Carbon Commodities

Carbon credits are currently sold as a commodity in special bourses and are generating large sums of money for some companies. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recently announced its intention to purchase 4.2 million shares for $23 million dollars of Climate Exchange Plc, which would give them a 10-percent holding.

The European Climate Exchange operates bourses in Chicago and Amsterdam and trading increased to 257 metric tons of CO2 in the first 8 months of 2006 compared to 95 million tons from April through December 2005. Trading started in April 2005.

Worldwide trading reached $15 billion for emission permits in the first half of 2006. However, Bloomberg.com reported that utilities have nearly completed selling 2007 power, which has curbed their need to buy permits. The mild weather also has reduced demand, causing prices to slip for nine consecutive trading sessions as of this writing to its lowest level since May 15. Colder forecasts for this winter may affect future pricing.