Headlines from Day 1; Carbon Forum America

Day 1 at conference was informative. Here are very high level summary from day 1 of Carbon Forum America.

• Federal GHG program based on cap and trade likely because as all 3 prez. candidates support this.
• RGGI cap and trade experiment, but cap set to0 high (market also very small compared to EU ETS and potential larger US market)
• ARB 32 is historic legistlation. Firms (Dupont, others) feel early activities are weighted too heavily toward direct regulation (a core competency of state of CA) and not market mechanisms
• EU ETS $30B and should double again in 2008. Flight to quality projects and country diversity
• Verification at project (trade) and entity (cap and regulation) standard part in EU, but not used or supported enough in states - will affect confidence and trust
• Confidence that emerging standards for offsets will center on 1 or 2
• UN members feel better about pragmatic response by China, but not India
• (I got to ride my first Segway at exhibit -- very cool)