| Montreal, 6/11/2001 – Opportunities in Mexico to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, or prevent it from being released in the first place, could generate millions of dollars in profits for small and medium-size Mexican companies, says a report published today by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC).
Mexico and Emerging Carbon Markets analyses three sectors of the Mexican economy: electricity generation, steel production, and land-use change and forestry. It finds that strategies involving fuel switching, the use of energy efficiency technologies, and changes in forestry practices could result in over five million metric tons of carbon savings in these sectors.
In turn, these carbon savings could generate profits for companies able to translate them into carbon credits and sell them on the emerging international carbon market. Ascribing the conservative figure of US$10 per metric ton of carbon captured or diverted, the sale of carbon credits created by these activities could generate over US$50 million in the Mexican economy.
"There is widespread recognition that an international carbon market is rapidly evolving, and that it is likely to reward front-runners in the climate agenda," says Janine Ferretti. "Normally, the heavy costs of getting into a climate project makes it pretty much the exclusive domain of very large companies. But what we've found in these sectors is that many of the normal barriers to small and medium-size enterprises can be overcome, making them potentially attractive investment opportunities. In other words, conditions here are ripe for one of the most dynamic parts of the private sector to engage in the environmental agenda, if an international carbon trading regime is put in place," says Ms. Ferretti.
Mexico and Emerging Carbon Markets builds on the logic of the carbon trading scheme under discussion in the global climate change negotiations and concludes that:
- the cost of reducing or capturing carbon varies from country to country;
- the most cost-effective way for a company to reach its own carbon reduction target may be to purchase carbon credits, if they can be obtained at a lower cost than implementing emission reductions at home; and
- new opportunities to generate wealth, and attract investment, may be accessible to anyone with a means of capturing carbon, or reducing carbon emissions, and able to sell carbon credits on the emerging carbon market.
Mexico and Emerging Carbon Markets can be found online as of today at http://www.cec.org/pubs_docs/documents/index.cfm?varlan=english&ID=429. For a printed copy or an interview with Scott Vaughan, the team leader in the production of this report, please contact Malika Elhadj at (514) 350-4347 or at <melhadj@ccemtl.org>. Following work on trade and environment issues for both the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Trade Organization, Mr.Vaughan joined the CEC in 1998 as head of its Environment, Economy and Trade program.
The Montreal-based CEC was established by the North American Free Trade Agreement environmental side accord to build cooperation among Canada, Mexico and the United States in addressing environmental issues of common concern, with a particular focus on those that arise in the context of continent-wide free trade.
For additional information on the CEC please consult the CEC web site at: <http://www.cec.org>. |
