S. KOREA GETS IN THE EMISSIONS MARKET

The South Koreans decided it was time to take advantage of the opportunities emerging in emissions trading. It does good by climate change, too, of course, and is, thus, that rare and wonderful convergence of something profitable that does the world good. Maybe the U.S., China and India should give it some thought.

S Korea To Establish Domestic Carbon Credit Market By End-‘07
Jun Yang, August 22, 2007 (Dow Jones Newswire via NASDAQ)

WHO
South Korea Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy

click to enlarge.

WHAT
South Korea will move to reduce domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by establishing a domestic emissions market. It has approved 50 projects and will issue credits to the owners of those projects for auction to utilities who have failed to generate energy from renewables at government-established requirements.

WHEN
- Announcement made August 22. Market will be in place by the end of 2007.
- The plan is based on the Kyoto Protocols, which began in 1997 and run through 2012.

WHERE
The market described will be a South Korean domestic market though if projects meet Kyoto standards they may be sold in the EU ETS or other markets as Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs).

WHY
- By purchasing the government-approved credits from renewable energy projects, the utilities will be offsetting their investment failures in renewable energy when purchasing power. The market is thereby expected to spur development of renewables.
- The government guarantees to buy any credits not sold to utilities at KRW5,000 (US$5.30)/metric ton.
- South Korea, the world’s 10th-biggest GHG emitter, is not bound by Kyoto Protocol limits but it has been urged by International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Claude Mandil to move on the issue.

The yellow line is South Korea's per capita emissions. It was time to take action and they did. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
Mandil: “As South Korea's emissions are expected to grow by more than two-thirds between 2000 and 2030, setting an objective to slow the growth of those emissions is critical…”