CEO Patrick Birley said it was difficult to predict forward volumes but saw no threat for a host of new exchanges that are likely to sprout from New Zealand to the United States, as these countries come up with their own carbon trading schemes.

“For us the most important thing is to build up greater liquidity. The important thing is the market grows. The competition among exchanges is not really important,” Birley told Reuters in Singapore.

EMISSIONS TRADING
- Pew reports believes EU ETS has been a relative success | The European Union’s Emission Trading System in Perspective (May 2008)

“ETS has evolved from being an engaging possibility” to become the “flagship of the European climate change programme”

- Commercial Trading In Forest-Based Carbon Credits Set To Begin | New Market For Tree Growers

Some forestland owners aren’t waiting for the government to act and are gearing up now to sell carbon credits on the voluntary market, says John F. Godbee, Jr., F&W’s director of environmental services who heads up the firm’s carbon capture activities.

CARBON MARKET
- Predicted to boom from 4o million euros to 60-70 euros in 2008. Indian Conference. | Carbon trading market likely to be €60-70 billion

Although the market is likely to grow, there exist various hindrances for carbon trading that includes low participation from various countries, complex processes, long time periods in processing of applications and inadequate consultation procedures to resolve questions faster, Mr Srivastava said at a conference organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Friday.

- Misys Open Source Solutions Launches Open Carbon World Portal. | OpenCarbonPortal.com

The Open Carbon World portal is the first and only resource aimed at providing a single source of clear information to help new members of the carbon community navigate a growing, but increasingly murky market,” said Donald Sunderland, vice president of Misys Open Source Solutions’ Treasury & Capital Markets division. “This solution enables carbon market advocates to find out news on policy areas in which they are interested, and provides a forum for generating dialogue among those advocates who are seeking to shape policy and resolve issues.”

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
- Trading Emissions Plc snaps up Econergy International

The deal follows an earlier all paper take-over bid at nil premium from Trading Emissions Plc, which was rejected by Econergy as undervaluing the company. However, the firm has now accepted an improved offer that will see Econergy shareholders receive either 0.233 Trading Emissions shares for each Econergy share or a cash alternative of 30 pence per Econergy share.

JOBS & CAREERS

Transition will surely destroy jobs and create jobs, but will it be a net positive? Green jobs revolution: Just a pipe dream?

…there is also ambitious talk of a far-reaching “third industrial revolution” that will place Europe’s economies and labour markets firmly on a low-carbon development path.

“The third industrial revolution will require a wholesale reconfiguration of the transport, construction and electricity sectors, creating new goods and services, spawning new businesses, and providing millions of new jobs,”

EQUITIES & POLITICS
- CCX | US Presidential Election & Carbon Markets: Is The Climate Exchange Story Overdone?

An interesting piece yesterday in POLITICO on how carbon prices on the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) have been trending up in recent months, mostly since it’s become clear that all three remaining presidential hopefuls will likely regulate CO2 emissions at the federal level.

- Politico article | Campaign news affecting markets

As early as February, prices on the Chicago Climate Exchange, where companies buy and sell emission-reducing contracts, began to fluctuate based on campaign trail news. The climate exchange is a small but promising market in which companies make voluntary and legally binding commitments to meet annual reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions.

- Where do the US Presidential candidates stand on environmental issues? |Reuters Factbox: Presidential candidates on environment, energy

CARBON INVESTMENTS
Ernst & Young report on VC investing in cleantech | US Cleantech Investments Increase 18% in Q1 2008

Venture capital investments in cleantech companies continued to show robust growth in the first quarter of 2008, according to an Ernst & Young report based on data from Dow Jones VentureOne. Capital invested grew by 18% to $571.6 million in Q1 2008 compared to $483.9 million for the same period in 2007, while the number of deals declined by 11% to 34. This growth in cleantech investment bucks the trend of overall US venture capital investment in Q1?08, which declined by 7% to $6.5 billion.