Presenting CP Daily, Carbon Pulse’s free newsletter. It’s a daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. Subscribe here

TOP STORIES

California LCFS prices seen higher if state loses power to curb car emissions

California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) prices could be strengthened further in the years ahead if the federal government revokes the state’s authority to regulate vehicle emissions, thus removing what is expected to be a major source of credit supply.

EMEA

EU Market: Strong auction jolts EUAs to new 7-year high

EU carbon prices hit a fresh seven-year high for the third consecutive session on Monday as the day’s auction cleared at a rare premium to the secondary market.

AMERICAS

Judge overturns EPA denial of RFS waiver for West Virginia refiner

A US federal judge has ruled that the EPA was wrong to refuse to relieve a West Virginia-based refiner of its Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) compliance obligation, the latest instance of oil companies successfully receiving exemptions from the biofuels programme this year.

ICYM

Record batch of Colombian CERs cancelled by emitters against country’s carbon tax

A record batch of Colombian CERs were voluntarily cancelled this week for use by local emitters against the country’s carbon tax.

Czechia cleared to issue first batch of 2018 free derogation EUAs to utilities

Czechia has once again been the first country to receive the annual greenlight from the European Commission to hand free EUAs to its utilities.

———————————

CARBON FORWARD 2018

SAVE THE DATE: Carbon Forward 2018 – Survive and thrive in the global carbon markets

Don’t miss the 3rd annual Carbon Forward conference and training day – Oct. 16-18, 2018 in London.

Spend two days with top experts, players, and decision-makers from the global carbon markets as they address today’s most attractive opportunities and pressing challenges. And join us for the EU ETS pre-conference training day organised by carbon market experts Redshaw Advisors, where you will learn how to effectively manage your carbon risk ahead of the looming overhaul of the bloc’s emissions trading scheme.

———————————

Job listings this week:

• National Consultant to Draft a Climate Change Policy Brief, UNDP – Kampala, Uganda
• Senior Consultant, Carbon Pricing and Climate Policy, South Pole Group – London/Amsterdam
• Senior Program Officer, American Carbon Registry – Arlington, VA/Sacramento, CA/From Home
• Practice Leader, Climate Policy & Finance, First Climate – Zurich

Or click here to see all our job adverts

———————————

BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Dropping coal – Japan’s Nippon Life Insurance Co. has become the latest financial investor to shun coal from its portfolio, according to Reuters. The company – Japan’s biggest life insurer with $667 billion worth of assets – will halt new investments and loans in any new coal projects both domestically and abroad for environmental reasons, it said. Several Japanese banks have made similar statements in recent months.

African fossils – Some 60% of $59.5 billion of public aid to Africa for energy projects over 2014-16 was spent on fossil fuels, compared with just 18% on renewables, according to analysis by campaigners Oil Change International, a clean energy advocacy group that conducted the study. Egypt, Angola, and South Africa received nearly half of the aid for energy over this period. China gave the most to the energy sector, providing $5bn a year, 88% of which was spent on fossil fuels. (The Guardian)

Blowing it – The UK said it will distribute up to £557 million via its contracts for difference, which guarantee a minimum electricity price, in auctions every two years starting May 2019 for less-advanced renewables technologies including offshore wind. Depending on the price achieved, the auctions will deliver between 1 and 2 GW of offshore wind each year in the 2020s. (Reuters)

GDB rides again – George David Banks, who was President Trump’s international energy adviser and an aide to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), is teaming up with a handful of other Republicans to advance climate policies aimed at securing conservative support. They think their party has faltered by ceding the climate policy space to the left, and they want to get back in the game. “We want to position the GOP in a way that the Republican Party is negotiating from a position of strength, because right now the Republican Party doesn’t have a real climate policy,” Banks said Friday in an interview with E&E News.

And finally… Just as bad – Natural gas, long promoted as a “clean” alternative to other fossil fuels, may not be so clean after all. That’s because its main ingredient, the potent greenhouse gas methane, has been leaking from oil and gas facilities at far higher rates than governmental regulators claim. A new study finds that in the US, such leaks have nearly doubled the climate impact of natural gas, causing warming on par with CO2-emitting coal plants for two decades. The study underscores how the benefits of natural gas, which emits less CO2 than coal when burned, are being undermined by the leaks. The analysis also suggests the US EPA is presenting too rosy of a picture of natural gas emissions, understating industry methane leaks by approximately 60%. (Science)

Got a tip? Email us at news@carbon-pulse.com