By Martin Dokoupil
PRAGUE, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The Czechs are on track to sell
around half of surplus greenhouse gas emissions rights to Japan
but plan to re-think future sales as the global economic crisis
pushes prices to record lows, a government official said on
Tuesday.
The country has a surplus of 150 million tonnes of pollution
credits under the U.N.-run Kyoto Protocol, out of which it could
sell around 100 million.
"The contract (with Japan) is basically solved," Pavel
Zamyslicky, head of the Environment Ministry's climate change
department, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
The Czechs signed a letter of intent with Japan last month
and Zamyslicky said the volume is comparable to 50 million
tonnes Tokyo is seeking to buy from Ukraine, while the price is
around 10 euros per tonne. He declined to give more details.
"The problem is that...the global price is lower than what
we have agreed with the Japanese. But we do not have any direct
signals from them at the moment that they would like to slow
down or halt the talks or re-open what is signed," he said.
Benchmark Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) <CEREZ9>
were up 0.4 percent on Tuesday at 7.75 euros a tonne, near a
record low of 7.15 euros from Feb. 12. They were as high as
23.88 euros in July.
Japan has negotiated with about 10 eastern and central
European countries over the emissions rights, and a source told
Reuters on Monday it was close to finalising a deal with Ukraine
[].
The Czech Republic hopes to seal the deal with Japan by the
end of March, Zamyslicky said.
He said the country had postponed again an inaugural auction
of a further 10 million tonnes of surplus credits as it needs to
re-draw the sale strategy due to the market turmoil.
"We are currently discussing what to do next. The buyers are
pushing for a lower price and the thing is what strategy to pick
as some countries and also companies have less funds to buy
rights," Zamyslicky said.
"The market is unstable due to the global economic crisis
and what had seemed to be coming in few weeks or months is
somehow taking longer now," he said.
Zamyslicky said the mid-year was a new target, although
nothing was certain. He said no bottom price was set for future
sales.
In December, the Czechs signed a letter of intent with the
World Bank to sell up to 10 million tonnes of surplus credits
for at least 10 euros a tonne, hoping to seal the deal in the
next two months. The talks are still going on.
The Czechs have also been in talks with Japanese firms and
other European nations such as Spain, Austria, Belgium and
Portugal on selling them a portion of their pollution credits.
The credits, known as Assigned Amount Units (AAUs), are sold
under the Kyoto Protocol scheme, aimed at cutting emissions of
the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
CERs, offset credits issued by the U.N. to clean energy
projects in developing countries, provide a benchmark price for
AAUs as governments can also buy CERs to meet Kyoto targets.
(Editing by Sue Thomas)
