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TOP STORY

Four Latin American nations flag move towards a regional voluntary carbon market

Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru have signed a declaration pledging to strengthen their regional climate cooperation and to move towards a regional voluntary carbon market.

INTERNATIONAL

GCF transfers first REDD cash ahead of talks on increased forest funding

The Green Climate Fund this week transferred its first funds to support a REDD project as board members gathered in South Korea to discuss whether to ramp up contributions to the UN-led mechanism.

ASIA PACIFIC

Malaysia’s Kelamantan govt distances itself from unauthorised forestry carbon project offset sales

Malaysia’s Kelamantan state on Wednesday said it has not asked any private companies to start selling carbon credits associated with a 400,000-hectare forestry project and urged any buyers to go to the police, raising more questions regarding the government’s controversial partnership with the scheme’s developer.

NZ Market: NZUs edge higher as sellers remain absent

Spot permits in New Zealand’s emissions trading scheme edged up on Wednesday to reach a two-month high as reluctant sellers are forcing buyers must pay more.

EMEA

Analysts raise long-term EUA forecasts on Macron’s nuclear resolve

Analysts at Energy Aspects have raised their long-term EUA price forecasts some 14% on the increased resolve of the French government to phase-down its nuclear power output under new President Emmanuel Macron.

EU Market: EUAs sink back towards €5 after failing to scale new heights

EU carbon prices slipped back towards €5 on Wednesday amid more weak auction demand signals and a failure to convincingly extend the previous session’s one-month high.

BAVARDAGE

South Pole carbon market director to join BP’s China ETS team

South Pole Group’s carbon market director will join BP in Shanghai to help the company’s efforts in the Chinese emissions trading scheme.

Former Citi power and emissions trading head to join BCG

Citigroup’s former European power and emissions trading head is joining The Boston Consulting Group as a consultant.

Ex-Vattenfall emissions trader joins London’s Oak Capital

A former carbon, fuels and power trader with Swedish-owned utility Vattenfall has joined Oak Capital as the head of the London-based prop trading firm’s emissions desk.

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

**Attention REDD lovers – Carbon Pulse has introduced a REDD category on its website for news and posts about the UN-backed mechanism aimed at curbing deforestation and forest degradation. Check it out here.**

Talk is cheap – G20 countries provide four times more public financing to fossil fuels versus clean energy, despite publicly calling for action on climate change, a new report has found. The report, created by a coalition of NGOs including Oil Change International and the Sierra Club, accuses G20 countries of “talking out of both sides of their mouths” when it comes to climate. The report comes as President Trump travels first to Poland on Wednesday to espouse his country’s natural gas exports, and then to the G20 summit in Hamburg, where he will face a firewall of countries committed to climate action and the Paris Agreement. Following an extended phone call with Trump on Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday she was prepared for “difficult” conversations on climate and other issues at the summit. (Climate Nexus)

The EU stands with you – At an inaugural event of the Climate Action Pacific Partnership Fiji this week, the EU reiterated its full commitment to helping Pacific island countries and territories cope with adverse impacts of climate change. The two-day event brought together Pacific leaders and various stakeholders from the public and private sectors to exchange ideas and solutions for stepping up climate action in the Pacific region, with recommendations resulting from the session including mainstreaming of climate risk considerations and resilience across all policies and in public and private investment and financing strategies. The event was hosted by Fiji’s Minister for Agriculture, Rural & Maritime Development & National Disaster Management Inia Seruiratu, one of two ‘High Level Champions’ appointed under the Paris Agreement to facilitate partnerships between state and non-state actors on climate change. Fiji will host this year’s UN climate summit in Bonn, Germany in November.

Accepting the inevitable? – A carbon price in Australia was probably inevitable, said Ian Macfarlane, Queensland Resources Council chief and former resources minister under PM Tony Abbott. “Privately I think that’s probably the case, that’s something that’s supported by a lot of industry in Australia,” he told a Brisbane luncheon on Wednesday. “Obviously there would need to be a transition to a carbon price, we have a clean energy target that runs for a period of time, then you understand that on the back of that there may be a carbon price.” (Sydney Morning Herald)

BlackRock bust – BlackRock busted a $1 billion fundraising target for wind and solar investments for its latest global clean energy fund, underscoring investor interest in renewable energy amid policy uncertainty in key markets. The second Global Renewable Power Fund, or GRP II, managed by BlackRock’s Real Assets closed after it raised $1.6 billion from 67 pension funds, insurance companies and institutional investors, according to a statement on Wednesday. (Bloomberg)

Injected – Statoil will look at building a carbon storage facility offshore Norway, in what the energy company said on Friday could be the world’s first storage site to receive CO2 from several industrial sources. “It will capture CO2 from three onshore industrial facilities in eastern Norway and … have the potential to receive CO2 from both Norwegian and European emission sources,” the company said. (Reuters)

Extended outage – Due to system maintenance operations at the UNFCCC’s International Transaction Log (ITL), the Swiss Emissions Trading Registry will not be available for transactions from 1600 on July 12 to 2359 on July 16 (local time).

And finally… All electric for life – Volvo is phasing out cars that rely on combustion engines, Bloomberg reports, with every new model launched from 2019 to have an electric motor, as the shift away from the technology that’s dominated the auto industry for more than a century gathers pace. Promising the “historic end” of cars that only have combustion engines, Volvo Car Group will introduce five electric models by 2021 and offer hybrid options across its product line.

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