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U.S. firm to sell 15 million sovereign carbon credits

LONDON (Reuters) - World Energy Solutions is selling 15 million sovereign Kyoto Protocol carbon emissions rights through its World Green Exchange, the Massachusetts-based company said in a statement late on Monday.

Under the Kyoto climate change pact, signatory nations that are comfortably below their greenhouse gas emissions targets can sell excess emissions rights called Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) to countries struggling to meet their own targets.

World Energy would not say from which country the AAUs originated, but said more information would be disclosed to registered bidders from Wednesday.

Critics have called AAUs "hot air," arguing that most were generated through restructuring in eastern Europe in the 1990s, when polluting industries in ex-communist countries were shutting anyway, rather than through new investment.

World Energy said the sale's proceeds will be invested in green infrastructure in that country, but would not give further details on the projects involved.

This is the second AAU deal involving a U.S. company in the past year.

Carbon market analysts Point Carbon reported late on Monday that Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico is attempting to scrap a deal made late last year which saw 15 million AAUs sold to U.S.-based Interblue Group at 5.05 euros ($7.22) per tonne of carbon dioxide.

World Energy, an operator of online exchanges for energy and green commodities, said the offering period for its AAUs ends September 16, 2009. Shares in the company traded on NASDAQ were nearly unchanged at $3.41.