ΞΕΝΗ ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΣΗ-ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΗ ΤΥΠΟΥ -PRN- ICF Consulting

   Source: ICF Consulting

    Reference: EDB1032849-US

   

    ICF Consulting Launches Proprietary Carbon Credit Project Risk Evaluation System and a Guide to Carbon Procurement Vehicles

   

    MONTREAL, December 5/PRNewswire/ --

   

    - New Products to Help Companies Maximise Financial Returns

    in the Carbon Market

   

   

   

    ICF Consulting announced today that it has launched two innovative

    products, a CDM and JI Project Risk Evaluation System and a Guide to Carbon

    Procurement Vehicles, for investors interested in participating as buyers or

    sellers in the global carbon markets. This announcement was made today at

    Carbon Finance Day at the 1st Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in

    Montreal. ICF Consulting's comprehensive Guide to Carbon Procurement Vehicles

    provides detailed analysis of 37 different vehicles and is a must read for

    those interested in investing in carbon markets as well as sellers trying to

    secure the best returns for their projects. The proprietary evaluation system

    quantifies the risks associated with Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and

    Joint Implementation (JI) projects by evaluating and ranking projects in a

    portfolio.

   

   

    ICF Consulting's Guide to Carbon Procurement Vehicles shows that the past

    12 months have seen a rapid maturation of carbon markets with transactions of

    carbon allowances and credits worth more than euro 5 billion. "Our analysis

    estimates that more than euro 3.3 billion of capital has already been

    committed to 37 carbon purchase vehicles, and our latest forecast is that the

    global carbon market will grow to euro 23 billion by 2010. The carbon market

    faces a significant imbalance between the supply and demand of credits, and

    the challenge for market participants is to source high-quality, low-risk

    carbon credits from financially stable counter-parties," says Abyd Karmali,

    ICF Consulting's director of European climate strategy services in London.

   

   

    "With the increased complexity of the market, participants need to

    improve their capacity to assess risks and returns from carbon credit

    projects and to evaluate the plethora of new carbon purchase vehicles (funds,

    facilities, and government procurement programmes) on offer. The ability of

    investors to accurately identify and quantify the different kinds of risks

    associated with individual projects will be a key determinant of success,"

    says Mr. Karmali.

   

   

    "Our proprietary CDM and JI Project Risk Evaluation System has been

    developed over the past few years as we have helped large emitters around the

    world evaluate their own portfolios and undertake due diligence on more than

    300 potential CDM and JI projects," says Duncan Rotherham, an ICF Consulting

    climate change expert based in Toronto. "We recently have used the system to

    evaluate a carbon credit project developer's portfolio of more than 100

    projects as the company prepared for a listing on London's AIM Stock

    Exchange. Our analysis provided investors with a robust risk-adjusted

    forecast of the quantity of carbon credits to be delivered and enabled all

    parties to develop a more realistic valuation of the company's balance

    sheet," says Mr. Rotherham.

   

   

   

    About ICF Consulting

   

   

    ICF Consulting () is a leading management,

    technology, and policy consulting firm. Drawing upon extensive industry

    knowledge, distinguished professionals, and innovative analytics, the firm

    develops solutions to complex defense, homeland security, social programme,

    energy, environment, and transportation issues. ICF Consulting's approach to

    these issues is strengthened by its expertise in information technology,

    organisational improvement, research and evaluation, programme management,

    and communications. Since 1969, ICF Consulting has been serving major

    corporations, government at all levels, and multinational institutions. More

    than 1,500 employees serve these clients in the Americas, Asia, and Europe.

   

   

   

    Web site:

   

   

   

   

    Source: ICF Consulting

   

    Abyd Karmali, +44-(0)-20-7391-4704, AKarmali@ICFConsulting.com , or Duncan Rotherham, +1-416-341-0389, DRotherham@ICFConsulting.com , or Doug Beck, +1-703-934-3820, DBeck@ICFConsulting.com , all of ICF Consulting