The economy-transforming investments that a carbon market could bring are much further down the road than some might think, according to remarks by Duke Energy chief executive Jim Rogers. At the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen earlier this week, he said during a panel discussion that until a really long-term carbon price projection can be made, long-term business investments just cannot be made.
On a panel Tuesday that included Rogers, Dong Energy's Anders Eldrup said a carbon price was "absolutely necessary" for business to operate. But an early carbon price won't be high enough to drive the big technology change that is needed to transform economies, Rogers said.
"We need to think beyond just cap-and-trade, and a cap on emissions and a price on carbon," he said. "We need to envision this radical technology and that's going to create the drive, the need for greater investment." For people like him who build plants that last 50 years or more, "I have to have a longer vision, and I have yet to see a forward price curve in any commodity that will tell me the price 50 years from now."
Some investments will be made during the period of carbon allowance allocations, he said. "But quite frankly, the type of investments that transform our economy are going to have to be made on the projection of what the price could become once the allowance system ends and we're in a full auction."
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