Want to buy a lot of hot air? From April, investors will be able to trade carbon credit notes on the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE), as the emissions market contemplated by the Kyoto Protocol comes to life.
The protocol, which came into force a month ago this week, sets emission limits for individual countries, and therefore companies, in an effort to reduce production of the gases thought to be responsible for global climate change.
Companies that exceed their carbon allowance can be fined, while those that stay beneath it can earn carbon credits.
Unused allowances and credits can be sold to companies that expect to exceed their limits and wish to avoid penalties.
The carbon credit note, created by local firm Sterling Waterford, is a mechanism for local and international investors to get involved in this nascent market without taking part in complex industrial projects.
The credit note is what dealers call a “synthetic spot” that is, a financial instrument representing a commodity that does not exist yet.
Essentially, investors can buy a guarantee to deliver carbon credits at a price that reflects the current price of the credits — rather than buying the credits themselves.
“It is the first such instrument to be listed on a recognised stock exchange, which means that institutional investors like banks and pension funds can trade in it,” said Sterling Waterford director Greg Paterson-Jones.
The credits are normally traded on a commodities, and not a stock, exchange.
They might have several reasons for doing so, he said. “Some will want to get into the market as a pure investment. It is really taking off in Europe, and there is money to be made.”
The price of credits has risen sharply since the protocol came into force, fuelled by publicity around its implementation date, cold winter weather in the northern hemisphere and an announcement by Russia’s Treasury that it would be selling only a tiny fraction of its massive store of credits and allowances, thereby inducing a shortage.
Russia has undergone considerable deindustrialisation since its Kyoto targets were set and as a result uses much less carbon than it was expected to — a situation that leaves it exceptionally rich in credits.
It is not clear yet how liquid trading in these instruments on the JSE will be, or whether local institutions will be interested.