July, 2013 - ZE DataWatch by ZE PowerGroup powered by ZEMA ...

July 2013Environmental Markets and Weather ServicesUSDA, Colorado StateUniversity Release Carbon-Counting Soil ToolOn June 11, 2013, the USDA and Colorado State Universityannounced the release of the online tool, COMET-FARM,which helps agricultural producers visualize the benefit oftheir conservation actions by calculating the amount ofcarbon they have removed from the air. Agriculturalconservation, like soil and crop management, contributes toremoving CO2 from the air. With COMET-FARM, producersenter land management information and the tool estimatesthe amount of sequestration and greenhouse gas emissionreductions are associated with those actions.First Pilot Chinese EmissionsTrading Scheme BeginsOn June 11, 2013, ICIS announced the City of Shenzen begantrading its emissions rights to its carbon consumptionreduction of 21% by 2015. As the first of seven schemes, theShenzhen project is a pilot for the planned nationwideemissions trading scheme (ETS) to reduce carbon intensity by40-45% below 2005 levels by 2020 in China, one of thecountries most affected by climate change. The EuropeanUnion, Australia, California, and Canada have alreadylaunched ETSs and have shown that market-based productsare the preferred way to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.EEX to Become PermanentGerman Auction PlatformOn June 20, the European Energy Exchange (EEX) announcedit passed the European Commission’s assessment process tobecome the permanent auction platform for Germany. TheClimate Change committee approved the nomination June 18and the EEX is scheduled to be included in the annex of theEU Auctioning Regulation in October – making EEX thepermanent German auction platform.The following graph shows EEX emission price fluctuationsversus trade volume during Phase II of the EU ETS.Data Source: EEX*ICIS Acquires Carbon MarketSpecialistOn June 6, 2013, ICIS announced an agreement to acquirecarbon market specialist, Tschach Solutions GmbH inKarlsruhe, Germany. Tschach has a reputation for strongcarbon market analytics and price forecasting, and comeswith a strong data, information and analytics portfolio in thecarbon market. This includes price forecasts and tradingbehavior and policies in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme(ETS) and the global Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).WSI, Climate Central to ProvideTV Weather DataOn June 25, 2013, the Weather Company’s WSI division andClimate Central announced that they had partnered toprovide nation-wide television weather forecasters withclimate-related data and content. The two will provideanalyses on weather and climate trends, and will distributethem through WSI’s Max and Fusion products.AccuWeather First User ofChinese Location-Based ServiceOn June 27, 2013, AccuWeather announced it would be thefirst to use the Chinese patented location-based services forits Interactive Weather Advisory System, which works tocreate, develop, and share the processes of transmittinglocation- and user-specific information over wirelessplatforms globally. AccuWeather will be able to use thepatent to broadcast individualized weather signals to provide*Graph created with ZEMA13 Back to Summary