Sustainability news

- Editor

NZ Registry Expands to UK and US

TZ1, the New Zealand registry for voluntary carbon credits opened offices in London and New York on 25 September in a bid to win a bigger share of the voluntary market.

TZ1 in July became one of four players worldwide to win the right to act as a registry for voluntary credits under guidelines developed by the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) Association, an international effort to ensure that voluntary credits are credible.

“The registry recognises the significance of the USA, UK and European markets,” Jane Lloyd, business development manager at the New York office said today.

A survey by UK-listed project developer Ecosecurities published earlier this week showed that the US is the key market driver in the voluntary carbon market.

Meanwhile, in the Australia-New Zealand region, interest in voluntary credits has been muted recently, as Australian government proposals show voluntary credits, even though developed following government guidelines, is unlikely to become eligible for use in the country’s emerging mandatory carbon scheme.
Six project developers have so far registered in the TZ1 registry, although only one has listed projects.

GreenAir has published two vintages of voluntary credits from a forestry projects via the TZ1 registry. This project has not been verified using VCS standards, however, but has been verified by validation firm Tonkin and Taylor as having followed the guidelines of the New Zealand government’s permanent forest sink initiative (PFSI).

TZ1 also plans to operate as an exchange, and plans to launch trading in New Zealand Units (NZUs) and possibly UN-regulated carbon credits in the first half of next year.

The other registries approved under the VCS are administered by the Bank of New York, Caisse des Depots of France and APX, a US-based infrastructure provider.

The VCS expects to issue between 10 and 20 million credits verified under its standard before the end of 2008.

Source: www.tz1market.com

UN’s Principles for Responsible Investment

On 18 August, TOWER Investments became the first KiwiSaver provider in New Zealand to sign the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).

Goldman Sachs JBWere Asset Management (NZ) Ltd. announced in May, that it had become the first New Zealand investment manager to sign the PRI.

These principles are in essence a set of global best-practices for responsible investment and have become the global benchmark. Signatories are committed to considering the investment implications of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues of their investments.

Source: www.gsjbw.co.nz www.tower.co.nz

First Ever Carbon Market Auction

On 2 October in London, CantorCO2e Limited auctioned 255,592 Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) from two biomass projects in Chile.

The projects were owned by Arauco, the largest forestry company in Latin America. The CERs were sold to four anonymous buyers at a settlement price of 19.05 euros, which was completely in line with market prices of secondary CERs. Demand for the CERs outstripped supply by a significant margin. Participants were notified of the result within seconds of the auction close.

The electronic internet-accessed auction platform is the first of its kind in the carbon market. The CantorCO2e auction platform uses a uniform pricing algorithm similar to those used by governments to sell bonds. It offers a number of benefits, including a binding contract at the auction close; payment and delivery of CERs within days of the auction close; no delivery risk; and, a level playing field to buyers and sellers of all sizes. Being internet-based, buyers may participate from anywhere in the world and the auction attracted bidders from nine countries in Europe, from Japan and from the US. The CERs will be delivered to successful buyers via the Swiss national emission registry.

Source: www.cantorco2e.com

Water for the Future

Water for the Future is a $12.9 billion long-term plan to secure the long term water supply of all Australians.

Under Water for the Future, the $250 million National Rainwater and Greywater Initiative will deliver on the key priority of using water wisely and helping to conserve  precious drinking water supplies.

Households will be able to receive rebates of up to $500 for the purchase and installation of rainwater tanks and greywater products which will reduce their use of drinking water. Funding has been set aside to provide rebates to 500,000 homes over six years.

Funding under Water for the Future will be used to support significant water reform across the country.  It identifies four key priorities: taking action on climate change, using water wisely, securing water supplies and supporting healthy rivers.

Source: Australian government websites.

New Green Star - Industrial Rating Tool

Warehouses and factories can now have a green makeover with the release of the Green Building Council of Australia’s new Green Star - Industrial PILOT rating tool.

The new rating tool which will assess the environmental attributes of new and refurbished industrial facilities against the eight categories of Green Star, including energy, water, emissions, materials, indoor environment quality, ecology, management and transport plus innovation.

Romilly Madew, Chief Executive of the Green Building Council of Australia believes the release of this tool is significant for the property industry.

“We all recognise that this is a time of economic change, even facing a slowdown, but we cannot stop including environmentally sustainable initiatives in all of our buildings,” said Ms Madew.

The Green Star - Industrial PILOT tool includes a number of credits unique to the industrial sector.
Credits will address the indoor environment quality issues for workers in industrial facilities such as factories, with projects awarded for designated breakout areas free of emissions. Transport emissions are also considered with credits awarded for the proximity of the projects to cargo facilities, such as airports, train stations and ports, therefore reducing the distance materials have to travel.

Source: www.gbca.org.au

Encapsulated Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb

A typical design of an encapsulated (double envelope) compact fluorescent light bulb. Ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by the outer glass container so they are safer for use in close proximity (30cm) to people. They can be used anywhere in the home.