The New York Times Reports on the Argentina Kyoto Enactment Shindig

A very brief write-up on the conference/party/networking occasion in Buenos Aires. Cheers, and Concern, for New Climate Pact

One premise that the NYT couldn't ignore is how the USA is sitting out the Kyoto accord and how that may implicate the proceedings as well as cause problems for US companies operating in, for example, Europe.

I cannot imagine that this statement is an accurate portrayal of the conference, but I wasn't there. "There are essentially three camps in the climate debate reflected in discussions here: those welcoming the Kyoto pact; those opposed to an internationally set cap on emissions; and the world's poorest countries and native cultures, which fear they will be the first to bear the consequences of climate shifts they did little to bring about. "

Chicago Climate Futures Exchange

Richard Sandor, credited with creating the Treasury futures in 1977, now is excited about the emissions futures product:
``I'm more excited about this complex than I was 30 years
ago for interest-rate futures,'' said Sandor, who started U.S.
Treasury futures at the Chicago Board of Trade in 1977. About
$266 trillion in interest-rate contracts traded on exchanges
globally in the third quarter, according to the Bank for
International Settlements.

As for volume, I was wondering about the actual speculator and investor volume, hoping that the underlying would only be a base, where the rest of the market might grow to hugely exponential values.
``We'd be really happy if we were doing 2,000'' contracts a
day, or 12.6 million tons worth of pollution a year, Sandor said.
Eventually trading in the futures may grow to about 10 times the
underlying cash market, he said.