Low-Carbon Investments Drop Off

clipped from www.worldwatch.org Global investments in carbon offset projects are on the decline this year and are likely to dwindle further until countries reach agreement on a new treaty to address climate change. Negotiators are set to decide on the next international climate agreement this December in Copenhagen, Denmark. Until then, uncertainty surrounding how the United Nations will regulate carbon offsets in developing countries, an approach known as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), has deterred investment, carbon traders said at a Washington, D.C., conference last week. "Carbon investment has dropped significantly," said Milo Sjardin, who leads the North American office of the research service New Carbon Finance. "No one wants to take the risk." market analyst Point Carbon predicted in February that the volume of high-value Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) - carbon credits from United Nations-approved projects - would fall 45 percent in 2009.