Australia Predicts A$24.7 Billion Carbon Revenue

Australia Predicts A$24.7 Billion Carbon Revenue - Bloomberg

Australia expects to raise A$24.7 billion ($25.2 billion) in four years from the carbon tax coming into effect July 1, as the government seeks to reduce emissions and spur investment in cleaner energy.
The levy on Australia’s biggest polluters starts at A$23 per ton of carbon and rises by 2.5 percent in real terms in each of the following two fiscal years. Treasury projects they will reach A$29 in 2015-16, when the mechanism moves to a price set by the market, the government said in the budget yesterday. The tax is expected to increase consumer prices by 0.7 percentage point in the 12 months starting July 1.

NREL develops more precise look at cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions for energy technologies on Environmental Expert

A new approach to assessing greenhouse-gas emissions from coal, wind, solar and other energy technologies paints a much more precise picture of cradle-to-grave emissions and should help sharpen decisions on what new energy projects to build.  The method – a harmonization of widely variant estimates of greenhouse gas emissions by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) – is being heralded as an important step forward in life-cycle assessments that paints a clearer picture of the environmental penalties and benefits of different technologies.

Picarro heads to the supermarket to analyze nature's barcode

Picarro is ready for its next big test.  The Santa Clara-based company makes unique gas analyzers that environmental heavyweights use to test air quality, measure greenhouse-gas emissions and find gas leaks, among other things. Now, the environmental-metric company is hoping to expand into other markets, including possible future use in grocery stores.

UK promises to slash EU emissions trading 'red tape'

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has unveiled proposals designed to simplify the regulations covering the EU's emissions trading scheme (ETS) ahead of the launch of the next phase of the wide-ranging cap-and-trade scheme next year.  The government launched a consultation on the proposals, which aim to replace the 13 separate regulations governing the scheme in the UK with a "single regulatory instrument".   The move is the first practical result of the department's "red tape challenge", which last year asked businesses and other interested parties to suggest how excessively burdensome regulations could be simplified.

Carbon Fund for Africa: a funding tool for a green economy in sub-saharan Africa

The West Africa Development Bank (BOAD), CDC Climat (Caisse des Dépôts Group), and Proparco (French Development Agency Group) announced today at Africa Carbon Forum, the annual meeting of African climate finance, the upcoming launch of the Carbon Fund for Africa.  To date, Africa is the continent least responsible for global warming but has benefited very little for carbon funding. It has a historic opportunity to switch to a green development model.  Three major financial institutions are uniting to create this new fund, which combines development and climate objectives.  The Fund will be managed by CDC Climat Asset Management and will bring additional funding to renewable energy, methanisation, and energy efficiency projects, and in low-carbon household equipment programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Clean Energy Bill May Boost Prices After 2025, EIA Says

A U.S. bill that requires utilities to increase their use of power generated by clean sources may drive up power prices for consumers, though not for at least a decade, according to the Energy Information Administration. That gap may increase to as much as 18 percent by 2035 as utilities seek to reduce carbon emissions by shifting their mix of power plants away from coal in favor of natural gas, nuclear and renewable energy.

Poorest Nations Team Up With EU to Urge More Climate Ambitions

The European Union and the world’s poorest nations joined forces to call for more-ambitious measures to reduce carbon emissions globally and to encourage private investors to team up with public institutions to finance the fight against climate change.  Ministers from more than 30 least-developed countries and EU officials pledged today at an informal gathering in Brussels to push for an ambitious outcome of the next United Nations climate summit in Doha toward the end of this year.  The UN Environment Program said in November that current pledges to reduce greenhouse gases by 2020 need to double in order to keep the planet on a trajectory that limits warming since industrialization to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Microsoft pledges to go carbon neutral

Microsoft has pledged to make all of its data centers, software development labs and any other direct operations carbon neutral, starting in fiscal 2013.  The company announced its decision in a blog post, saying that it has also recently worked to promote environmental responsibility across the company and will make every business unit responsible for offsetting its own carbon emissions. The company will do so by charging a fee for carbon, which its operations in “over 100 countries” will have to pay off.

Generation leads $18.3m LED VC round

Environmental Finance | News Generation leads $18.3m LED VC round

A company specialising in LED lighting has raised $18.3 million in a venture capital financing round led by sustainability-focused investment firm Generation Investment Management.  Colorado-based TerraLUX designs and manufactures LED lighting and engines as well as portable flashlights. It said the funds will go to growing all of its business segments.