First-ever carbon trading deal signed in Singapore

Channel NewsAsia 5 Nov 07;

SINGAPORE: A Singapore-based company, ecoWise, has tied up with Japan's Kansai Electric Power Company to tackle climate change.Under the four-year deal, the first to be signed in Singapore, ecoWise will trade carbon credits for Kansai, Japan's second largest power firm.

Carbon trading is a market-based mechanism to help mitigate the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The burning of fossil fuels is a major source of industrial greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide and methane.

Countries, which have signed the Kyoto Protocol, are legally bound to meet emissions targets by 2012.

The Kyoto Protocol is designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by making the polluter pay for climate change.

A country that needs to fulfil its obligations may need to buy spare credits from another country that is on track to meet its target.

Under the latest Emission Reduction Purchasing Agreement, Kansai Electric Power Company will buy 95,000 carbon credits from ecoWise over four years, starting in 2008.

ecoWise said it would sell the carbon credits, which will be generated from its facility that processes industrial waste by using thermal energy, at market rate.

Lee Thiam Seng, CEO, ecoWise Holdings, said: "Currently, these agro wastes are using diesel burner, diesel dryer to dry. We are using renewable energy to dry. This will save about 6.1 million tonnes of diesel over the next four years."

The companies are in the process of getting the project registered with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Kansai said this contract is relatively small compared to its 20 other carbon credit deals around the world.

The firm estimates it will need to procure up to 13 million carbon credits between now and 2012.

Koji Toyama, Manager of the Global Environment Group, Kansai Electric Power, said: "In the near future, I hope Kansai will supply or provide environmental related technology to Singapore industries and if possible, Kansai would like to make a direct investment to the energy sector."

It is hoped that this collaboration will pave the way for more companies to follow suit.

For a start, ecoWise said it would explore opportunities in China, while KYOTOenergy, which had helped broker the deal, will look at investing in gas cogeneration projects.

Michel Buron, CEO of KYOTOenergy, said: "The market in 2006 for emission reductions was around US$24 billion. It is expected to grow to US$100 billion by 2010, and I would say the region – Southeast Asia – will take its share of it, but we see that this region is a bit behind compared to India or China, or even Latin America."

But industry players said there are more emission reduction projects coming on-stream in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, and the sector is set to grow.

However, the rate of adoption will depend on the level of confidence and awareness of how carbon credits can benefit businesses.

Climate change is expected to be discussed at the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Singapore.

Industry players hope this can further promote sustainable development.

Straits Times 6 Nov 07
Local firm ecoWise to sell 95,000 carbon credits
By Jessica Cheam

SESDAQ-LISTED ecoWise Holdings, a local environmental solutions company, yesterday took a step closer to becoming Singapore's first company to sell carbon credits.

Trading carbon credits is designed to limit industry carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

ecoWise unit Bee Joo Industries yesterday signed a deal with Japanese firm Kansai Electric Power to sell up to 95,000 carbon credits over five years.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, developed signatory countries must meet strict CO2 emission targets.

ecoWise's credits are from its biomass plant at Sungei Kadut, which uses wood waste to generate steam. This, in turn, is used to dry waste from the agro-industry. Traditionally, the industry uses diesel, a fossil fuel, to dry the waste.

Its plant results in a saving of 6.1 million litres of diesel each year, said ecoWise chief executive Lee Thiam Seng yesterday.

The project is awaiting final confirmation in the next few months from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to become Singapore's first clean development mechanism project, said Mr Lee.

It comes as Singapore hosts its first Carbon Forum Asia - a trade fair and global forum - which opens at the Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre today.

Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore chairman Edwin Khew said at a separate event yesterday that the event will reinforce Singapore's plan to become a carbon trading hub. Talks are under way with the Singapore Exchange to launch a carbon trading platform, said Mr Khew.

A recent World Bank report said global carbon trading grew in value to an estimated US$30 billion (S$43.5 billion) last year. - CNA/so

Business Times 6 Nov 07
ecoWise, Kansai Power sign carbon credit deal
By Matthew Phan

SINGAPORE saw its first contract to generate carbon credits signed yesterday, with an agreement between Sesdaq-listed eco-Wise Holdings and the Kansai Power Co of Japan.

Carbon credits, or certified emissions reduction units (CERs), are generated under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, which Singapore ratified last March.

Each CER represents one less tonne of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.

Yesterday's contract will see ecoWise - through its wholly-owned subsidiary - deliver up to 95,000 CERs to Kansai Power, one of Japan's largest utility companies, from early 2008 through to the end of 2012.

The credits are being sold forward, for between eight (S$16.80) to 12 euros each, said Michel Buron, CEO of KYOTOenergy, which brokered the deal.

For a forward sale - which means the buyer pays the seller first, and takes delivery of the CERs later - the price is 'classic', he said.

ecoWise's project will use the waste heat from a co-generation power plant to dry waste from the agro-industry, such as spent grains from breweries, and to heat tanks from a centralised dryer.

As ecoWise's co-generation plant runs on biomass, such as tree prunings or waste wood, it is considered as renewable, or clean, energy. In replacing the fossil-fuel dryers that are typically used, the project will save about 6.1 million litres of diesel every year.

Under the terms of the contract, Kansai takes on the risk of failure, so eco-Wise will face no penalties even if it fails to generate the CERs, Mr Buron also said.

Over US$4.5 billion worth of newly generated CERs were traded in 2006, with Asia accounting for four-fifths of this, according to the World Bank's State of the Carbon Market report in May.

Within South-east Asia, project developers have actively invested in Singapore's neighbours, which have agricultural land for biofuel crops and power plants that run on less efficient fossil fuels, like coal.

But projects are emerging here. PowerSeraya, Singapore's second largest generator, is planning an 800 megawatt co-generation plant that would replace existing steam plants and thereby qualify for CERs.

Another homegrown firm, IUT Global, which burns food waste to generate electricity, is also registering for credits.

SMEs urged to tap into renewable energy technology.