This year will see will see the first annual decline in eight years in clean energy investment, according to a new report. The report also highlights a geographical shift, with established markets such as the US, Europe and China losing momentum as newer markets in South America, Asia and Africa pick up steam. Bloomberg New Energy Finance reports that investment fell to $56.6bn in the third quarter of 2012, down 20% year-on-year. Policy uncertainty about the level of support for renewables was to blame in the US, the UK and Italy, the report said. This was exacerbated by the effect of low sector share prices on investment, and sharp falls in the costs of wind and solar photovoltaic technologies. Michael Liebreich, chief executive of
Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said: ‘The fact that 2012 looks like being a down-year is disappointing, but not surprising. The
Climate change Norway aims for carbon neutrality Maria Burke
In one of the most radical climate programmes yet by an oil-producing nation, Norway has proposed doubling the carbon tax on its North Sea oil industry and taxing the fishing industry for the first time. The Norwegian government wants to increase from January 2013 its carbon tax on offshore oil companies to Nkr410 (£45) per tonne of CO2
The government will also inject , and introduce a similar
Nkr50 (£5.50) tax on its fishing industry. This increase brings the carbon tax back to the same level paid in the period 2000-2007, in real terms, explains state secretary of finance Kjetil Lund. ‘The Norwegian petroleum industry will be among industries with the highest carbon costs in the world.’
an extra NKr10bn (£1bn) into a climate change mitigation fund in 2013. The objective is to contribute to developing carbon-friendly technologies and emission reductions in the private sector in Norway, says Lund.
Investment
will also increase in the Climate and Forest Initiative, up NKr400M from 2012; it will now receive NKr3bn (£0.3bn) to prevent deforestation in developing countries. The government says Norway has helped achieve considerable reductions in
emissions in Brazil and better forest management in Indonesia, Ethiopia, Guyana and Tanzania. ‘Norway has for many years been among the countries with the most ambitious climate policy targets,’ says Lund. ‘Annual emissions in 2010 are estimated to be
around 20% lower than what would have been the case without our domestic policies.’ The country aims to be carbon-neutral by 2050. ‘The extent to which this
approach should be emulated by other oil-producing nations, will
ultimately depend on the mix of funded technologies and measures,’ says Jane Desbarats of the Institute of European Environmental Policy. ‘Ideally, end-of-pipe technologies used to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector should be combined with those that curb demand for fossil fuels.’ In a sense, Norway is complying with its international obligations, she points out. All annex I parties to the Kyoto Protocol, including Norway, are urged to mobilise $100bn/ year to help developing countries adapt to climate change. As Norway is not an EU member, it can’t raise money from auctioning EU carbon allowances through the Emissions Trading Scheme, she explains, so taxation measures are an alternative source of revenue.
Chemistry&Industry • November 2012 7
decline should not be exaggerated either. The third quarter figure was still…roughly equivalent to investment in the whole of 2004.’
In line with Bloomberg, a report from
the Washington DC-based WorldWatch Institute(WWI) also warns that 2012 will not match the impressive growth in investment seen in 2011 when new investment in renewable power and fuel – excluding large hydropower – jumped 17% over the previous all-time high in 2010, hitting a new record at $257.5bn. The WWI report says 2011 was a year of ‘significant change’ in the sector. Solar technologies, benefiting from a 50% cost reduction over the year, outpaced wind for the top spot in technology-specific investment. In the country league tables, China continued to hold pole position ($52bn) followed closely by the US ($51bn), after enormous growth of 57% as businesses rushed to take advantage of expiring government incentives.