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UK lawmakers urge Britain to stay in the EU ETS, so long as it’s toughened up

A cross-party group of UK MPs urged the British government to stay in the EU ETS as it negotiates a divorce from the bloc, but only if the mechanism is made sufficiently ambitious during current reform efforts.

California Senate weighs in on cap-and-trade reauthorization debate with its own controversial bill

Democrats in California’s Senate have proposed their own controversial legislation to reauthorize the state’s cap-and-trade programme beyond 2020, weighing in on a debate that has so far been mostly controlled by Assembly lawmakers.

EU Market: EUAs dive to fresh 2017 low as compliance season ends

EU carbon prices returned from the long weekend to plumb a fresh 2017 low on Tuesday, the first trading session since the 2016 compliance period expired, as oil prices continued their steady decline and offset data revealed slightly higher than expected EUA supply remains.

EU emitters convert a further 11.6 million offsets to allowances

Companies regulated by the EU ETS exchanged 11.59 million Kyoto credits for allowances over the last six months to use for compliance, European Commission data showed on Tuesday, continuing the slow rate of use as the market’s overall quota is almost exhausted.

Ontario tempers expectations on carbon auction sales, revenues

Ontario has moderated its carbon allowance sale estimates, anticipating that it will auction, on average, 80% of the units on offer over the next four years.

CN Markets: Chongqing finds new record lows for CO2 permit prices

Carbon permits in Chongqing’s pilot emissions trading scheme fell to new depths on Tuesday as supply remains rich and selling activity has suddenly spiked in the normally inactive market.

Ex-Point Carbon analyst joins rival ICIS’ power & carbon team

An analyst formerly with Thomson Reuters Point Carbon has joined rival ICIS’ power and carbon team.

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Job listings this week:

Associate, Forest Policy and Research, Climate Advisers – Washington DC
Project Manager, Forestry and Technical Services, TerraCarbon – Charlottesville, Virginia
Programme Officer, Carbon Credits & Quality Control, Hivos – Nairobi

Or click here to see all our job adverts

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Bonn barriers – Next week’s resumption of UN climate talks in Bonn (May 8-18) is set to address the increasingly vexed question of how closely big business should be to the process. Big-emitting corporates want more of a say, arguing that they must be part of the solution, especially as the Paris Agreement embraced wider participation than the pure nation-state process of old. But the Like-Minded Developing Countries group, which includes China and India, have made a submission calling for tighter rules on business groups attending, citing a need to avoid conflicts of interest. (Financial Times, $)

Sound investment – South Korea will develop CDM projects in Iran under an agreement signed on Sunday.  Two MoUs agreed by the countries will see expanded cooperation in water treatment and the energy sector, with Korean utility KEPCO investing in SF6 reductions in exchange for CERs that could be used in the country’s ETS under amended rules.  The initiative is expected to reduce Iran’s SF6 emissions – which are some 22,800 times more potent than CO2 – by 700,000 tonnes of CO2e over 10 years.  KEPCO will also launch an energy efficiency initiative in Iran and implement an experimental project, while Iran will import SF6 purification devices from South Korea after being offered $25 billion in infrastructure investment aid last year. (Korea Herald)

Coal wars – BC Liberal Leader Christy Clark is threatening to impose a carbon tax on thermal coal coming from the US if re-elected in next week’s election, escalating a threat she made last week after the Americans imposed duties on Canadian softwood lumber.  Clark told reporters while campaigning Tuesday in BC’s Interior that her party would develop regulations that impose a carbon price of about $70 per tonne on thermal coal, making it uncompetitive to ship through the province’s Pacific-facing ports. (The Globe and Mail)

Never too late – New Zealand’s ministers for finance and climate change – Steven Joyce and Paula Bennett – on Tuesday asked the Productivity Commission to look into options for switching to a low-carbon future. “This next step in our climate change work programme will enable us to properly assess the economic trade-offs that we’ll need to make to meet our ambitious 2030 Paris Agreement target,” Bennett said in a statement, while confirming that NZ would still rely on domestic emissions trading and foreign carbon units to meet that target regardless.

Reprieve – The US Congress carved out an over $1 trillion bipartisan budget bill late Sunday evening to fund the government through September, which President Trump is expected to sign later this week. The bill spares many funding cuts previously threatened for science and climate action, levelling a relatively smaller $81 million or 1% cut on the EPA’s budget. However, advocates warn that clean energy, science and research programs could be targets for longer-term budget fights looking into next year. (Climate Nexus)

Less intense – Of the five major energy-consuming sectors in the US, the industrial sector produced the least amount of CO2 per unit of primary energy consumed in 2016, with emissions of 44 kg CO2/MMBtu, according to figures published by the EIA on Monday. The electric power sector, previously one of the more carbon-intensive sectors, produced 48 kg CO2/MMBtu in 2016.  Read more about the figures and influencing factors here.

ETSexit talks – Campaigners Sandbag will host a debate May 15 from 1500-1700 on whether Brexit means the UK should leave the EU ETS and whether emission reductions in the UK be better delivered through other policies. Speakers are Sandbag consultant Adam Whitmore, Richard Howard of think-tank Policy Exchange, Bryony Worthington of EDF Europe. The venue is the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in London. Click here to register. Carbon Pulse’s EU ETS dossier includes a comprehensive section on Brexit and the EU ETS.

And finally… EV India – India aims to stop selling fossil fuel-burning cars by 2030, according to power minister Piyush Goyal, who wants the government to subsidise the country’s electric vehicle industry for 2-3 years to help it stabilise and help lower the fuel import bill and running cost of vehicles. (Times of India)

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