China and Tokyo Implement CityWide Cap and Trade Schemes after Copenhagen Failure

Global hopes of an agreement on Carbon Emissions to stop the advance of Global Warming has been put in the Cold Storage.With little consensus and declining support for Climate Change Mitigation,individual countries are picking up the gauntlet on their own.While Cap and Trade Scheme implement under the Kyoto Protocol has come under fire for irregularities and scams,the popularity of this Policy is growing.China which has a target of reducing Energy Intensity by 40-45% in 2020 from 2005 levels is trying out pilot city cap and trade schemes in Shanghai,Beijing and Tianjin.The Carbon Credits will be generated and traded locally amongst the City’s Companies.Climate Consultancies and Financial Companies like Citibank are providing the trading platform and the role of market makers in these small schemes.While Tianjin has already traded some credits earlier,Tokyo becomes the first big global city to have Carbon Credits traded locally.Note the city cap and trade schemes make more sense than the ones implemented by EU and the United Nations.These global schemes are too unwieldy and bureaucratic and their track record has been less than inspiring so far.

First Tokyo carbon credits trade for $142/tonne – Reuters

The first carbon credits in Tokyo’s new cap-and-trade scheme traded on Monday for 12,000 yen ($142.2) per tonne, well above market rates for units of the climate-warming gas, Point Carbon News reported.

Tokyo launched an emissions trading programme in April capping the city’s top 1,400 emitters and making it the nation’s first mandatory cap-and-trade scheme.Under the plan, large-scale businesses must cut their emissions by an average 7 percent between 2010 and 2014.

Chinese city dips toe in carbon cap and trade – Reuters

The northern Chinese port city of Tianjin launched a small-scale energy intensity trading scheme on Tuesday with three pilot sales, taking a possible first step toward a nationwide carbon cap and trade scheme.

International heavyweights Citigroup Global Markets and Gazprom Marketing and Trading were the buyers of a first set of “Carbon Emission Allowances,” for energy savings equivalent to around 4,500 tonnes of coal, from three suppliers of heating.

The backing of a city government eager to turn the city into a clean energy hub could potentially help Tianjin see off competition from several other pilot exchanges, including ones in Beijing and financial hub Shanghai.