Carbon Capping
By admin • Jun 1st, 2010The Middle East’s cap and trade system could mean big money for regional
companies, but first both they – and governments – need to embrace it.
When the European Union announced that carbon emissions fell more sharply in 2009 than ever before, the news could have been a positive endorsement of companies in the region that make money selling carbon reduction projects to their European counterparts.
Instead, the dramatic drop was largely attributed to decreased production created by the financial crisis. Both the economic downturn and legal uncertainties mean plans for a regional carbon exchange and for Middle East participation in the complicated world of energy related financial instruments have been delayed. In 2007, Doha Bank and the Dubai Mercantile Exchange, working with EcoSecurties, both announced plans to debut a Middle East carbon exchange. Three years later, these plans seem to have passed from the public eye.
A researcher at the Belfar Center’s Dubai Initiative at Harvard, Justin Dargin, completed a set of policy recommendations for the U.A.E. government on establishing a Middle East carbon trading platform.
Dargin said he would ideally like to see a carbon exchange platform introduced in phases beginning in 2012, but concrete plans have been delayed, likely for another year or two.
