Isramart llc : EU carbon permit volumes fall in August, CERs rise

www.isra-mart.com

Isramart llc news:

Traded volumes in European Union carbon permits fell by a third last month compared to July, while transactions in Kyoto carbon offsets jumped by 34 percent, Point Carbon said on Wednesday.

For the 22 trading days in August, traditionally the quietest month on the market calendar, volumes in EU Allowances (EUAs) for spot and future delivery, excluding options, were 286 million tonnes across four major European carbon exchanges, down from 429 million in July, according to Point Carbon data.

Despite the drop in EUA volumes, trade in the secondary market for UN-backed Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) rose to 78 million tonnes, up from 58.3 million in July. Last month, CER prices surged on news that the executive board of the Clean Development Mechanism, the Kyoto Protocol scheme under which CERs are distributed, had delayed issuance of CERs from HFC-23 destruction projects, which account for around 50 percent of the 430 million CERs issued to date.

The board has asked a working group to investigate whether some refrigerant gas manufacturers, who earn CERs by destroying the greenhouse gas by-product HFC-23, have been artificially ramping up production.

Benchmark Dec-10 CER futures trading on the European Climate Exchange rose by 12.1 percent in August to finish the month at 13.39 euros ($16.92) a tonne, while EUAs for the same delivery gained 7.9 percent last month to 15.27 euros ($19.30).

Daily volumes in EUAs were around 13 million tonnes, down from 19.5 million per day in July, while daily August CER volumes were 3.5 million tonnes, up from 2.7 million in the previous month, Point Carbon said.

Dutch emissions exchange Climex also reported a rise in spot volumes for Emissions Reduction Units (ERUs), credits traded under another Kyoto scheme called Joint Implementation.

The bourse said it traded 49,658 tonnes of ERUs in August, up from 4,000 in July.