Carbon market is closely watching the U.S.

WASHINGTON--"We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century," President Obama said in his address to Congress earlier this year.

As investors seek out opportunities in the growing global carbon market, and world leaders prepare for the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen in December, it may seem as if the United States is a step behind in reducing carbon emissions; the administration and the Democrat-led Congress are still shaping policy to regulate carbon in the United States.

Yet given the United States' role as a global leader and its potentially substantial carbon market, the rest of the world will be watching what happens here very closely, experts from the carbon finance, climate policy, and clean-tech communities said here Wednesday.

Energy and climate change experts in Washington on Wednesday discussed the growing carbon market.

(Credit: Stephanie Condon/CNET)

"What happens here has a profound impact on what everybody else does, (and makes) it more likely to get a decent global agreement," said James Cameron, executive director of Climate Change Capital, an investment management company that specializes in the low-carbon economy.

Even if the United States is not able to pass energy or climate change legislation by December, sincere efforts to do so will be meaningful in Copenhagen, Cameron said. Along with Washington's efforts, policy makers and investors will take note of the clean-tech investment taking place in the United States.

"People will look to what is actually happening here in real life versus policy life," Cameron said. "Clean-tech investment in the United States is phenomenal."

Cameron and others interested in the carbon market gathered in Washington this week for the Carbon TradeEx America forum, hosted by Koelnmesse GmbH, an industry trade show organizer. The carbon market--the trade of carbon allowances--is still in its infancy in North America but stands to grow as Congress considers legislation like Rep. Henry Waxman's American Clean Energy and Security bill. The worldwide carbon market reached a value of $118 billion in 2008, according to the research and analysis firm New Carbon Finance.

Speakers at the conference agreed that the renewable energy investments in the stimulus package will encourage the development of a U.S. carbon market.

Stephen Harper, the director for environmental and energy policy at Intel, called the stimulus package "a good way to demonstrate a lot of good ideas people have talked about."

"It's a down payment only...but if it's done right and the (Department of Energy) actually gets this money out the door, it gives a chance for a number of different experiments," he said.

Harper and others at the conference said technology companies will play a significant role in the reduction of carbon emissions.

Intel, Dell, and a number of other technology companies are working to convince Congress that information and communications technology (ICT) can play an integral role in reducing emissions. To further that point, they started the Digital Energy Solutions campaign last year to promote public policies that employ ICT as a solution.

Rob Atkinson, president of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, said the United States should adopt a "comprehensive digital transformation strategy."

Information and communications technology is "pervasive and embedded in most of what's going on in today's economy," he said.

Technology companies can play an additional role in enabling the reduction of carbon emissions by facilitating campaigns in favor of energy efficiency policies, said Peter Seligmann, the chairman and CEO of Conservation International.

"Right now President Obama has a political mandate...but you can begin to see the assassination of ideas is just beginning to bubble," Seligmann said. "This is when the Internet leaders, the Googles and Facebooks, have to kick in--this is when that power of reaching millions has to kick in."

Obama is "going to be taken apart by the political process if we don't galvanize millions of people to say (emissions reduction) is important," he continued. "We need to be focused on supporting leadership with the right message, and that's an obligation everybody here has."

[mRfung]

argh! the whole notion of a Carbon Market frustrates me. What the hell happened to simple rules and regulations. I do not believe the kabillions of dollars that taxing this and that carbon related will actually help create tech and subsidize it. Its just a ploy to get to taxing everything, movement, breathing, what food you eat even if produced by ones self, blah blah. Crush the little people expand the giants, consolidate resources and power, Control!!!

If all these bail outs and the credit crash is anything to go by, none of this is in earnest. Its all a farce. Ive lost total faith in our governing bodies and the capitalist system. This lack of transparency and any notion of a democratic decision making process on huge commitments enslaving us to debt is total BS. There needs to be some real heart and truth wielded, or I'm voting for total collapse.

:(
rant.

[anilsudh]

These are the same idiots who cannot forecast tomorrow's weather accurately.

[unknown unknown]

Sounds like a giant scam to me.

[bj1126]

Madoff is envious of these guys.

[dwimmer38]

One big scam that the left winged idiots are buying into at the expense of the rest of us. Hopefully we will survive Obama's 4 years.

[BogusBasin]

What would Jesus do? Lower taxes! Drill baby drill! Wink wink. You betcha. Amen

[GKrynen]

Um, I guess I am not an idiot in this case. The only way to reduce airborne carbon is through growing trees. A giant sequoia does not pull all of that mass out of the earth. If it did there would be little ground to support it at all. Trees in particular pull carbon and other elements from the air to build there mass. Once knocked over and covered it compresses into a carbon form and if enough pressure is applied, oil. Plant large trees, use dirt/adobe/sand with polymer/white glue for strength to build eco-friendly insulated homes.

[BtmnHatesRbn]

Commies in America are green, not red.

[Endbringer]

How can you tax something that every single human being emits? It's natural. Besides, there's no credible scientific evidence that man's tiny addition to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere actually increases the global temperature. It's all based on computer models. That's not science. The surface temperatures rely on faulty locations. There are dozens of variables that are a part of the system that are just assumed (yeah, that's good science right there). And to beat it all, the Earth hasn't even warmed for over 8 years. In fact, it's COOLER. How come the computer models didn't predict this? Perhaps it's because there are just too many variables and we don't understand them all right now.

But hey, I'm only using logic. So let's just go ahead and cripple our economy for some science that hasn't been proven. Let's just give away our inalienable rights to life, liberty, happiness, and property.

[brandonh33]

This really makes me angry. This not only brings down the small guys, but destroys the major companies that make the United States the great country that it is. These are actually aimed at the large companies such as car makers and energy providers.

This is the kind of thing that created the whole mess at GM in the first place. The government is pressuring GM to make cleaner smaller cars. What happens? GM is forced to make cars like the Chevrolet Cobalt. Nobody wants a Cobalt. The cars that are in demand are being hit with gas guzzler taxes, taxes, taxes and now carbon taxes. The government is purposely making it nearly impossible to sell the cars that are in higher demand because GM can no longer sell those cars at reasonable prices. What happens when you cant produce the cars that people want and are forced to produce cars that nobody wants? You get GM in serious trouble. The government then has a bailout and is throwing hundreds of billions of dollars into a company they are already set on destroying. They are not allowing the free market to work.

How do they justify putting our American tax dollars in this situation? How do they justify basing all these claims and taxes that are ruining our economy on global warming, which hasnt even reached the scientific level of theory? How do they justify labeling Global Warming a fact solely based on their personal agendas?

The government got us in the economic situation that we are in, and they intend to solve the problem they have created with socialism and more taxes. There is no logic behind this. If they had not gotten in the way of the free market we would have none of these issues.