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TOP STORY
EU lawmakers tee up ETS Brexit-proofing talks within aviation bill
EU lawmakers will begin trilogue discussions over a measure to safeguard the EU ETS against an uncoordinated Brexit as early as next week after member states on Wednesday agreed a common line on the wider proposal to keep aviation in the bloc’s carbon market.
EMEA
ThyssenKrupp and Tata agree steel merger to create one of EU’s biggest emitters
Germany’s ThyssenKrupp and India’s Tata Steel have agreed to merge their European operations to create the bloc’s number two steel producer and one of the biggest emitting companies in the EU ETS.
ASIA PACIFIC
Chinese coal supplier buys Beijing-based carbon firm
The biggest coal-fired power supplier in China’s Shanxi province has acquired a Beijing-based carbon firm to extend its business portfolio to emissions trading, the company said Thursday.
NZ Market: NZUs extend losses ahead of Saturday election
New Zealand carbon allowances fell another 10 cents on Thursday as uncertainty continues to reign about the prospects for the market after this weekend’s elections.
AMERICAS
NA Markets: WCI, RGGI prices diverge in busy trade
North American CO2 prices moved in opposite directions this week, with the WCI market weakening slightly while RGGI prices advanced on sellers holding out for higher levels.
US-based Climate Trust Capital inks another offset deal, completing targeted trilogy of sectoral investments
US-based private investment fund Climate Trust Capital (CTC) has inked another carbon credit deal, expanding its portfolio into the livestock biogas sector.
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Roadmap, revisited – The European Commission is preparing to launch a public consultation with a view to updating its low-carbon economy roadmap in 2018, EurActiv reports, quoting anonymous industry sources. The current EU 2050 low-carbon roadmap was published in 2011 and formed the basis for the bloc’s 2030 climate and energy targets. The sources speculated that the 2018 roadmap may seek to set either a main reference objective or include in a scenario a 2050 goal of carbon-neutrality. This would reflect the goal of the 2015 UN Paris Agreement of the planet limiting warming to “well below 2C” and aiming for 1.5C, EurActiv wrote. The EU has repeatedly reaffirmed its commitment to a global 2C objective and in 2007 set a 2050 aim to cut its emissions to 80-95% below 1990 levels, though since 2011 it has calibrated its policy via the roadmap towards achieving the 80% mark.
And then there were two – Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega has announced that he will sign the Paris Agreement, according to the Independent, despite initially having elected not to do so because he didn’t think the treaty went far enough to reduce carbon emissions. That leaves only two nations out of the pact: the US and Syria. President Trump’s withdrawal and need to to stand in solidarity with other developing nations were Ortega’s two main reasons for changing his mind.
We’re still in, and we’ll still cut – Fifteen states and Puerto Rico, representing more than 40% of the US economy and collectively equivalent to the third-largest economy in the world, are on track to meet and potentially exceed their portion of the US commitment under the Paris Agreement. They have pledged to cut their GHG emissions by 24-29% below 2005 levels by 2025, though their emissions represent only about a fifth of US emissions. Many states have also stepped up their focus on policies aimed at boosting low-carbon energy, enacting 59 key energy-related policies through Aug. 2017, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
See you in court – The cities of San Francisco and Oakland are suing some of the world’s largest oil companies over climate change, joining an emerging legal effort to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for the damages wrought by rising seas. The suits, filed separately in Superior Court in San Francisco and Alameda County, claim that a slate of oil, gas and coal producers not only caused the heat-trapping gases that drove sea level rise but knowingly did so, a challenge akin to litigation against big tobacco companies in the 1990s. Both cities are asking the companies, which include Bay Area-based Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell and BP, to pay billions in compensation for past and future flooding, coastal erosion and property damage resulting from climate change. The lawsuits filed Tuesday come two months after the counties of Marin and San Mateo, as well as the San Diego County city of Imperial Beach, filed similar challenges. (SF Gate)
Check out what they’re doing – US Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Bernie Sanders have asked ISO-New England to assess the impact of using a carbon price in their power markets, Politico reports. New York’s ISO brought in the Brattle Group to study the same thing for their state, and the New England lawmakers suggested that “the current system may discriminate against carbon-free resources in the absence of a carbon price.” The pair also pointed to utility regulators in Minnesota and Colorado using carbon metrics to size up energy projects. But there’s an obvious elephant in the room: ISO-New England serves six states and despite looking like tiny hardcore liberal states from the outside, they’re hardly a monolith on this issue.
You had ONE JOB! – Employees of the US EPA received training this week to prevent leaks to the media of classified and sensitive information as part of a White House-directed crackdown across federal agencies to stamp out leaks, according to a LEAKED slide presentation seen by Reuters. “The unauthorized disclosure of classified information or controlled unclassified information (CUI) harms our nation and shakes the confidence of the American people,” read the introductory slide on the power point presentation shown at the one-hour workshop on Wednesday.
We didn’t do anything wrong – Turkish bank Garanti Bankasi was fined €8 million this month by a French court for facilitating the money laundering of a gang of carbon fraudsters. The bank has released a statement saying it “disagrees with the judgment and currently intends to file an appeal”. “The management believes that the bank has complied with all aspects of the applicable laws and has no wrong doing in this matter. The management believes that the decision should be overruled at the appellate court level since there is no basis for the penalty and the damages.”
And finally… Not to mention any names, but… – British PM Theresa May used her speech at the UN assembly to send a veiled warning to Donald Trump, saying that his plan to exit the Paris Agreement ranks alongside North Korea’s nuclear tests as a threat to global security. May did not name Trump directly but made clear that she believed global cooperation through Paris was the only way to tackle climate change. (The Guardian)
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