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Optimism as new UN climate chief pays CDM Executive Board a visit

The UN’s new climate chief sat in on last week’s CDM Executive Board meeting, a move that analysts said could foreshadow a future role for the embattled scheme under the Paris Agreement.

Poland says EU Effort Sharing proposal unclear, lacks information

Poland claims the European Commission’s recent ‘Effort-Sharing’ proposal for cutting non-ETS emissions is unclear and lacks information on the baselines and calculations used to determine the country’s 7% reduction target.

EU Market: Carbon sinks to 2-week low on weak energy, auction

European carbon prices fell to a two-week low on Tuesday as a weaker energy complex and poor auction result weighed.

EU Parliament launches offset tender to make good on carbon neutral pledge

The European Parliament has launched a tender to purchase offsets to cover its 2015 emissions of 124,255 tonnes of CO2, as it aims to make good on a pledge to become the first EU institution to be 100% carbon neutral.

China’s Gansu province to set up emissions trading exchange

The Science and Technology Department of the government in China’s western Gansu province has given the nod to the Gansu Environmental Resource Center to set up an environmental exchange that will deal in carbon allowances.

BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

This election is about climate change – The issue received a fair amount of attention on the first day of the Democratic National Convention. Bernie Sanders reaffirmed his endorsement of Hillary Clinton saying she “is listening to the scientists who tell us that – unless we act boldly and transform our energy system in the very near future – there will be more drought, more floods, more acidification of the oceans, more rising sea levels.” Senator Elizabeth Warren mentioned how huge energy companies have been allowed to destroy the environment due to governmental dysfunction and how a lack of unity among citizens allows oil companies to “fight off clean energy.” Al Gore also endorsed Clinton based in part on her climate stance. (H/T Climate Nexus)

She’s open to it – Hillary Clinton is open to working with US lawmakers on a national carbon tax if Congress wants it, her energy adviser said.  Despite repeated pressure from Bernie Sanders and a carbon tax endorsement in the party’s platform, Clinton has not yet committed to pursuing carbon pricing.  According to The Hill, Trevor Houser, Clinton’s energy adviser, said that with Republicans controlling Congress, it’s better to focus on executive actions, like her pledge to build on President Obama’s Clean Power Plan.  He added that if Congress wants to take action on a carbon tax, Clinton would listen.  But President of Americans for Tax Reform Grover Norquist warned that the policy could cost Hillary and Democrats electoral votes in November.

We get by with a little help from subsidies – In 2014/15, Germany’s iron and steel industry has received about €2 billion per year in reliefs and exemptions from taxes and fees for electricity and CO2, according to an analysis by Green Budget Germany (FOS), commissioned by the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag. This translates to a subsidy of €17,000-18,000 per employee in the sector, the study says. “The industry profits hugely from the Energiewende and needs to contribute more than up until now. It can’t be that in the end, the private end consumer pays the price,” said Green member of parliament Oliver Krischer, according to an article in Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ). (H/T Clean Energy Wire)

Miles away – Canada faces a gap of 200 million tonnes of CO2e – or 38% – between its GHG reduction target for 2030 and the level that would be reached through federal and provincial actions to slash emissions that have been announced so far, government sources told the Globe & Mail.

Book launch – IETA has published its oral history of the carbon markets, titled “From Kyoto to Paris: the Oral History of the Carbon Markets”.  It gathers together interviews from key participants in climate negotiations, including negotiators, government officials, project developers, traders and lawyers. It follows the evolution of carbon markets starting at Kyoto in 1997 and ending with the conclusion of the Paris Agreement last December.  Excerpts from interviews with participants have been published in seven video clips at www.ieta.org/kyototoparis.  Downloadable and hard copies of are available at Amazon.com – search for “From Kyoto to Paris”. And for a limited time, a Kindle version is available free of charge.

And another – Can the existing climate-focused markets in more than 40 countries be adopted by other nations to help them meet their commitments under the Paris Agreement?  Not really, according to Janelle Knox-Hayes, a professor in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, because markets do not just naturally spring into existence wherever deals can be made; instead, they are painstakingly crafted by institutions.  “Maybe markets are an important piece of the solution,” says Knox-Hayes. “But markets aren’t one-size-fits-all.”  Knox-Hayes takes a deep look at the issue in a new book “The Cultures of Markets: The Political Economy of Climate Governance” published this month by Oxford University Press. Her examination illuminates the basic tension between the international and national aspects of the climate issue.

And finally… Want to buy $2.3 billion in REDD credits? – Carbon Pulse was recently contacted by Boniface Mburaburirwe of UK-based Motion Investments Ltd. to see if we were interested, or knew people who were, in purchasing part of a treasure trove of 384 million carbon credits from the “Projeto d´Cerrado a´Amazonia REDD Brasila” project at a price of $7.80/tonne (interestingly, in his next email the quantity and price dropped to 345 million for $6.80 each).  A few follow-up questions from us about the credits led him to forward further details from the seller – Malta-headquartered MED Investment Operations Ltd – including a transaction certificate involving Brazil-based Midiageo Group, a verification statement from Inbecas – the Brazilian Institute of Carbon Stocks and Sustainable Actions, and a Bloomberg terminal screenshot.  While we were mulling over this incredible offer, luckily for us Chris Lang of REDD Monitor published the first of a multi-part piece shedding more light on the matter, having been contacted himself by Mburaburirwe.

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