The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
(RGGI) announced the results of the second auction of carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions allowances in the United States.
Some 69 participants from the energy, financial and environmental
sectors took part in the bidding last week that saw all of the 31,505,898 allowances offered for
sale on sold at a clearing price of $3.38 per allowance.
That price is higer than $3.07 reported for the first auction in September, which raised roughly $38.6 million.
The approximately $106.5 million in proceeds produced from last week’s auction will be
distributed to the ten RGGI states in
proportion to the CO2 allowances offered for sale by each state. The states will invest
those funds in energy efficiency and clean energy technologies.
Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont will begin regulating CO2 emissions from power plants in January 2009 with the goal of reducing emissions by 10% from 2015 through 2018. The next auction will take place in March 2009.
In Related News
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released a reported stating that the RGGI will be compromised unless utilities are prevented from importing additional coal-fired electricity.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) does not preclude the utilities that supply electricity to Northeast homes and businesses from buying more electricity from coal-fired power plants outside the region, the report says. That could increase the carbon dioxide emissions from those plants outside the region, offsetting emissions reductions under RGGI.
"RGGI sets a national precedent for addressing global warming," said John Rogers, a UCS clean energy analyst and co-author of the report. "To ensure the initiative fulfills its potential, however, participating states must make sure that the region’s utilities don’t buy additional coal-based electricity from outside the region."
The report can be read at the link below.
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