EU CARBON dioxide permits jumped as German power rose and after George W Bush proposed a new round of talks to set targets by next year for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

An Australian government report last week recommended the introduction of a carbon emissions trading system by 2012 "at the latest", potentially boosting demand for credits managed by the United Nations in the five years beginning 2008.

Emission permits for delivery next year rose 80 cents, or 3.5%, to 23.80 a metric tonne, according to prices from the European Climate Exchange in Amsterdam on Friday morning.

In a speech on Thursday, Bush softened his past opposition to setting global goals to cut pollution, calling for new talks to "establish a new framework" for 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol on emissions expires. "My proposal is this: by the end of next year America and other nations will set a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases, " Bush said in an address that set out the US agenda for next week's meeting of the G8 in Germany.

LOOSE NUKES

NUCLEAR engineering companies say it's feasible that new reactors will be operational in the UK in 10 years' time, Heren Energy reported, citing unidentified company officials.

2017 is a realistic commissioning date for nuclear power plants, provided the government backs plans to build the stations soon, Heren said in a daily newsletter, citing representatives from Areva, General Electric and Toshiba's Westinghouse.

Areva sees the UK as a key market for investment that could serve as a springboard for further reactor construction in Europe, Robert Davies, the UK marketing director for the company, said at a conference in London.

DALKIA ARCHIVE

THE Irish combined heat and power (CHP) market looks set to expand with last week's purchase of ESB subsidiary Ballyragget Power by European energy services giant Dalkia for 14m.

Irish CHP plants, which provide electricity and heat, generate more than 150MW of power, according to Eirgrid "gures.

Ballyragget's five plants generate around 19MW, accounting for just under 10% of the state's electricity output from CHP.

Commenting on the sale, Dalkia Ireland managing director Pat Gilroy said the acquisition would provide Dalkia with an opportunity to develop its CHP business in Ireland.

NOTE TO MONBIOT

INDONESIA, the world's secondbiggest palm oil producer, will order companies in mid-June to set aside some of their production to meet domestic demand as it seeks to shield consumers from rising world prices for the oil.

Indonesia will introduce a socalled "domestic market obligation", which will be a percentage of the companies' output, and it may also increase export tariffs mid-June. The government of Indonesia since May has asked producers to set aside certain volumes for domestic needs as a temporary policy to curb prices. The domestic market obligation, a longer-term policy, may limit exports of palm oil and lead to further gains in prices.

FIRST KYOTO TRADE

STATOIL and Essent, a Norwegian energy company and a Dutch utility respectively, concluded the first exchange-based trade in a global emissions contract on Nord Pool. The contract was for so-called certified emission reduction credits, or CERs, which are generated by reducing greenhouse gases from projects in the developing world.