Green Investments Report by Conserv-A-Store week ending 12/30/11

 This Green Investments Report by Conserv-A-Store offers the last look at our  portfolio for the 2011 year.

Whew if you are in investments and were not a bond buyer, you are most likely happy to see 2011 go.

Even the very rich, and therefore according to the American financial press the smartest, were not that smart this year. Many hedge funds had even or barely positive years. The guru of bonds, PIMCO, restricted their bond buying  during what proved to be the year of the US Treasury bond even though the US Treasury was downgraded by S and P. Gold and Silver pulled back as the dollar increased in value as the Euro got killed.

Sadly investing now involves a constant review. The days of buy and hold that we were all taught in school seem long gone.

Let’s speak a moment about trading carbon. This is sorta difficult frankly but we wish to learn about it so stick with us.  The European Union set up a carbon trading mechanism in 2005 called the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme or (EU ETS) . It was tied to the Kyoto Protocol a bit and is in the second Phase of a three Phase roll out. Phase 3 begins in 2013
The success of the program to date is in question.

Wikipedia writes, “
The price of emissions permits tripled in the first six months of Phase I, collapsed by half in a one-week period in 2006, and declined to zero over the next twelve months. Such movements and the implied volatility raise questions about the viability of this trading system to provide stable incentives to emitters.^[58]
This criticism has face validity. In future phases, measures such as banking of allowances and price floors may be used to mitigate volatility.^[62] However, it’s important to note that considerable volatility is expected of this type of market, and the volatility seen is quite in line with that of energy commodities generally. Nonetheless, producers and consumers in those markets respond rationally and effectively to price signals.^[58]
Newbery (2009) commented that the EU ETS was not delivering the stable carbon price necessary for long-term, low-carbon investment decisions.^[9] He suggested that efforts should be made to stabilize carbon price, e.g., by having a price-ceiling and a price-floor.”

If you have about 2 hours and want to learn more about this important but not widely reported trading scheme start with the Wikipedia article by clicking here
Our intent is to learn more about it and pass it on as we do.

So let’s move on to 2012. Our next report will add many new Green investments. Here’s the portfolio as of close of business on 12/30/11.