Air & Waste Management Association | Golden West Section

A&WMA-GWS Event

2012 Mar 08

California’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Cap-and-Trade Program:  Market Based Solutions to Meet GHG Emission Reduction Goals Mandated by Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32) Cap-and-Trade Rules

Presentation by Dusty Granet, Broker, BGC Environmental Brokerage Services

A key element of AB 32’s GHG emissions reduction requirements is the Cap-and-Trade Program which was adopted in December of 2011.  The Cap-and-Trade Program creates a carbon market in which major emitters of GHG’s may buy, sell, and trade GHG allowances and credits.  At the end of compliance periods, covered entities must relinquish these compliance instruments to the California Air Resource Board in an amount equal to their GHG emissions.  The first compliance period for the program begins in 2013, in which large industrial facilities and power generation or transmission facilities will be covered.  At the start of the second compliance period in 2015, the program will expand to include upstream delivers of fuel.  Some estimate that by 2016 $10 billion in carbon allowances will be traded on the California market.

This program will cover:

• Key elements of ARB’s new Cap-and-Trade Program, including how the cap, allowances, offsets, compliance obligation and enforcement, and market mechanisms work.
• BCG will explain how a brokerage firm can help entities subject to Cap-and-Trade program requirements facilitate transactions via electronic trading, auctions and negotiated contracts.

Dusty Granet joined BGC Environmental in January 2012 from Evolution Markets where he spent three years advising the environmental marketplace on California Emissions and U.S. Water Markets.  BGC Environmental Brokerage Services, L.P., formerly known as CantorCO2e, BGC Environmental Brokerage Services is a leading global provider of financial services to the worlds’ environmental and green energy markets offering transaction services, access to finance, advice, and technology.  It has a worldwide reach with clients and offices in 25 cities around the globe.

During his career, Dusty has brokered transactions across multiple air districts in California and counseled compliance entities on how to meet their compliance obligations in the emissions reductions credit (ERC) markets and the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Regional Clean Air Incentives Market (RECLAIM).

Prior to joining the environmental space, Dusty was a corporate bond research analyst.  He graduated from Lehigh University with a dual major in Accounting and Finance.