2010/12/09

2 degrees/ Japan Adviser Proposes $6.3 Trillion Carbon Marke

update + nishimura corrected length of his role as negotiator

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Japan Adviser Proposes $6.3 Trillion Carbon Market (Update1)
2010-12-09 19:11:38.263 GMT


(Adds 2 degrees Celsius in fourth paragraph.)

By Mathew Carr
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Mutsuyoshi Nishimura, Japan's chief
climate-protection negotiator during the three years through
2008, proposed a $6.3 trillion carbon market to advance talks
that have stalled since 1997.
The world could potentially sell 250 billion metric tons of
carbon-dioxide allowances to emitters in the 10 years through
2020 or a later timeframe, generating "a huge chunk of new
wealth" that could help poor nations cope with global warming
and other needs, Nishimura said yesterday in an interview at
United Nations talks in Cancun, Mexico. He handed to Bloomberg a
document outlining the plan.
"The key part is to cap globally and sell allowances to
all corporations," said Nishimura, who now advises the Japanese
cabinet on climate matters. His personal proposal is not
supported by Japan, nor any other nation, he said.
Under the plan, governments would divide up 660 billion
tons of allowances through 2050. That's the amount of carbon
dioxide equivalent available for emission if the world is to
prevent temperatures from rising 2 degree Celsius (3.6
Fahrenheit), based on scientific research, Nishimura said.
In the first phase, the 250 billion tons could be sold at
$25 each. The incentive of the cash would prompt governments to
overcome differences and agree on the year when global emissions
should peak and how to distribute allowances to each nation.

'Ultimate Payment'

"The ultimate payment is going to be made by households"
consuming goods and services that require fossil-fuel
combustion, Nishimura said. "There would be a single carbon
price."
Nations would hypothetically sell 200 billion tons in the
10 years through 2030, 150 billion tons in the decade after and
60 billion tons in the final phase of the 40-year program,
according to the plan. International negotiations on the plan
might delay its start until about 2020, he said.
The U.K. is already setting carbon budgets. The nation
should commit to a 60 percent reduction in emissions by 2030
from 1990 levels to meet its targets for 2050, that country's
Climate Change Committee said Dec. 7.
This would mean tightening targets through 2020, the
committee said, adding that proposed emissions reductions can be
achieved at a cost of less than 1 percent of gross domestic
product.
The U.K. has pledged to get 15 percent of its energy from
renewable sources by 2020 and reduce carbon-dioxide by 80
percent from 1990 levels by 2050. Achieving this will require as
much as 40,000 megawatts of low-carbon energy projects and a
"radical reform" of the electricity markets, the group said.
The World Bank started today a partnership with nations to
raise $100 million to study new carbon markets and speed climate
protection, said bank President Robert Zoellick.

New Carbon Markets

Participants include the U.S., which will contribute $5
million, said Billy Pizer, a deputy assistant secretary in the
U.S. Treasury Department, at climate talks in Cancun, Mexico. At
least $30 million has been raised for the partnership, said
Joelle Chassard, manager of the bank's Carbon Finance Unit.
The EU will contribute 5 million euros ($6.3 million) to
the partnership, said Peter Wehrheim, a climate official.

For Related News and Information:
EU carbon-market stories: TNI EU ENVMARKET <GO>
Top energy news: ETOP <GO>
Top environmental stories: GREEN <GO>

--Editors: Mike Anderson, Clyde Russell.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net