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UNECE/FAO Forest Products Annual Market Review, 2014-2015
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POLICIES SHAPING FOREST PRODUCTS MARKETS
Lead author: Kathryn Fernholz Contributing authors: Florian Kraxner, Igor Novoselov, Rupert Oliver and Jukka Tissari
HIGHLIGHTS ❚
The European Commission adopted the European Forest Strategy in September 2013 and, since then, various EU entities have adopted conclusions or opinions on the strategy; these include the Agriculture and Fisheries Council conclusions, the Economic and Social Committee opinion, and the Committee of the Regions opinion.
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Negotiations between the EU and the US on a trade agreement called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership began in July 2013. In April 2015, the US Congress made progress on the Trade Priorities and Accountability Act, which aims to advance such trade agreements.
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The EU Emissions Trading System dominates world carbon markets, accounting for more than 80% of the volume and 90% of the value, but oversupply and a drop in the carbon price in 2014 affected the market’s stability and its ability to reduce emissions. According to the European Commission, the accumulated surplus of unsold carbon in the system exceeded 2.1 billion tonnes in 2014, which is more than a year’s supply.
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The oversupply of unsold carbon caused prices to collapse to levels that do not deter coal-burning. This led the EU to tighten supply in the €40 billion ($50 billion) emissions market. The price of emission rights were expected to increase significantly by mid 2015.
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The US Green Building Council approved version 4 of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building standard in June 2013, but the transition to LEED v4 has been postponed to October 2016.