The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) has initiated the bidding process for the first compliance period auction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission allowances, to be held March 18.
The first RGGI auction for CO2 allowances of 2009 will offer allowances from all 10 states participating in RGGI: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. States will offer for sale approximately 31.5 million CO2 allowances from 2009 and 2.2 million CO2 allowances from 2012.
Given the very early stage of the market for RGGI CO2 emission allowances, the participating states have determined that it is appropriate to continue to use a reserve price of $1.86 for all the allowances being offered for sale in Auction 3. Before CO2 Allowance Auction 4, the participating states will once again consider whether there are enough data available to justify the calculation of a current market reserve price.
Auction documents are available at rggi.org. All potential bidders must have successfully completed the qualification process to participate in the auction.
SOURCE: Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
