(LONDON, 1 May 2007) UK Investment Banking Group Climate Change Capital (“CCC”) and its funds have acquired the business and assets of leading US based carbon project developer Quality Tonnes. The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, gives CCC access to emission reduction projects in new carbon rich markets whilst also deepening its capacity to work in energy efficiency projects,
Quality Tonnes’ two founders, Seth Baruch and Kevin James, are joining CCC. Quality Tonnes are specialists in analysing, developing and implementing projects that reduce greenhouse gases. They are also recognised as world leaders in identifying and developing new methodologies for reducing carbon emissions which are accepted and verified by the UN as part of the Kyoto Protocol.
CCC chief executive Mark Woodall said: “Quality Tonnes is one of the most productive of all the independent CDM methodology developers in terms of the number of approved methodologies and those under active review. Combined with CCC’s existing capacity for innovation in high quality carbon asset creation, the acquisition puts CCC in a leading position in the carbon market as a high value partner for large industrial enterprises and investors in clean technology and sustainable energy systems.”
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Enquiries:
Climate Change Capital
James Burnham +44 (0)20 7939 5315 jburnham@c-c-capital.com
M:Communications
Patrick D’Ancona +44 (0)20 7153 1547 dancona@mcomgroup.com
Charlotte Kirkham +44 (0)20 7153 1531 kirkham@mcomgroup.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Quality Tonnes
Quality Tonnes LLC (“QT”) is a leading carbon consultancy, methodology developer and project originator. QT helps projects get accredited for sale in the international carbon market, puts together project financing, conducts feasibility and risk assessments, and helps negotiate terms of sale of CO2 emission reduction credits. With local offices in India, Argentina and Russia, QT works on projects all over the world. QT has created carbon assets by developing innovative, first-of-its-kind methodologies, including hydropower optimization, methane reduction in the gas sector and improved appliance efficiency.
About the Founders of Quality Tonnes
Seth Baruch has developed energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in Eastern Europe, the Former Soviet Union, Africa, China and India. He has more than a decade of experience helping to assemble financing packages for large-scale, clean energy projects around the world.
Kevin James, a certified energy manager, has worked with Fortune 500 companies and national, state and local governments in over 15 countries to inventory GHG emissions, develop emission reduction strategies and implement energy efficiency projects.
How carbon trading reduces emissions.
The Kyoto Protocol, set up to combat global climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, includes the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM.) This mechanism enables companies or groups in industrial nations, such as Britain, to identify a source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in a developing country, such as China, and to finance a project to reduce those emissions.
Each industrial nation who ratified the Kyoto Protocol agreed to an annual quota of tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions that they would emit. The CDM allows these nations to meet their emission targets by accessing cost-effective opportunities to reduce emissions or remove carbon from the atmosphere in other countries. The certified emission reductions (CERs) created under the CDM can be used to offset the emissions of these nations or they can be sold.
The global, policy driven market for Carbon Assets was created to give an incentive to countries to reduce GHG emissions, create demand for Carbon Assets and encourage the financing of GHG emissions reduction projects. This market is referred to as the “carbon market”.
About CDM Methodologies.
For projects to be accredited by the CDM Executive Board they must demonstrate a reduction in emissions above and beyond normal business activity. CDM methodologies provide a framework for 1) determining a baseline against which emission levels can be compared; and 2) accurately monitoring the emission reductions. Projects can not be accredited without using a methodology approved by the CDM Executive Board.
About Climate Change Capital
Climate Change Capital (“CCC”) www.climatechangecapital.com is a leading investment banking group specialising in the commercial opportunities created by a low carbon economy. It advises and invests in companies who recognise that combating global warming is both a necessity and an economic opportunity. Its activities, which also include investment management and financing emission reductions, aim to make the world’s environment cleaner while delivering attractive financial returns.
CCC operates three transactional teams:
- Carbon Markets: develops and manages funds that invest in GHG reduction projects around the world. The Climate Change Capital Carbon Funds have over €800 million under management.
- Asset Management: develops and manages funds that invest in companies, projects or technologies that reduce GHG emissions, with £37 million under management in the Ventus group of listed Venture Capital Trusts (“VCTs”); and
- Advisory: provides financial, strategic and policy advice to energy-intensive industries, financial institutions, solution providers and governments.
CCC bridges the gap between the worlds of finance and policy, combining the talents of policy makers and energy experts with the discipline of investment banking plus committed capital, to ensure our clients are well positioned to prosper from the new energy economy.
CCC has advised and raised capital for numerous low carbon projects. These include financing renewable energy installations in the United Kingdom; destroying industrial gases in India and China; advice on the acquisition and divestiture strategy for Private Equity funds and carbon intensive industry in Europe; and waste to energy projects in China and Hungary. With over US $1 billion under management, Climate Change Capital aims to provide superior returns to investors, demonstrating the economic opportunity associated with the low carbon economy.
Climate Change Capital Limited is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the conduct of its investment business in the UK. |