Carbon trading specialists are disappointed with the outcome of the Copenhagen COP 15 summit. World leaders failed to agree on any binding targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, or on mechanisms for doing so.
The Copenhagen Accord, “noted”, rather than adopted by the conference, gives a framework for voluntary emissions reductions by developing countries, but what those reductions are is not even mentioned.
Abyd Karmali, managing director and global head of carbon markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, told Futures and Options Intelligence on December 18 that he was not optimistic: “What concerns us is that targets outlined are aspirational as opposed to firm.” He said they were “simply insufficient” to provide longevity to the market.
Karmali was more optimistic about reform of the Clean Development Mechanism – the scheme...