Plunging price of carbon may threaten investment - Business News, Business - The Independent

The price of carbon has lost almost two-thirds of its value in the past six months, threatening future investments in the energy sector and undermining confidence in the second phase of Europe's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). An EU permit to emit one tonne of CO2 cost €10.15 (£8.86) at the end of last week, down from €28.50 in mid-2008 and a far cry from forecasts of up to €40.

The most bearish experts are now predicting that the price could fallas low as €9 as global recession, reduced manufacturing output, and the concomitant reduction in consumption of fossil fuels, feeds through to reduce the need for carbon emissions permits.

The danger is that business plans for infrastructure projects like power stations and wind farms will founder. In the first phase of the EU ETS, which ran from 2005 to 2008, permits were vastly over-issued, pushing the price of carbon to less than €1 and rendering the mechanism meaningless as a predictable revenue stream.

1/29/09: Rachel Maddow Cites Snow in Dubai as Example of 'Global Warming' | NewsBusters.org

Once again, inconvenient weather tosses a monkey wrench at enviro-hysteric claims of looming apocalypse, an alleged threat now entering its third decade.

Funds to fuel green energy run dry - International Herald Tribune

New Energy Finance, a consultancy, forecast zero investment growth in climate-related companies this year, after a spectacular growth rate of 60 percent in 2006 and 2007.

Economic downturn hits carbon jobs

The global economic slowdown continues to take its toll on the carbon market, with a series of redundancies and consolidations taking place across all sectors of the market.

London-listed project developer EcoSecurities is to close its US consultancy office in Oregon this month, reducing its US headcount by a third. The move follows a round of redundancies last year.