Washington (Platts)--24Dec2012/236 pm EST/1936 GMT
The California Air Resources Board will offer about 22.5 million greenhouse gas allowances at its next auction, which is scheduled for February 19, it said late Friday. The board will offer about 12.9 million vintage 2013 GHG allowances, as well as about 9.6 million vintage 2016 allowances. One allowance equals 1 metric ton of emissions. The vintage refers to the first year an entity can use the GHG allowance to comply with California's GHG cap-and-trade program. CARB set the minimum clearing price at $10.71/mt for 2013 auctions. CARB will hold four auctions in 2013, with the others scheduled for May 16, August 16 and November 19. In the inaugural auction, which took place in November, CARB offered over 62 million GHG allowances, including vintage 2013 and vintage 2015. The minimum clearing price was $10/mt. Compliance entities include power generators, electricity importers and large industrials, such as oil refiners. In 2015, the cap-and-trade program will expand to include fuel distributors.--Geoffrey Craig, geoffrey_craig@platts.com --Edited by Valarie Jackson, valarie_jackson@platts.com