2010/12/10

(BN) UN Offsets Rise Most in Four Weeks After ICE Proposes Change

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UN Offsets Rise Most in Four Weeks After ICE Proposes Change
2010-12-10 17:37:09.743 GMT


By Ewa Krukowska and Catherine Airlie
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- United Nations carbon credits rose
the most in almost four weeks after the ICE Futures Europe
exchange proposed that offsets used for settlement against its
contracts must comply with European trading rules.
UN Certified Emission Reductions for December 2011 gained
as much as 2.4 percent, the most since Nov. 15, to 11.50 euros
($15.21) a metric ton on ICE in London. The contract traded at
11.40 euros as of 5:20 p.m., recovering from a more than eight-
month low of 11.13 euros earlier today amid lower volumes.
The planned change in the treatment of UN credits follows a
Nov. 25 proposal by the European Union regulator to ban offsets
generated by projects linked to industrial gases
hydrofluorocarbon-23 and nitrous oxide, with effect from Jan. 1,
2013, ICE said yesterday on its website.
UN CERs can be used by emitters in the EU cap-and-trade
program, the world's largest, as a cheaper alternative for
compliance with their pollution limits.
EU allowances rebounded from a one-month low of 14.68 euros
as U.K. natural gas and German electricity rallied. Permits for
December 2011 last traded at 14.90 euros, pairing their weekly
loss to 0.9 percent.

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--With assistance from Mathew Carr in Cancun. Editors: Raj
Rajendran, Justin Carrigan

To contact the reporter on this story:
Ewa Krukowska in Brussels at +32-2-237-4331 or
ekrukowska@bloomberg.net
Or Catherine Airlie at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net

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