BizResearch

Green Energy in the US

This latest report from Business Insights provides a overview of the green energy market in the US.  The generation of electricity in the US is still dominated by coal with 48.5% of the total US electric power generated at coal-fired plants in 2008.  In the same period renewable energy, predominantly hydroelectricity, contributed 9.1% of the total power generated in the US.  However the outlook for renewable energy looks encouraging as the introduction of the federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) combined with the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) by several states has spurred investment in this sector.  Other drivers in favour of renewable energy include strong public interest in addressing climate change and political willingness to introduce change.
 
Highlights from the report:

Wind Power:  the largest market globally, in terms of installed capacity. Key challenges are environmental concerns as well as transmission infrastructure bottlenecks and high transmission costs associated with evacuating wind power from areas where it is produced to where it is consumed.
 
Solar Energy:  the key challenge that solar power faces is that it continues to require significant upfront investment. Another near term challenge is the shortage of silicon which is a primary raw material for the PV industry. The potential for solar energy in the US is estimated to be significantly higher than in Germany or Japan, the current leaders in the solar industry. In particular, the US has extremely rich solar resources in the Southwest region.
 
Hydropower:  the US is the second largest producer of hydropower globally.  Key challenges are concerns about the environmental impact of hydroelectric plants, lack of incentives and higher initial development costs.

Geothermal power: the US is the world leader in geothermal energy.  Key challenges for geothermal power include leasing and permitting delays and transmission issues combined with scant funding for geothermal research programs. In addition, the project cycle for geothermal projects development is often longer than the time window for which PTC is currently available.

Biomass:  the total installed biomass (biomass energy used to generate electricity) capacity in the US was over 10,900 MW at the end of 2008, making it the largest producer of biomass globally.  Key challenges in the way of increased biomass generation include the lack of strong incentives and subsidies and constraints in the supply of raw materials.

Ocean power: this is still very much in its infancy in the US and there is no significant installed capacity in the country yet. Key challenges include high generation costs and leasing and permitting issues.  It is estimated that the US ocean wave resource potential is roughly 5.0% of the total US electricity supply. US tidal energy is estimated to have enough potential to address roughly 2.5% of the total US electricity supply.

This report is available to current London Business School students, staff and faculty from Business Insights which can be found on the A-Z list of library databases via Portal.

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Electricity Industry 2009

This market research report from Key Note examines the UK electricity industry in terms of the fundamental activities of generation, transmission, distribution and supply. Between 2005 and 2008, UK final electricity consumption declined year-on-year. Factors contributing to this included: a decline in the manufacturing sector; the large loss of office jobs in 2008; and efforts by consumers to contain energy costs during the economic downturn. By value, the domestic sector accounts for the largest sales.

Many UK power stations are approaching the end of their useful life and it is estimated that a third of UK generating capacity must be replaced by 2020. Currently, fossil fuels account for the majority of electricity generation, with gas holding the largest share of the market, and this will continue to be the case at least until 2020. Due to increasingly tough measures on environmental issues, the industry will be required to find methods of reducing carbon emissions in the process of burning coal and gas. Some generating companies plan to build new coal-fired power stations, but the Government has decided that a proportion of the capacity of these stations must have carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities, and has launched a scheme to subsidise four of the eight proposed sites. Eventually, all new coal-fired power stations will be required to include CCS schemes.

Renewable energy is growing as a source of electricity, but it is expensive, and some companies in this sector are campaigning for more Government support. To improve efficiency in meter reading and to give customers more control over their energy consumption, the Government has announced that all homes in Britain will have smart meters by 2020. This major project will involve the installation of remotely read meters in 26 million homes and several million businesses.

Forecasting the electricity industry is extremely difficult due to the current downturn in the UK economy, and factors such as high unemployment, contractions in gross domestic product (GDP) and fluctuations in oil prices are likely to impact on the market between 2009 and 2013. According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), gas will continue to be the dominant fuel used for electricity generation, and its share of the market (by terawatt-hours [TWh]) will increase from 36.7% in 2005 to 53.1% by 2020.

This report is available to current London Business School staff, students and faculty from Key Not Online which can be found on the A-Z list of library databases via Portal

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Renewable Energy Capacity in the EU

The EU-27 countries are trying to lower carbon emissions and build an inter-connected, efficient energy system. New targets created by the EC call for the following by 2020: the reduction of greenhouse gas emission by a least 20%; improved energy efficiency by 20%; a 20% rise in the share of renewable energy; and a 10% increase in the level of biofuels transport fuel. In trying to meet these objectives, a new energy market is beginning to evolve.

In the last decade newly installed renewable energy technologies are starting to gain a notable share of the market. ‘This latest report from Business Insights documents the growth of this new market, showing its current status and projecting where it is likely to grow to in the foreseeable future. This report gathers the statistical data on the different types of energy generation and combines and contrasts them against each other to show the clear leaders, drivers to change and future growth.

Report highlights:

A fast growing wind market (7.9%) has recently overtaken the market share of fuel oil (6.9%). Biomass (1.0%), Solar (1.2%) and Geothermal (1.0%) maintain almost equal shares and are currently the minority parties in the capacity market.

There is little question that wind power is the success of the renewable electricity generation technologies in terms of recent capacity installed: the EU represents 55.1% of the global total installed capacity of wind power. It is clear that Europe is leading the world in the rapid installation of this technology, as North America has a market share of 23.4%, and Asia accounts for 20.7%.

Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the UK accounted for over 70% of new capacity installed in 2008. At the end of 2008, Germany and Spain accounted for over 60% of all European wind capacity (cumulative).

Solar capacity installed in the EU in 2008 recorded the industry’s largest one year growth volume.  Germany and Spain lead the field with Germany installing in 2008 1,505MW in addition to the countries existing 3,846MW, and Spain installing 2.6GW giving the county a total of 3.4GW.

The EEA forecasts growth of energy consumption at 19% (2004-2030), while the EIA forecasts 12.8% (2005-2030), in both cases well ahead of population growth rates.

Under this report’s the reference scenario forecast for wind and solar power generation, generation growth could increase from 172.3TWh in 2008 to 583.5TWh in 2020.

This report is available to current London Business School staff, students and faculty from the Business Insights database which can be found of the A-Z of library databases via Portal

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Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2009 Report

This report presents the financial perspective on the current state of play in the development of sustainable energy. The analysis consists of actual data on the different types of capital flows and their movement over time, combined with analysis of regional and sectoral trends. The information is intended to serve as a strategic tool to be used by decision makers in the policy and finance communities globally as they weigh-up commitments to the sustainable energy sector.  The report was commissioned by UNEP’s Division of Technology, Industry and Economic (DTIE) under its Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative and was produced in collaboration with New Energy Finance.

Report highlights

Last year was another milestone for investment in sustainable energy, especially given the overall investment climate. Last year a total of $155 billion was invested in companies and projects globally, a modest increase of 5% over 2007. Following several years of over 50% growth, this marks a dramatic slowdown as a result of the global economic downturn.  Some improvement has been seen during the second quarter of 2009, but the sector has a long way to go this year to reach previous levels of investment.

The drivers that have propelled investment in the sustainable energy sector for the past five years, however, are still at work – climate change, energy insecurity, fossil fuel depletion and new technologies. As well, political support remains strong, with an estimated $180 billion of fiscal stimulus committed to sustainable energy. While the $155 billion of investment in 2008 and $180 billion of government support in 2009 are impressive, investment needs to reach half a trillion dollars per annum by 2020 to help ensure a peak in greenhouse gas emissions.

Investment in new energy generation projects (wind, solar, biofuels etc.) grew by 13% during 2008, to $117 billion, and new private investment in companies developing and scaling-up new technologies, including energy efficiency, increased by 37% from 2007 to $13.5 billion.  Capital raised via the public stock markets for equipment manufacturing and project pipelines fell 51% to $11.4 billion, as clean energy share prices lost 61% of their value during 2008. Total transaction value in the sustainable energy sector during 2008 – including corporate acquisitions, asset re-financings and private equity buy-outs – was $223 billion, an increase of 7% over 2007.

The full report and accompanying resources, including a data set for the report’s graphs and a PowerPoint presentation, can be downloaded from the UNEP SEFI website  (pre-registration required)

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The International Energy Outlook 2009

The International Energy Outlook 2009 presents the latest outlook for international energy markets from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).  The report begins with a review of world trends in energy demand and the major macroeconomic assumptions used in deriving the IEO2009 projections, along with the major sources of uncertainty in the forecast. The time frame for historical data begins with 1980 and extends to 2006, and the projections extend to 2030. The projections are meant to provide an objective, policy-neutral reference case that can be used to analyze international energy markets. Models are abstractions of energy production and consumption activities, regulatory activities, and producer and consumer behaviour. Trends depicted in the analysis are indicative of tendencies in the real world rather than representations of specific real-world outcomes

Report highlights

• World marketed energy consumption is projected to grow by 44% between 2006 and 2030, driven by strong long-term economic growth in the developing nations of the world, according to the reference case projection.

• The current global economic downturn will dampen world energy demand in the near term, as manufacturing and consumer demand for goods and services slows. However, with economic recovery anticipated to begin within the next 12 to 24 months, most nations are expected to see energy consumption growth at rates anticipated prior to the recession.

• World oil prices have fallen sharply from their July 2008 high mark. As the world’s economies recover, higher world oil prices are assumed to return and to persist through 2030. Total liquid fuels and other petroleum consumption in 2030 is projected to be 22 million barrels per day higher than the 2006 level of 85 million barrels per day.

• In addition, unconventional resources (including biofuels, oil sands, extra-heavy oil, coal-to-liquids, and gas-to-liquids) from both non-OPEC and OPEC sources are expected to become increasingly competitive in the reference case. World production of unconventional resources, which totalled 3.1 million barrels per day in 2006, increases to 13.4 million barrels per day in 2030 in the reference case, accounting for 13 percent of total world liquids supply in 2030.

The full report is available for download from the EIA website

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Energy, Transport and Environment Indicators

This latest pocketbook from Eurostat presents a broad set of data collected by Eurostat and the European Environment Agency. It gives an overview of Energy, transport and environment Indicators for the 27 EU Member States, the EFTA and candidate countries, with a particular focus on sustainable development.  The main data source for indicators is the harmonised EU Energy Statistics whilst the bulk of data on emissions has been provided by the European Environment Agency.

Energy indicators include supply, final consumption, renewable sources, and the structure of the industry; energy dependency, energy efficiency, and energy prices. Transport indicators cover infrastructure, equipment, transport of passengers and freight and road safety. The Environment chapter includes indicators on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, waste, water use, biodiversity, toxic chemicals and pesticides, environmental protection expenditure and environmental accounts.

The pocketbook can be downloaded from the Eurostat website

Low carbon & environmental goods and services: an industry analysis

The UK is currently the 6th largest low carbon and environmental goods and services (LCEGS) economy, but is still trailing behind the US and China. In fact, by region, Europe makes up only 27% of the global market, falling behind both the Americas (30%) and Asia (38%). This latest study from the DBERR presents new market data on the LCEGS sector in the UK, its regions, and internationally. The study draws from over 720 sources, including activities undertaken by companies across the whole environmental supply chain, from R&D, through manufacturing into distribution, retail, installation and maintenance services. Companies are included in the supply chain where 20% of their turnover is supplied into the LCEGS sector, but importantly only the sales activity relating to this sector is included in this study.
 
Key findings from the report:
 
Globally, traditional environmental activities account for £657 billion (21.6% of the global total), Renewable Energy for £940 billion (30.9%) and the emerging low carbon activities for £1449 billion, or 47.5%.
 
Of the 23 products and services included in the global analysis, the largest by market value are Alternative Fuels, 18.5% (part of the Emerging Low Carbon sector), Building Technologies, 12.8% (Emerging Low Carbon sector), Wind Power, 11.5% (Renewable Energy sector) and Alternative Fuels for Vehicles, 11.2% (Emerging Low Carbon sector).
 
It is estimated that overall the global LCEGS sector grew by approximately 4% in 2007/8. Growth performance varied across the 23 subsectors (but was higher for most Renewable Energy subsectors), creating new market opportunities in all global economies.
 
The value of the UK LCEGS sector was £106.5 billion in 2007/8. In terms of size, this puts the low carbon and environmental economy somewhere between the UK’s healthcare and construction sectors.
 
Approximately half of the value of the overall LCEGS sector (48%) lies in the extended value and supply chain activities identified as part of this study. The specialist (i.e. nonsupply chain) market values for the UK are £10.81 billion for the Environmental sector, £17.89 billion for Renewable Energy Technologies and £26.59 billion for the Emerging Low Carbon sector.

Click here to read the full report

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Short-Term Energy Outlook

The EIA (Energy Information Administration) is an independent agency that provides energy statistics for the US Government. Their website provides access to a comprehensive range of energy information and statistics covering: petroleum, natural gas, coal, nuclear, electricity, renewable and alternative fuels. The agency produces annual, monthly and summary reviews for most energy types. The latest short-term energy outlook is now available. Highlights include:

The global economic contraction continues to depress energy demand.

Global Crude Oil and Liquid Fuels: The global oil market has remained relatively stable since the beginning of the year and this is expected to continue until economic recovery in the US and elsewhere leads to a rebound in oil demand growth. Average annual world oil consumption for 2009 is projected to decline by almost 1.4 million barrels per day (bbl/d), with consumption in the OECD falling by 1.6 million bbl/d. World GDP growth (oil consumption weighted) is assumed to decline by 0.8% followed by growth of 2.6% in 2010.   Non-OPEC supply is expected to remain fairly flat over the next 2 years. The llargest sources of growth over the forecast period are the United States, Brazil, and Azerbaijan, offset by large declines in production in Mexico, the North Sea, and Russia.

Natural Gas: Total natural gas consumption is projected to decline by 1.3% in 2009. The outlook for continued economic weakness in 2009 is expected to take its greatest toll on industrial sector natural gas consumption, which is expected to decline by about 6% this year.  The pace and extent of economic recovery in 2010 are the primary factors influencing the natural gas consumption forecast next year, particularly for industrial users.  Based on the current economic assumptions for 2010, slight growth in the industrial sector and 2-percent growth in the electric power sector are balanced by declines in the residential and commercial sectors because of projected milder winter temperatures

Click here to read the full report

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Renewables Deals 2008 Annual Review

 

This recent report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers: 'examines the rationale behind the overall trends and the key individual deals.'  It also highlights, 'in a series of deal dialogues throughout the report, some of the critical issues for companies engaging in deal activity within the sector, drawing on our global experience as an adviser to players in major deals in renewable energy markets'.

Read the report

World energy outlook 2008

Current global trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable - environmentally, economically and socially. But this can — and must — be altered. The 2008 World energy outlook published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) demonstrates how these changes might be achieved through decisive policy action and describes the consequences of failure by focuses on two of the most pressing issues facing the energy sector today:

Prospects for oil and gas production: How much oil and gas exists and how much can be produced? Will investment be adequate? Through field-by-field analysis of production trends at 800 of the world’s largest oilfields, an assessment of the potential for finding and developing new reserves and a bottom-up analysis of upstream costs and investment, WEO-2008 takes a hard look at future global oil and gas supply.

Post-2012 climate scenarios: What emissions limits might emerge from current international negotiations on climate change? What role could cap-and-trade and sectoral approaches play in moving to a low-carbon energy future? Two different scenarios are assessed, one in which the atmospheric concentration of emissions is stabilised at 550 parts per million (ppm) in CO2 equivalent terms and the second at the still more ambitious level of 450 ppm.

Securing energy supplies and speeding up the transition to a low-carbon energy system both call for radical action by governments both at national and local levels, and through participation in co-ordinated international mechanisms. Households, businesses and motorists will have to change the way they use energy, while energy suppliers will need to invest in developing and commercialising low-carbon technologies. To make this happen, governments have to put in place appropriate financial incentives and regulatory frameworks that support both energy-security and climate-policy goals in an integrated way. Many countries have made progress in crafting national responses, but much more needs to be done.

With extensive data, detailed projections to 2030 (by region and fuel) and in-depth analysis, WEO-2008 provides invaluable insights into the prospects for the global energy market and what they mean for climate change.

The full report is available online to current London Business School students, faculty and staff from SourceOECD located on the A-Z list of  library databases (via Portal).  London business School Alumni can access this database from the dedicated alumni terminals in the library.

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Environmental, economic and policy aspects of biofuels

Seldom does a technology or a product accounting for just over 1% of the global supply, create as much hope and consternation as have biofuels in recent times. With rising demand for cheap and clean alternatives to oil, biofuel supply does have a positive impact on oil consumers; however, its impact on food consumers and on the environment continues to be controversial. 

This review (Foundations and trends in microeconomics 4:5) provides a summary of the main policy debates on biofuels. The authors have reached several key conclusions: Biofuels are diverse and evolving; Greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits vary significantly across various types of biofuels and are dependent on market conditions and policy situation; Increase in income in the developing world would increase the demand for both food and fuel; A diverse set of policies, which has been introduced or proposed, impacts biofuels directly; and much of the impact assessments of biofuels thus far are ex-ante estimates based on either optimization or equilibrium models.

The short-term economic impacts of biofuels will depend on a variety of factors such as the harvest in any given year, the oil price, economic growth, strength of the dollar, and level of inventory. The long-term impacts will depend on factors such as investment in technological change, population and economic growth, climate change, and long-term policies toward energy, agriculture, and the environment. The biofuel policy debate is likely to be an ongoing one in the near future.

Foundations and Trends can be found on the A-Z list of library databases in the library area of the Portal. It is available to available to current staff, students and faculty of the London Business School.

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Last chance for coal: making carbon capture and storage a reality

In this collection of viewpoints, Green Alliance reveals the growing support for carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a means of tackling the twin challenges of climate change and energy security. CCS technology appears to be ready, but it must be demonstrated on a commercial scale if it is to be deployed more widely in the coming decades.

The essays featured in this publication cover a variety of perspectives – politics, economics, business, unions, academia, think tanks and NGOs but some important common themes emerge including the need for dedicated public funding in this area. This is a strategically important undertaking, which must be funded and carried out at European level if it is to succeed. By doing so, the European Union can deliver on its international leadership ambitions, unlocking the potential for action by China and the USA. However, the report argues that although financial support is needed to kick-start a new CCS industry is not in itself sufficient. Europe must reduce carbon emissions and cannot risk the construction of new unabated coal plants while CCS is being demonstrated. This collection therefore also looks in depth at how Europe can follow California’s experience with emissions performance standards. Such an approach would provide regulatory certainty for CCS and secure the future of the EU emissions trading scheme.

The full report can be downloaded free from the Green Alliance website

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Energy outlook to 2030

European Energy and Transport 2030

This report produced by the European commission - Directorate General for Energy and Transport includes: EU 27 Energy Outlook  to 2030.

The Baseline shows the energy and CO2 development on the basis of assumptions about economic growth, population, world energy prices, technology and public policy. The Baseline scenario is a projection of the future evolution of the European energy demand and supply system reflecting business-as-usual trends.

It looks at energy technology progress, intensive industries and energy use by sector, power generation investment, capacity requirements, conusumption, costs, trade and more.

To read the report go to:

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/energy_transport/figures/trends_2030_update_2007/energy_transport_trends_2030_update_2007_en.pdf

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Small-scale wind energy

There is increasing interest in the use of small-scale wind energy as one of a number of microgeneration technologies that have the potential to reduce carbon emissions. Recent years have seen new products being made available on the UK market, which a survey by the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) suggests is growing quickly.  Policy initiatives such as the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP), Permitted Development Rights (PDRs) for domestic microgeneration and the Code for Sustainable Homes are further helping developments in this area. However, the overall potential of small-scale wind energy to reduce carbon emissions, and the conditions under which maximum carbon reductions can be made, have not been entirely clear. Recognising this, the Carbon Trust commissioned this research report from the Met Office and Entec to determine the following:

• The overall UK carbon prize associated with small-scale wind energy; and
• How small wind turbines can best be sited to save most carbon.

To read the report in full click here

In addition, the Carbon Trust and Met Office have also published a companion technical report, which provides a review of existing scientific literature and engineering methods for calculating energy yields.

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Carbon disclosure report 2008

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), now in its sixth year, provides a unique insight into how the world’s largest companies are responding to the challenge of climate change. This year the CDP questionnaires were sent to more than 3,000 corporations, requesting information on greenhouse gas emissions, the potential risks and opportunities climate change presents and strategies for managing those risks and opportunities.  The report, prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers, is published in two parts, presenting the results and analysis of the responses for both the Global500 and S&P500 companies that disclosed their activities. Highlights include:

• European and North American companies set the pace in reporting carbon activity
• Carbon intensive sectors performed slightly better in most aspects of disclosure
• 74% of respondents reported that they have emissions reduction targets in place
• Carbon intensive companies now account for 44% of Global 500 population, up from 40%

To view both reports in full click here

Another inconvenient truth

This research report from Oxfam discusses the impact of biofuel policies on both poverty and climate change. Biofuels are being presented in rich countries as the solution to two crises: the climate crisis and the oil crisis.  But Oxfam argue that not only are the policies falling short in respect of these two problems, they are also responsible for the current food crises.

The three main problems identified by the report are that firstly, biofuel policies increase aggregate demand for agricultural land, resulting in use of critical carbon resources such as forests, wetlands and grasslands. This in turn triggers the release of carbon from soils and vegetation that will take decades, even centuries of biofuel production to repay. Secondly, consumption of oil in rich countries is so huge that for biofuels to be a significant alternative requires massive amounts of agricultural production, for example global oilseed production would be unable even to reach a 10% share of diesel consumption.  Thirdly, the more agricultural land is used for fuel rather than food production the more food prices increase. The World Bank estimates that the price of food has increased by 83% in the last three years. For the world’s poor, who may spend 50–80% of their income on food, this is disastrous. Oxfam estimates that the livelihoods of at least 290 million people are immediately threatened by the food crisis, and the Bank estimates that 100 million people have already fallen into poverty as a result.

The full report is available for download from the Oxfam website.

Energy policy and Africa

This special issue of Energy policy focuses on energy-related development in Africa. Research from the United Nations has shown that one of the main challenges to economic development in Africa is the limited energy development and consumption across the continent. Following on from this, guest editors Howells, Shrattenholzer & Aldy argue that Africa’s energy poverty is a direct result of a lack of infrastructure development, not a lack of energy resources. Addressing the issue of energy policy in Africa will play a part in reducing extreme poverty, promoting universal primary education and reducing disease and mortality. The challenge of bringing modern energy services to millions of Africans and providing the energy infrastructure necessary to support sustainable development therefore depends on the design, implementation and evaluation of well thought out energy policies.

The papers presented in this special issue were compiled from an International Energy Workshop (IEW) held in Cape Town in 2006 which focused on African energy policy design and evaluation. Much of the research has been updated and advanced for this issue to provide a clearer understanding of the problems involved and help underpin future work.

This issue of the Energy policy (Vol. 36:8) can be found in the journals collection located in the library basement.

Alternatively, current Staff, students and faculty can access this electronically from Elsevier Science Direct (A-Z list of library databases via the Portal).

Review of carbon markets

As part of the Breaking the Climate Deadlock initiative, The Office of Tony Blair and The Climate Group have commissioned over a dozen briefing papers on a range of climate change subjects. This latest briefing paper ‘A review of carbon markets’ by  Richard Gledhill, Jonathan Grant & Lit Ping Low, PricewaterhouseCoopers provides a brief introduction and overview of the carbon markets, identifies their impact, assesses their success as functional markets and considers the potential issues faced by governments and policy makers in moving towards a global carbon market.

The report underlines the importance that carbon markets and emissions trading schemes have in achieving the required scale of reductions needed in global emissions over the coming decades. These schemes put a price on carbon which helps stimulate abatement and drive investment in low carbon technologies and services. The report findings show that since the Kyoto rules were elaborated and agreed, trading schemes have been implemented in key countries and regions and the market for carbon instruments has seen rapid growth. Elsewhere, many national and local compliance schemes are planned or under development. The central issue is the question of scale, are these new markets capable of delivering the required investment and abatement activity? Finally, the report concludes that emissions trading is just one of the necessary tools in the climate change toolkit, other policies and measures are needed within an overall sustainable development agenda that addresses climate security, as well as food, water, energy and other “securities”.

Click here to read the report in full

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Key Issues for Rising National Oil Companies - Research report by KPMG

This study looks at the key issues for the growth of the oil industry including the relationship between NOCs and IOCs, and the challenges facing them in the future.

The demand for energy is expected to grow by more than 50 percent by 2030.1 How National Oil Companies (NOCs), who control 72 percent2 of the world’s oil reserves, respond to this challenge will be likely to have a significant impact on the stability of oil and gas markets in the future.
The importance of NOCs is underlined by the fact that they made two-thirds of the largest discoveries last year, according to Rystad Energy. In the annual Energy Intelligence Top 100 Ranking of the World’s Oil Companies, NOCs take up nearly half of the positions.
This report explores the position of NOCs through interviews with senior executives and offers their insights into emerging issues for the oil and gas industry in the next 5-10 years.

To read the report: http://www.kpmg.co.uk/pubs/nationaloilcompanies.pdf

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Global trends in sustainable energy investment 2008 report

UNEP Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative (SEFI) and New Energy Finance have just released “Global trends in sustainable energy investment report”. The report provides an overview of capital flows and an analysis of the trends in sustainable energy investment activity. This edition shows that despite financial turmoil investment flows have continued to grow with over $148 billion in new funding entering the sustainable energy sector globally, an increase of 60% from 2006. This increase is no doubt due to the rising concern over climate change and energy prices. Renewable energy, accounted for 9.4% of global energy investment and for 23% of new electricity generating capacity in 2007 and investment levels are on track to reach $450 billion a year by 2012 and $600 billion a year in 2020.

In terms of climate change, the numbers in Global Trends point to the most cost-effective solutions if carbon emissions are to be reduced in time to avoid the most dangerous climate change scenarios. The report argues that rather than concentrating on developing new technology to clean up the current energy infrastructure, the job can be done now from existing solar, wind, geothermal and other currently commercial technologies. Investment flows into sustainable energy have recently increased by more than $100 billion. This is a positive signal that the investment sector will be able to raise the $200-210 billion per year the UNFCCC Secretariat says is needed to return global GHG emissions to current levels.

The message from the report is one of confidence that sufficient emission reductions are achievable and that renewable energy and energy efficiency are the most cost-effective and timely ways to reduce carbon emissions across the global economy. The report concludes that the main challenge now is to accelerate efforts to develop the policies and signals that will continue to create the climate for change.

The full report is available for download from the Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative website (free registration is required to access the report)

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Carbon markets 2008

Carbon markets have a crucial role to play in achieving global objectives of reduced carbon emissions as set out in the Kyoto Protocol. This latest IFSL’s report on carbon markets & emissions trading shows that trading in this market has rapidly increased over the past few years with 2,983 million tonnes of CO2 being traded in 2007,  an increase of 70% from the previous year. The EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) continues to be the largest carbon markets scheme in both volume and value and dominates allowance based transactions. The report also suggests that London is taking on a pivotal role in this market. The UK is a leading investor in CDM (Clean Development Mechanism), accounting for 59% of purchases in 2007, and the carbon futures contract traded on ECX (European Climate Exchange) in London remains the dominant exchange contract in the EU ETS. London is also a key centre in the provision of finance to renewable energy development, with 69 renewable energy companies in the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

To read the report in full click here

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Global carbon 2008

The May issue of Environmental finance magazine features a special report on the global carbon market. The report discusses some of the main concerns to be raised at the Carbon Expo, the annual international carbon market trade fair. This year the event was dominated by questions of environmental integrity, after a series of major media reports caused concerns over elements of the carbon market. Articles include: why the US market must look to offsets; Japan’s first steps towards emissions trading; risks of CDM in China; employment in the carbon market; and how auctioning is set to change the dynamics of emissions trading. There is also a report on the first avoided deforestation projects and a look at some of the recent efforts for consistency to the validation and verification of clean development mechanisms (CDM) projects. Click here for a full list of content

The special report can be found on the magazine stand located on the first floor of the library.

State and trends of the carbon market 2008

The carbon market is the most visible result of regulatory efforts to mitigate climate change. Regulation constraining carbon emissions has created an emerging carbon market that last year was valued at US$64 billion. Its biggest success so far has been to send market signals for the price of mitigating carbon emissions. This, in turn, has stimulated innovation and carbon abatement worldwide, as individuals, communities, companies and governments cooperated to reduce emissions.

The State and trends of the carbon market is a report published by the World Bank. Content is based on material provided by carbon market analysts and brokers Evolution Markets and Natsource, and on interviews with a large number of market participants. The report is based on data from the trading of EUAs under the EU ETS and from transactions completed under the Kyoto Protocol’s mechanisms such as the CDM and Joint Implementation which enable industrialized countries to purchase greenhouse gas emission reductions in developing countries and in countries with economies in transition.

For the complete report on the State and Trends of the Carbon Market 2008 click here

Europe's energy markets

The April issue of Energy risk magazine includes a special report on European power trading.  Features include: an interview with Essent Trading CEO Paymon Aliabadi about Essent’s attempts to overcome the issues that still confront traders and his vision for an integrated European market; Roderick Bruce looks at Germany’s gas market and its move to a more solid and transparent market model; plus a Q&A session with Tim Greenwood, head of UK operations at EEX and Oliver Maibaum, sales and business development director on the future of the European Energy Exchange, which is currently positioning itself as the key trading hub for Europe’s energy and emissions markets.

The latest issue of Energy risk can be found on the magazine stand located on the first floor of the library.

Picture from Creative Commons: Flickr: TI H20