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Assembly bills on California cap-and-trade future advance from Appropriations Committee
Both Assembly bills on the future of California’s cap-and-trade programme beyond 2020 have passed out of the Appropriations Committee, meaning that they will now progress to the chamber’s floor for further debate.
EU Market: EUAs lift clear of €5 to 7-week high amid auction break
European carbon prices broke above the €5.00 mark on Friday to surge to their highest in nearly two months in the absence of government auctions.
New Zealand raises expected surplus in meeting 2020 carbon target
New Zealand on Friday released updated estimates on its position to meeting its 2020 climate pledges, increasing by nearly 5% the surplus it will beat the target by but still giving no plans to cancel any of more than 123 million leftover carbon credits from the first Kyoto period.
Australia issues 137k fresh carbon offsets to land-based projects
Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator this week issued 137,441 new carbon credits, all to projects establishing permanent forests or reducing the likelihood of uncontrolled savanna fires.
CN Markets: Pilot market data for week ending May 26, 2017
Below is a table of the closing prices, ranges and volumes for China’s regional pilot carbon markets this week. All prices are in RMB, and volumes in tonnes of CO2e. Data sourced from local exchanges.
Voluntary carbon market data from CTX for May 26, 2017
A table of Verified Emission Reduction (VER) prices and offered volumes, based on voluntary market data provided by CTX.
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
New rules, eh? – Canada announced new rules to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas production Thursday, moving ahead with its plan as the US attempts to repeal similar Obama-era measures. The new rules target leaks in drilling process and venting at compressor stations and wells. Methane accounts for 15% of Canada’s overall GHG emissions, and 43% of the country’s methane emissions come from the oil and gas industry. While the regulations will not be fully phased in until 2023, the government says it can still achieve its goal of reducing methane emissions between 40-45% by 2025. (Climate Nexus)
Sunny day – Britain’s fleet of solar panels generated a record amount of electricity on Friday, which is expected to be the hottest day of the year. UK solar power rose to a record 8.75 GW at 1200 London time, according to data compiled by National Grid Plc and Sheffield University, satisfying 24% of electricity demand and breaking the previous record of 8.49 GW reached earlier this month. (Bloomberg)
Norway’s studying – The research arm of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has awarded grants for two projects on how climate change affects the economy and capital markets, Reuters reported, with the studies to be carried out at Columbia University and New York University. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest with assets of $950 billion, has been built with revenues from the country’s oil and gas industry.
Denying gravity – Australia is “denying gravity” by continuing to encourage coal investments because renewable energy is now competing “head to head” with coal on cost, the global head of BlackRock’s infrastructure investment group Jim Barry said. “It’s been amusing sitting back and watching Australia from afar because in effect it’s been denying gravity,” Barry, who is based in Dublin, told the The Australian Financial Review. “Coal is dead. That’s not to say all the coal plants are going to shut tomorrow. But anyone who’s looking to take beyond a 10-year view on coal is gambling very significantly.” Barry, who plans to start investing in Australian renewable energy projects, acknowledged it was hard for politicians “not to do something” with resources like coal when they were available, but said he did not think there was “long-term potential” in Indian conglomerate Adani’s proposed $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine. He said no board directors in the US would make a 30-year commitment to coal.
And finally… Short honeymoon – “Coal doesn’t even make that much sense anymore as a feedstock. Natural gas, of which we have become an abundant producer, of which we’re going to become a major exporter, is such a cleaner fuel. If you think about how solar and how much wind power we’ve created in the United States, we can be a manufacturing powerhouse and still be environmentally friendly.” Those were the sobering words of US National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, just months after Trump campaigned on a pledge to save the US coal industry. Cohn also told reporters on Friday that President Trump was expecting to get an earful about climate change and the Paris Agreement during today and tomorrow’s G7 summit in Sicily. “He’s interested to hear what the G7 leaders have to say about climate … It will be a fairly robust discussion on that,” he said, according to Politico. Trump has heard “arguments that are persuasive on both sides” about climate change, Cohn said, noting the president’s concern that the existing US Paris pledge is too ambitious and would be “highly crippling to the US economic growth.” Trump is not expected to announce his decision on Paris until after he returns to the US.
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