Chaos in the markets

Meeting rising consumer demand for green/clean products is increasingly difficult, as that demand is coupled with price sensitivities that cannot be met in uncertain regulatory environments. Getting to some clarity may become the job of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Right now, the EPA looks like best bet because it has a mandate to regulate carbon, and isn’t subject to a bipartisan Senate more interested in scoring points than making headway.  But Lisa Jackson, Director of the EPA, isn’t sure that’s the right way to go. As she said to Gwen Ifill on PBS Newshour,

GWEN IFILL: Senator John Kerry has said, if the EPA had to act, that would be a blunt instrument… Would you prefer that the Senate had acted?

LISA JACKSON: I absolutely prefer that the Senate take action. And I’m hopeful that they will. I join the president in calling for clean energy and climate legislation. And that’s because I think having economy-wide legislation sends an unequivocal signal to the private sector that we really mean it, that we’re moving towards green energy. [T]oday’s announcement is really about a day in time, in 2009, when the U.S. government finally joined the world in acknowledging climate change and … pollution, and what it can do to us as a people and to the world.

It is our hope that her optimism is rewarded.  We too believe that legislative action is preferable because it can provide the regulatory clarity that has been stalling projects in the energy and clean-tech sector, and leaving business confused as to how to plan for the future.  For starters, there’s:

• EPA standards for transportation
• Energy credits and offsets to meet state carbon reduction goals
• Grants from the Department of Energy
• Credits from Treasury
• Differing rules between state Departments of Environmental Protection
• Municipality regulations and NIMBY
• Voluntary carbon markets in the US and compliance markets in the EU that US manufacturers must meet

Without knowing when they will need to begin reporting on carbon emissions, or when those emissions may be regulated, industry leaders have taken a wait-and-see approach.  All of these factors create market chaos that is not welcomed by businesses who see the future and are excited about it. It is our hope that short sighted leaders will see the tsunami before it swamps us.