In fact, long before the establishment of BlueNext and even before the entry into force of Kyoto Protocol, the regional "carbon market" had already started to operate, and the emission rights of carbon dioxide had already entered many exchanges. At present, the EU Emissions Trading Mechanism (EU ETS) aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions has been running smoothly for three years. European Climate Exchange, Nordpool, Powernext and European Energy Exchange all participate in carbon trading, and the EU ranks first in the world in terms of carbon trading volume and transaction volume. Among them, the European Climate Exchange specializes in trading carbon dioxide emission rights, and because carbon dioxide is a derivative of fossil fuels, most other European carbon dioxide emission rights contracts are listed on existing energy exchanges, hoping to promote the growth of carbon dioxide emission rights trading volume objectively through arbitrage of trading carbon dioxide emission rights.
In addition, Canada, Singapore and Tokyo have also established carbon dioxide emission trading mechanisms. In Asia, carbon exchanges buy and sell certified emission reductions generated by clean development projects through electronic trading systems. If the signing of the Kyoto Protocol is equivalent to putting a price on carbon dioxide, then listing on different types of exchanges will make the carbon dioxide emission right take the first step of marketization.
Take the European Climate Exchange as an example. The EU implements a cap-and-trade mechanism, in which each member state reserves the possible emission of carbon dioxide every year (which is consistent with the emission reduction standards stipulated in the Kyoto Protocol), and then the government allocates the carbon dioxide emission right named "EU Carbon Emission Quota (EUA)" to enterprises according to the total emission, and each quota allows enterprises to emit 1 ton of carbon dioxide. If the enterprise does not use up the quota within the time limit, it can "sell" arbitrage. Once the emissions of enterprises exceed the allocated quotas, they must purchase quotas from enterprises that have not used up their quotas through carbon exchanges. Similar to the bookkeeping method of banks, quotas can be freely transferred between enterprises or countries through electronic accounts. The basic function of BlueNext is the same, except that the traded goods become the United Nations-allocated emissions (AAU).
In addition to this basic trading method, the European Climate Exchange also launched futures linked to the EU carbon emission quota in April 2005, and then launched option trading, which made the carbon dioxide emission rights circulate freely like soybeans, oil and other commodities, enriched the financial derivatives of carbon trading and objectively increased the liquidity of the carbon market. In September 2007, futures and options products linked to certified emission reductions were also launched. The abundance of trading products makes the turnover and turnover of the European Climate Exchange increase steadily year by year. In 2005, the carbon dioxide emissions traded by the European Climate Exchange exceeded 270 million tons, worth 5 billion euros; In 2006, the transaction volume climbed to 800 million tons, and the transaction volume exceeded 654.38+0 billion euros. In 2007, it was 65.438+0.5 billion tons, and the turnover was close to 20 billion euros. With the continuous strengthening of the commodity attribute of carbon dioxide emission rights and the maturity of the market, more and more financial institutions have taken a fancy to the business opportunities in the carbon market. In addition to 12000 enterprises in paper, metal, heat, oil refining and energy-intensive industries, financial institutions such as investment banks, hedge funds, private equity funds and securities companies also play different roles in the carbon market.
At first, financial institutions only acted as intermediaries for carbon trading of enterprises, earning a handling fee slightly higher than 1%. There are also some funds that directly invest in the appreciation potential of carbon dioxide emission rights. The EU's carbon emission quota rose from less than 9 euros in February 2004 to a maximum of 32 euros in April 2006. Although it experienced a big shock in the middle, the growth rate of 250% in June 2004 also made the fund taste the sweetness.
With the participation of financial institutions, the capacity of the carbon market is expanded, the liquidity is enhanced and the market is more transparent. A mature market, in turn, attracts more enterprises, financial institutions and even private investors to participate in it, and its forms are more diversified. The developing wholesale market of carbon dioxide emission rights makes private investors' interest in retail products of carbon dioxide emission rights increase sharply. On June 5438- 10, 2006, Barclays Capital took the lead in launching standardized OTC certified emission reduction futures contracts. In 2007, ABN Amro and Dresden Bank both launched retail products to track EU carbon quota futures.
In addition to simply trading quotas and designing financial retail products, investment banks also participate in the carbon market in a more direct way. In June 2006, Morgan Stanley announced that it would invest $3 billion in the carbon market. In March 2007, the carbon emission reduction project developer who participated in Miami, USA, indirectly set foot in the clean development mechanism emission reduction project; A carbon bank was established in August to provide consulting and financing services for enterprises to reduce emissions. Gas emission management has become one of the fastest growing businesses in European financial services industry, and various institutions are scrambling to recruit. From the evolution of the role of financial institutions in the carbon market, it is not difficult to find that their focus has changed from the initial quota-based emissions trading to the financing of emission reduction projects. While carbon emissions trading is in full swing and carbon financial derivatives emerge in an endless stream, emission reduction projects called "carbon assets" are becoming hot spots pursued by hedge funds and private equity funds. Investors are often involved in various emission reduction projects in the form of private equity, willing to take high risks and expect high returns.
According to the clean development mechanism under the framework of Kyoto Protocol, developed countries provide capital and technology to develop emission reduction projects such as wind power generation and solar power generation in developing countries at low cost, and offset their promised greenhouse gas emissions with the resulting "certified emission reduction". The operation of the joint implementation mechanism is basically the same, except that most of the emission reduction projects are set up in Eastern Europe and the countries of the former Soviet Union. From the economic point of view, both the clean development mechanism and the joint implementation mechanism have effectively reduced the emission reduction costs of developed countries, while from the environmental point of view, they have not only achieved the ultimate goal of reducing greenhouse gases and protecting the environment, but also contributed to the sustainable development of developing countries. This "win-win" or even "win-win" cooperation model has been recognized by all parties. According to the statistics of the United Nations Environment Programme, since the implementation of the clean development mechanism, the monthly certified emission reductions have been increasing.
For enterprises in developed countries, although the cost of emission reduction in developing countries is lower than that in China, they prefer to buy finished or semi-finished carbon assets because of the long construction period, complicated application procedures and great uncertainty in the initial stage of the project, thus shortening the capital investment cycle. For funds, on the one hand, "carbon assets" can bring benefits, just like traditional venture capital or private equity investment projects. On the other hand, the emission reduction that can be achieved after the completion of the project can be sold to enterprises in need in the secondary market, which can create profits again; Therefore, when the liquidity of the carbon market is strengthened and the price fluctuation tends to be stable, the double-income model of "carbon assets" naturally wins the favor of the fund. In addition, the value of "carbon assets" has little to do with traditional stock and bond markets and non-energy commodity markets, so funds can also use it to hedge the risks of traditional investments.
In 2000, the World Bank issued the first carbon prototype fund to invest in emission reduction projects, raising $6,543.8+80 million. According to the statistics of the Climate Department of Caisse des Dépots Bank in France, the number of similar funds has been increasing at the rate of 10 every year since 2003. The World Bank and governments around the world have jointly launched many funds. MissionPoint, a private investment company, issued its first carbon fund in June 5438+February, 2006, and completed the fundraising goal of $335 million within 12 weeks. As of June 2007, 5438+065438+ 10, there were 58 funds dedicated to investing in carbon assets, with a scale of over 7 billion euros. Despite this, the supply of the project still cannot meet all kinds of investment needs, and only half of the funds raised are invested.
The sources of funds of these funds can also explain carbon trading, especially carbon assets are attracting more and more attention from private equity. According to the data from the Climate Department of Caisse des Dépots Bank in France, by the end of 2004, emission reduction projects invested by government agencies or organizations (such as World Bank funds) still accounted for more than half of the total projects. Private capital worried about policy uncertainty generally only participates in such funds on a small scale, forming a so-called public-private mix. However, with Russia's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol at the end of 2004, the policy obstacles were further cleared, and private capital began to invest heavily in emission reduction projects. In April 2005, the first European carbon fund composed of private capital in Europe raised 14 financial investment institutions, amounting to 65438+42 million euros. At the end of the same year, the total investment of private capital in emission reduction projects has completely exceeded the capital led by government agencies. In 2007, the number of funds led by private capital also exceeded the latter. The active participation of private capital accelerates the flow of the whole carbon market, expands the market capacity and further matures the carbon market.