speed up the planning regime for new energy infrastructure through a clear national policy statement. The company, an arm of the huge, largely state-owned, French utility EDF, insists that it is happy to build new reactors without otherwise relying on any handouts from the Treasury, even for waste or decommissioning.
EDF wants to build four new reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk that would generate enough power to light 40% of Britain's homes or the equivalent of 13% of all UK electricity, but the final decision on whether to proceed is not due to be taken until 2011.
"We've made it clear to the prime minister and the secretary of state for energy and climate change that EDF Energy will spearhead the nuclear renaissance in the UK without the need for public subsidy. That is important to the government. It is important for us," de Rivaz will say. "We operate in a market where the costs for waste and decommissioning are met by nuclear operators through an independently assessed, ring-fenced fund, a requirement further underpinned in this year's Energy Act … Together with other operators we will continue to make regular payments into those funds, to protect ordinary creditors against any associated prospective costs."
De Rivaz says that latest public opinion polls show growing support for nuclear power even from Lib Dem supporters, who have traditionally been among the most negative towards it. And he will quote from a new report published by Parsons Brinckerhoff Power that suggests power can be generated much more cheaply by nuclear than by competing technologies.
"Their data shows that with typical generation costs in the range of £55-£86 per megawatt hour [MWh], new nuclear is well placed in helping keep low carbon energy affordable in the long term," he will say. "That compares particularly favourably to other low carbon technologies. Offshore wind represents a generating cost of up to £204 per MWh and carbon capture and storage technology up to £154 per MWh."
Terry Macalister The Guardian, Thursday 27 May 2010
EDF Energy will announce today that it has received sufficient reassurances from the energy and climate change secretary, Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne, to continue planning for a new generation of nuclear plants in Britain.
There were fears that the Lib Dems' manifesto commitment to halt the construction of any more nuclear reactors, and recent sceptical signals from Huhne, could derail its £20bn building programme.
But Vincent de Rivaz, the chief executive of EDF in Britain, will tell a conference he is convinced that both sides are committed to the same goal: new reactors without subsidies and at a viable cost.
"What has emerged very quickly from the coalition government is clarity over its commitment to deliver a low carbon future, together with a commitment that new nuclear will play a part in the new administration's plans," de Rivaz will say. "Chris Huhne … has already provided important reassurances that he will take a pragmatic approach to new nuclear power as long as it can be built without subsidy.
"The commitments from the coalition government envisage a proper role for nuclear and have reassured us at EDF, as we contemplate the very serious investment we are proposing to make in nuclear power in the UK," he will add in a speech to the Global Energy Capital Market Conference in London.
EDF says it has been particularly pleased by comments about the introduction of a floor to the carbon price plus a commitment to speed up the planning regime for new energy infrastructure through a clear national policy statement. The company, an arm of the huge, largely state-owned, French utility EDF, insists that it is happy to build new reactors without otherwise relying on any handouts from the Treasury, even for waste or decommissioning.
EDF wants to build four new reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk that would generate enough power to light 40% of Britain's homes or the equivalent of 13% of all UK electricity, but the final decision on whether to proceed is not due to be taken until 2011.
"We've made it clear to the prime minister and the secretary of state for energy and climate change that EDF Energy will spearhead the nuclear renaissance in the UK without the need for public subsidy. That is important to the government. It is important for us," de Rivaz will say. "We operate in a market where the costs for waste and decommissioning are met by nuclear operators through an independently assessed, ring-fenced fund, a requirement further underpinned in this year's Energy Act … Together with other operators we will continue to make regular payments into those funds, to protect ordinary creditors against any associated prospective costs."
De Rivaz says that latest public opinion polls show growing support for nuclear power even from Lib Dem supporters, who have traditionally been among the most negative towards it. And he will quote from a new report published by Parsons Brinckerhoff Power that suggests power can be generated much more cheaply by nuclear than by competing technologies.
"Their data shows that with typical generation costs in the range of £55-£86 per megawatt hour [MWh], new nuclear is well placed in helping keep low carbon energy affordable in the long term," he will say. "That compares particularly favourably to other low carbon technologies. Offshore wind represents a generating cost of up to £204 per MWh and carbon capture and storage technology up to £154 per MWh."
Norway hopes to unlock climate cash to fight tropical deforestation
Norway has announced $1bn in aid to protect forests in Indonesia and hopes to forge a partnership to fight climate change
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 26 May 2010 17.19 BST
Norway hopes to boost aid to fight tropical deforestation at a conference tomorrow, and to set in motion a partnership to unlock cash pledged at the Copenhagen summit to help slow climate change.
Norway says developed nations have promised $500m (£347m) to fight deforestation by 2012 on top of $3.5bn agreed at Copenhagen, and new pledges at the conference may bring the total aid closer to $5bn.
Fifty nations will take part in the Oslo meeting, to be attended by Britain's Prince Charles and the financier George Soros, to forge a "partnership" between donors and countries from the Amazon to Congo basins for protecting forests.
Plants soak up carbon dioxide as they grow, helping to curb the increasing rise in carbon levels.
"Reducing deforestation is the biggest, fastest, cheapest way to cut carbon emissions," the Norwegian prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, told reporters yesterday.
Norway, rich in oil, also formally announced $1bn in aid to Indonesia to help protect forests in the south-east Asian state, using money Oslo previously had pledged as part of its effort to combat climate change.
The partnership between donors and forested developing nations will be one of the first signs of action against climate change after the Copenhagen summit failed to deliver a legally binding deal on man-made emissions.
But rich nations did agree to provide $30bn from 2010-12 to help poor countries, rising to at least $100bn a year from 2020.
The United States, Australia, France, Japan, Britain and Norway agreed on $3.5bn from 2010-12 to save forests.
But getting the climate aid flowing has become tougher as many governments of rich countries face sharp cuts in public finances to save their economies from mounting debt problems.
"$4bn is a very good start but clearly bigger amounts will be needed in the years ahead," Erik Solheim, Norway's environment minister, told Reuters. "You cannot expect poor nations to bear the cost of reducing deforestation without the support of big polluters like Europe, the United States, Japan and others."
Deforestation – mainly by countries making way for farms, roads or towns – accounts for about 15-20% of all greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.
Business groups say that the proposed partnership should do more to involve the private sector and encourage markets to trade carbon dioxide stored in forests, while environmentalists want stronger strings attached to any cash.
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 26 May 2010 17.19 BST
Norway hopes to boost aid to fight tropical deforestation at a conference tomorrow, and to set in motion a partnership to unlock cash pledged at the Copenhagen summit to help slow climate change.
Norway says developed nations have promised $500m (£347m) to fight deforestation by 2012 on top of $3.5bn agreed at Copenhagen, and new pledges at the conference may bring the total aid closer to $5bn.
Fifty nations will take part in the Oslo meeting, to be attended by Britain's Prince Charles and the financier George Soros, to forge a "partnership" between donors and countries from the Amazon to Congo basins for protecting forests.
Plants soak up carbon dioxide as they grow, helping to curb the increasing rise in carbon levels.
"Reducing deforestation is the biggest, fastest, cheapest way to cut carbon emissions," the Norwegian prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, told reporters yesterday.
Norway, rich in oil, also formally announced $1bn in aid to Indonesia to help protect forests in the south-east Asian state, using money Oslo previously had pledged as part of its effort to combat climate change.
The partnership between donors and forested developing nations will be one of the first signs of action against climate change after the Copenhagen summit failed to deliver a legally binding deal on man-made emissions.
But rich nations did agree to provide $30bn from 2010-12 to help poor countries, rising to at least $100bn a year from 2020.
The United States, Australia, France, Japan, Britain and Norway agreed on $3.5bn from 2010-12 to save forests.
But getting the climate aid flowing has become tougher as many governments of rich countries face sharp cuts in public finances to save their economies from mounting debt problems.
"$4bn is a very good start but clearly bigger amounts will be needed in the years ahead," Erik Solheim, Norway's environment minister, told Reuters. "You cannot expect poor nations to bear the cost of reducing deforestation without the support of big polluters like Europe, the United States, Japan and others."
Deforestation – mainly by countries making way for farms, roads or towns – accounts for about 15-20% of all greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.
Business groups say that the proposed partnership should do more to involve the private sector and encourage markets to trade carbon dioxide stored in forests, while environmentalists want stronger strings attached to any cash.
EU climate target analysis bears scars of industry lobbying
Industries that stand to benefit from the European emissions trading scheme must counter arguments that higher targets mean greater cost
Bryony Worthington guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 26 May 2010 17.59 BST
Analysis from the European commission today that sets out options to move beyond a 20% cut by 2020 bears the scars of an uncomfortable fight between different factions.
Those who have yet to accept the fact that weaning ourselves off imported fossil fuels and investing in a new clean energy system will boost the European economy have had their knives out. Although they haven't been able to challenge the fundamental analysis that it is now much cheaper and easier to reach more challenging targets, they have been able to substantially water down the document and add some special pleading on behalf of the old industries of Europe.
We are told the recession means there is less money available to invest in the measures that will be needed to meet reduction targets. But the reality is that thanks to the existence of the European emissions trading scheme (ETS), a new source of windfall profits has grown up in Europe that benefits precisely the same heavy industries that are vociferously opposing progress. Emissions in Europe are now capped and the permits issued to enable compliance with these caps are now assets with a tradeable value.
These assets have been unequally distributed, giving heavy industry generous surpluses while the power sector has been given substantially fewer than it needs. Falling emissions due to the recession means that companies across Europe have been quietly amassing large volumes of surplus permits that by 2012 could be worth around €18bn at today's prices. Of course this fact is quietly ignored by industry lobbies.
The other complaint seems to be that in these times of financial difficulty we should not be contemplating further burdens on the economy. Superficially, this sounds like a persuasive argument – except that it is woefully simplistic. The "cost" imposed by taking action to climate change is recycled back into the economy. The sale of permits to industry raises revenue for investment in new infrastructure, technologies and jobs. Energy prices will rise to fund this investment, but this also encourages investment in increased resource productivity that will have both short and long-term benefits for the economy.
If there is one issue that the industry lobby should be agitated about it is the massive flow of finance that currently leaves Europe to be received by chemical companies in India and China for cheap emissions offset projects. For this to continue as the primary means by which we meet our targets is clearly not sensible. The commission's paper raises the idea of changing these rules and this is a welcome acknowledgement that the short-term benefit of access to cheap overseas reductions is not in our long-term interests since it diverts cash away from much-needed investment here.
Within the paper there are other very sensible suggestions for how a move to 30% can be achieved – such as removing 1.4bn permits from the currently oversupplied ETS. This decision needs to be decoupled from the highly political debate about the equivalence of action in other countries and made unilaterally to rescue the scheme from irrelevancy.
Over 70% of all installations now have more permits than they need – continued high allocations will all but kill the need for investment in the EU until 2017 at the earliest. It would be a great shame if knee-jerk reactions against anything that ushers in change prevents the recommendations in today's paper from being adopted. All those industries that stand to benefit from the proposals must help to counter the arguments that defend the status quo.
• Bryony Worthington is the founder of sandbag.org.uk, a not-for-profit organisation seeking to engage civil society in improving emissions trading policy
Bryony Worthington guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 26 May 2010 17.59 BST
Analysis from the European commission today that sets out options to move beyond a 20% cut by 2020 bears the scars of an uncomfortable fight between different factions.
Those who have yet to accept the fact that weaning ourselves off imported fossil fuels and investing in a new clean energy system will boost the European economy have had their knives out. Although they haven't been able to challenge the fundamental analysis that it is now much cheaper and easier to reach more challenging targets, they have been able to substantially water down the document and add some special pleading on behalf of the old industries of Europe.
We are told the recession means there is less money available to invest in the measures that will be needed to meet reduction targets. But the reality is that thanks to the existence of the European emissions trading scheme (ETS), a new source of windfall profits has grown up in Europe that benefits precisely the same heavy industries that are vociferously opposing progress. Emissions in Europe are now capped and the permits issued to enable compliance with these caps are now assets with a tradeable value.
These assets have been unequally distributed, giving heavy industry generous surpluses while the power sector has been given substantially fewer than it needs. Falling emissions due to the recession means that companies across Europe have been quietly amassing large volumes of surplus permits that by 2012 could be worth around €18bn at today's prices. Of course this fact is quietly ignored by industry lobbies.
The other complaint seems to be that in these times of financial difficulty we should not be contemplating further burdens on the economy. Superficially, this sounds like a persuasive argument – except that it is woefully simplistic. The "cost" imposed by taking action to climate change is recycled back into the economy. The sale of permits to industry raises revenue for investment in new infrastructure, technologies and jobs. Energy prices will rise to fund this investment, but this also encourages investment in increased resource productivity that will have both short and long-term benefits for the economy.
If there is one issue that the industry lobby should be agitated about it is the massive flow of finance that currently leaves Europe to be received by chemical companies in India and China for cheap emissions offset projects. For this to continue as the primary means by which we meet our targets is clearly not sensible. The commission's paper raises the idea of changing these rules and this is a welcome acknowledgement that the short-term benefit of access to cheap overseas reductions is not in our long-term interests since it diverts cash away from much-needed investment here.
Within the paper there are other very sensible suggestions for how a move to 30% can be achieved – such as removing 1.4bn permits from the currently oversupplied ETS. This decision needs to be decoupled from the highly political debate about the equivalence of action in other countries and made unilaterally to rescue the scheme from irrelevancy.
Over 70% of all installations now have more permits than they need – continued high allocations will all but kill the need for investment in the EU until 2017 at the earliest. It would be a great shame if knee-jerk reactions against anything that ushers in change prevents the recommendations in today's paper from being adopted. All those industries that stand to benefit from the proposals must help to counter the arguments that defend the status quo.
• Bryony Worthington is the founder of sandbag.org.uk, a not-for-profit organisation seeking to engage civil society in improving emissions trading policy
Europe's climate chief under pressure over 'missing' emissions traders
• €5bn fraud investigation centres on Danish carbon registry
• Carbon trading abuses suspected last summer
• Connie Hedegaard failed to act promptly, allege critics
Felicity Carus guardian.co.uk, Monday 24 May 2010 18.01 BST
The EU's climate chief is facing pressure to explain her failure to crack down on a loophole that allowed alleged fraudsters – a large number of them based in Britain – to make millions of euros through Europe's emissions trading scheme.
Confidential documents seen by the Guardian show that Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action, had been informed about fraudsters targeting the Danish carbon registry to enable them to trade in credits last summer, as the UK and the Netherlands were clamping down on the fraud by scrapping VAT on carbon trading.
An MEP last week lodged an official question asking what happened to the Danish registry while Hedegaard was climate minister, and what is being done across Europe to combat carbon fraud.
Denmark is now at the centre of a Europol investigation into carbon fraud worth €5bn (£4.3bn). An estimated 116 arrests have been made so far, around 30 of them in the UK.
Previously, Hedegaard had denied knowing about the suspected fraud until a Danish newspaper reported it in December. "I was never informed about this until last autumn when Ekstra Bladet looked into the fraud," she told the Guardian.
But the confidential climate ministry report seen by the Guardian, entitled VAT Fraud in the European CO2 Quota Register Including the Danish, appears to have been signed with Hedegaard's initials, indicating she was made aware of the problem in August last year.
"The tax department this spring became aware of fraud in the EU with VAT in connection with trade of CO2 quotas and credits. In particular Denmark seems to be the target of VAT fraud," it said.
An appendix attached to the report also dated in August from the Danish tax authorities said that suspicious trades had been identified, most of them linked to the UK. "For now we have two cases with an estimated loss in total of 3.8m Danish kroner [£440,000]. The trades are primarily performed by UK operators with Danish VAT numbers."
"There is still no clear image of how the fraud is organised, but there has been the common feature that the companies involved in the first suspicious transactions were companies from other EU countries that merely held accounts in the Danish quota registry."
Hedegaard, who is now in charge of the EU's carbon market and battling for deeper cuts in Europe's carbon emissions, admitted having seen the confidential document. But she denied she should have acted last summer because "it was a VAT fraud issue".
When invited to clarify her position after a speech she gave at the International Institute for Environment and Development last Tuesday (11 May) she admitted seeing the confidential document, but she denied she should have acted last summer because "it was a VAT fraud issue".
"The whole paper did not hint that there should be a special problem that as a minister I should look into because they didn't know that at the time. It was just a normal criminal thing – somebody making fraud on VAT."
In July last year, the Danish Energy Authority was told by the European Commission to tighten up its procedures for account holders, but only applied the requirements on new accounts.
The number of accounts on Europe's largest registry has since plummeted from 1,200 to 140 and suspected fraudulent trades worth at least €2.11m were made by account holders on the carbon registry even as late as December.
In so-called missing trader fraud, bogus traders open an account in a national carbon registry, buy emissions allowances in one EU country VAT-free and sell them on with VAT added. The trader pockets the VAT without paying it to the national exchequer and the trader goes "missing".
The Danish carbon registry appears to have been targeted because account holders did not need to supply basic information such as VAT numbers. The regulations were simplified in 2007, the year that Hedegaard became Denmark's climate minister, so that the only means of verification for accounts was an email address.
The controversy over the Danish registry comes as Hedegaard faces a battle over a push to increase the EU's commitment to cut carbon emissions from 20% to 30% by 2020, and criticism over draft rules for the quantity of emissions allowed in the crucial third phase of the EU ETS, which includes safeguards to protect the market against misuse by governments and criminal activities.
Danish MP Ida Auken, who has tabled questions on the Danish registry before parliament to the current climate minister Lykke Friis, said: "A third grade child could read this and say there is something wrong with the Danish registry. If the minister had acted straight, she would have stated clearly that a big mistake was made in the Danish registry during her time as minister."
Auken added that although Hedegaard may have genuinely been underinformed by government departments she could have taken decisive action. "Whether her officials had made her aware of the mistakes or not plays a role regarding what she knew at which point, but not in that she as minister carries the responsibility."
Jorgensen, a social democrat MEP, said he was confident that although this time "Hedegaard and her colleagues are taking it extremely seriously", national carbon registries should be administered by tax authorities who are used to dealing with tricky technical revenue issues.
But he added: "My fear is that they [environment directorate general] haven't got the means to deal with it fully. There needs to be a full presentation of solutions before I am satisfied.
"Even though she is not from my political family, I'm not criticising her as a person but I want to put pressure on her to deliver on her administration of the EU ETS."
• Carbon trading abuses suspected last summer
• Connie Hedegaard failed to act promptly, allege critics
Felicity Carus guardian.co.uk, Monday 24 May 2010 18.01 BST
The EU's climate chief is facing pressure to explain her failure to crack down on a loophole that allowed alleged fraudsters – a large number of them based in Britain – to make millions of euros through Europe's emissions trading scheme.
Confidential documents seen by the Guardian show that Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action, had been informed about fraudsters targeting the Danish carbon registry to enable them to trade in credits last summer, as the UK and the Netherlands were clamping down on the fraud by scrapping VAT on carbon trading.
An MEP last week lodged an official question asking what happened to the Danish registry while Hedegaard was climate minister, and what is being done across Europe to combat carbon fraud.
Denmark is now at the centre of a Europol investigation into carbon fraud worth €5bn (£4.3bn). An estimated 116 arrests have been made so far, around 30 of them in the UK.
Previously, Hedegaard had denied knowing about the suspected fraud until a Danish newspaper reported it in December. "I was never informed about this until last autumn when Ekstra Bladet looked into the fraud," she told the Guardian.
But the confidential climate ministry report seen by the Guardian, entitled VAT Fraud in the European CO2 Quota Register Including the Danish, appears to have been signed with Hedegaard's initials, indicating she was made aware of the problem in August last year.
"The tax department this spring became aware of fraud in the EU with VAT in connection with trade of CO2 quotas and credits. In particular Denmark seems to be the target of VAT fraud," it said.
An appendix attached to the report also dated in August from the Danish tax authorities said that suspicious trades had been identified, most of them linked to the UK. "For now we have two cases with an estimated loss in total of 3.8m Danish kroner [£440,000]. The trades are primarily performed by UK operators with Danish VAT numbers."
"There is still no clear image of how the fraud is organised, but there has been the common feature that the companies involved in the first suspicious transactions were companies from other EU countries that merely held accounts in the Danish quota registry."
Hedegaard, who is now in charge of the EU's carbon market and battling for deeper cuts in Europe's carbon emissions, admitted having seen the confidential document. But she denied she should have acted last summer because "it was a VAT fraud issue".
When invited to clarify her position after a speech she gave at the International Institute for Environment and Development last Tuesday (11 May) she admitted seeing the confidential document, but she denied she should have acted last summer because "it was a VAT fraud issue".
"The whole paper did not hint that there should be a special problem that as a minister I should look into because they didn't know that at the time. It was just a normal criminal thing – somebody making fraud on VAT."
In July last year, the Danish Energy Authority was told by the European Commission to tighten up its procedures for account holders, but only applied the requirements on new accounts.
The number of accounts on Europe's largest registry has since plummeted from 1,200 to 140 and suspected fraudulent trades worth at least €2.11m were made by account holders on the carbon registry even as late as December.
In so-called missing trader fraud, bogus traders open an account in a national carbon registry, buy emissions allowances in one EU country VAT-free and sell them on with VAT added. The trader pockets the VAT without paying it to the national exchequer and the trader goes "missing".
The Danish carbon registry appears to have been targeted because account holders did not need to supply basic information such as VAT numbers. The regulations were simplified in 2007, the year that Hedegaard became Denmark's climate minister, so that the only means of verification for accounts was an email address.
The controversy over the Danish registry comes as Hedegaard faces a battle over a push to increase the EU's commitment to cut carbon emissions from 20% to 30% by 2020, and criticism over draft rules for the quantity of emissions allowed in the crucial third phase of the EU ETS, which includes safeguards to protect the market against misuse by governments and criminal activities.
Danish MP Ida Auken, who has tabled questions on the Danish registry before parliament to the current climate minister Lykke Friis, said: "A third grade child could read this and say there is something wrong with the Danish registry. If the minister had acted straight, she would have stated clearly that a big mistake was made in the Danish registry during her time as minister."
Auken added that although Hedegaard may have genuinely been underinformed by government departments she could have taken decisive action. "Whether her officials had made her aware of the mistakes or not plays a role regarding what she knew at which point, but not in that she as minister carries the responsibility."
Jorgensen, a social democrat MEP, said he was confident that although this time "Hedegaard and her colleagues are taking it extremely seriously", national carbon registries should be administered by tax authorities who are used to dealing with tricky technical revenue issues.
But he added: "My fear is that they [environment directorate general] haven't got the means to deal with it fully. There needs to be a full presentation of solutions before I am satisfied.
"Even though she is not from my political family, I'm not criticising her as a person but I want to put pressure on her to deliver on her administration of the EU ETS."
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