Reuters discusses last night’s announcement during the State of the Union on the United States pledging to spend $2 billion over the next three years to fund clean energy tech in order to fight climate change. A large focus of this commitment is on battery power and renewable energies.

Also in Reuters, is an article discussing the Alberta carbon market. Alberta’s premier warned officials that the province cannot reduce GHGs too quickly, or it will have a large impact on the economy. However, environmentalists say that Canada cannot reduce national emissions levels without reductions in Alberta.

The Burlington Free Press talks about how several states, Vermont included, have asked the Federal Trade commission to develop guidelines for business that sell credits. The states are worried about fraud due to the “intangible nature of carbon offsets.” The other states include Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Oklahoma.

Lastly and also from Reuters, the Russian government is accepting applications from companies who want to sell credits, for a profit, to Western countries. Previously, legal doubts had stalled the Russian market.

The Wall Street Journal looks at the rise in activity in the carbon market – with 2.7 billion metric tons traded last year, equaling $69.1 billion. With this increase in trading, most major investment banks have created carbon desks. Kind of a carbon market 101 as it doesn’t delve too deeply into either the US or foreign market.

This article is from Reuters and announced that 58 companies, cities and orgs have volunteered to begin reporting emissions to the Climate Registry in June - including Shell, Xcel Energy, Alcoa, Duke Energy, PG&E and the USPS.

Two additional blog posts to consider, both from RenewableEnergyAccess.com. First the story of former NH Governor pleading with the US to devote money to renewable and second a housing project featuring shared renewable energy.

Industry Flexes Muscle, Weaker Energy Bill Passes

Pared-down energy legislation cleared the Senate on Thursday by a wide margin after the oil industry and utilities succeeded in stripping out provisions that would have cost them billions. The legislation still contains a landmark increase in fuel-economy standards for vehicles and a huge boost for alternative fuels. But a $13 billion tax increase on oil companies and a requirement that utilities nationwide produce 15% of their electricity from renewable sources were left on the floor to secure Republican votes for the package.

Emissions deal to be aimed at key sectors

Businesses in energy-intensive sectors such as cement, steel and aluminium will be asked to sign up to industry-wide pacts on cutting their greenhouse gas emissions, under plans due to be agreed at an international climate change conference today. The negotiations on an international post-2012 framework will include a provision for “global sectoral agreements” aimed at industry. These will require the leading companies in certain sectors to meet and agree on targets to cut their carbon dioxide emissions.

Bali Climate Talks Draft Drop 2020 Emissions Goal

A compromise draft text to launch in Bali two years of negotiations for a global pact to fight climate change has dropped a key ambition of tough 2020 greenhouse emissions cuts for rich countries. The text, trying to end a dispute between the U.S. and the EU on the last day of two-week U.N. talks, retained an ambition for global greenhouse gas emissions to peak in the next 10-15 years and to fall well below half of 2000 levels by 2050.

Poor Nations Demand Green Technology

Poorer countries accuse the rich of pressuring them to control emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, while refusing to provide them with technology needed to do so without hurting their economies. They have made their demands that rich nations provide cheap access to green know-how a centerpiece of the U.N. climate change conference. Wealthy countries say they must consider demands of private companies for protection of their intellectual property rights, assurances they will have the opportunity to profit from their investments, and better regulation and laws in host nations.

Race for carbon-offset permits heats up

Demand for access to carbon-offset projects is rising as companies volunteer to cancel out their emissions at a faster rate than expected. The price of access to offsets looks set to rise after the second trading round for European carbon-emission permits, which begins next month. They are trading at a discount to second-round European Union carbon futures, which have already started to trade ahead of the round’s commencement in January.