California sold out of greenhouse gas allowances put up for auction on 19 February 2013  at $13.62 each, more than a dollar above analysts’ expectations according to a 22 February 2013 Bloomberg report.

“It looks clearly like a healthy auction result, at least on the surface,” Lenny Hochschild, head of global carbon trading for broker Evolution Markets in White Plains, New York, said.  California’s carbon cap-and-trade system is the largest of its kind in the U.S. and the second-biggest carbon market in the world behind the European Union.

The state sold all 12.9 million allowances it offered on 19 February to be used for compliance this year.  It also put up for sale 9.56 million permits to be used in 2016.  Of those 4.44 million were bought by companies at $10.71 each, the lowest price allowed by the program.

In these auctions, companies submit confidential bids electronically for a specific number of allowances at specific prices.  The highest bidder is awarded permits first, then the second and so on until all of the permits for sale have been called for.  Then all bidders pay the price of the lowest winning offer.

In the 19 February auction, companies regulated under the state’s cap-and-trade program bought 88 percent of the 2013 permits used to cover emissions this year.  ARB received 2.47 bids for every allowance for sale, the agency’s report shows.  “Obviously over subscription of 2.47 times is great,” Dusty Granet, a broker at BGC Environmental Brokerage Services LP in New York said.  “People are very confident now.  There’s just a positive sentiment.”

The average bid for an allowance was $14.71 a ton, and the median was $12.56, ARB said.

What this means to you

California’s cap-and-trade program appears to be on a healthy track. 

MIRATECH can help

Contact MIRATECH to discuss your best options for engine emission compliance in California.