Thursday, March 13, 2008

Russia, India, Carbon and Coal

An interesting juxtaposition of stories today. Ya gotta love the free market profit-maximization afforded to China, Russia and India by the Kyoto Protocol and the Clean Development Mechanism.

From Reuters:
Russia takes "rejection" stance on Kyoto projects
Foreign firms seeking to make money in Russia under the Kyoto Protocol will not have an easy time getting approval from the Russian state, the official in charge of Kyoto implementation in Russia said on Thursday.

"The most correct approach is forbidding everything, but allowing certain things to go forward. The worst approach is to approve everything, but say certain things are forbidden," said Deputy Economy Minister Vsevolod Gavrilov.

"We are working according to a principle of rejection."

Market participants were dismayed at the remarks. They said Russia's approach to Kyoto implementation was self-defeating and would make many turn their backs on the Russian market.... 'NO FREEBIES' Continued...

From The Guardian:
Russia may cut coal taxes to spur new fields -paper

Russia may halve taxes on coal production from 2009 as it seeks to spur development of new fields to encourage bigger use of coal instead of gas in power generation, a newspaper reported on Wednesday....continued

Remember Econ 101? To get more of something, tax it less.

From Reuters:
India scouting for coal assets in Mozambique
India's state-run energy and mineral firms are scouting for coal blocks abroad, including in Mozambique, the country's junior coal minister said on Wednesday.

The companies -- utility NTPC Ltd (NTPC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), Steel Authority of India (SAIL.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), NMDC Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd and Coal India Ltd -- will form a joint venture or a special purpose vehicle to buy the assets.

Dasari Narayana Rao also told lawmakers that Coal India was looking at buying coal assets abroad on its own.

India and China will lead a 73 percent leap in world coal demand by 2030 to 4,994 million tonnes of oil equivalent from 2,892 million tonnes in 2005....MORE

Finally, from Agence France-Presse:
China tells developed world to go on climate change 'diet'