CLIMATE CHANGE

Japan's power firms paid a combined 100.1 billion yen, or $1 billion, for carbon credits in the year that ended on March 31, their annual earnings reports showed, giving investors a rare glimpse into how much utilities are spending to offset their own carbon emissions.

U.S. electricity generators support compromises being reached by Democrats in the House of Representatives on proposed climate legislation, saying the changes would soften the impact on power bills.

Democrats at the U.S. Energy and Commerce Committee have agreed on a renewable energy standard, greenhouse gas emissions cap and allowances distribution on the climate bill, Chairman Henry Waxman said yesterday evening.

Eradicating greenhouse gases from power stations and cars, trucks and aviation must be Europe's next policy move to tackle climate change, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday.

Global talks on combating climate change this year might progress best by focusing on Mexico's proposal for a world climate change fund, one of the European Union's top negotiators said.

CME Group, the world's largest derivatives exchange, is gearing up for a U.S. cap-and-trade carbon policy that could mean a boom in green futures and options trade, a top CME official said on Monday.

U.S. climate change legislation is unlikely to pass this year due to concerns about the recession and contention over the implementation of the program, according to energy and carbon market experts.

The world's largest exchange for trading carbon emission credits expects to more than double its trading volume this year as more companies come to the bourse to manage their environmental costs.

A planned new U.N. climate pact is shaping up to be a mildly tougher version of the existing Kyoto Protocol rather than a bold treaty to save what U.S. President Barack Obama has called a planet in peril.

The world's first rules for generating tradeable carbon credits from protecting forests were a good start but Indonesia needed to clear up doubts over the government's share of the revenues, analysts and industry said Friday.

President Barack Obama's $3.55 trillion budget, released on Thursday, retains his plan to cut climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions by auctioning off 100 percent of emission permits to industries.

A bigger role must be found for improving energy efficiency in any new U.N. deal aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a leading China-based project developer said on Thursday.

Italian bank UniCredit signed a deal with conservation group WWF on Wednesday to slash its carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent by 2020, and provide green loans to boost energy efficiency in homes and businesses.

China's booming hydropower sector is facing mounting criticism for generating subprime carbon credits from projects that don't need extra earnings to succeed, raising the risk of tougher rules and putting billions of dollars of clean energy investments at risk.

Negotiations in the U.S. House of Representatives on how to cut industrial pollutants that cause global warming reach a critical stage this week as President Barack Obama huddles with key lawmakers on Tuesday and Republicans ready for a fight.

Australia's government put back its much-vaunted carbon-emissions trading scheme by a year on Monday, bowing to industry demands for more relief amid a recession while opening the door to an even deeper long-term reduction.

Conventional wisdom says the United States has to bring concrete commitment to international climate talks in Copenhagen in December or no other country will act.

China's Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Environmental Protection have requested a study on a carbon tax that may become a method for the nation to slash greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

An vice president with Royal Dutch Shell said Friday that without the intervention of policies to create a market price for carbon dioxide, it would be impossible to deploy carbon capture and sequestration technologies.

The U.S. Congress will make enough progress on climate change legislation this year to boost prospects for success at December's Copenhagen summit on cutting greenhouse gases, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid predicted on Friday.

The world can burn only a quarter of proven reserves of oil, gas and coal to be confident of staying within safer climate limits, unless untested carbon fixes work, experts said on Wednesday.