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TOP STORY

New Zealand proposes major ETS overhaul

New Zealand on Monday released a consultation paper proposing major revisions to its emissions trading scheme, including setting an annual absolute cap, replacing the fixed price option with a cost containment reserve and launching a process to phase down free allocation to industrials.

EMEA

Protracted renewal of German EUA auction platform to leave gap in sales

German EUA sales will be put on hold from early November, the European Commission said late Monday, with the weekly auctions expected to resume in Q1 2019 after the bloc’s regulations have been amended to reflect the renewal of the country’s contract with exchange EEX.

EU Market: EUAs break above €18 as thinly-traded rally continues

EU carbon prices climbed above €18 to set a new seven-year high on Monday, extending their run of recent gains amid thin volumes and August’s curtailed auction supply.

AMERICAS

California power emissions, fuel consumption keeping pace with 2017

Power sector emissions and fuel consumption in California moved in opposite directions during recent months, roughly in sync with 2017 levels and potentially cancelling out the overall impact on the state’s cap-and-trade emissions.

RGGI compliance player holdings remain low in Q2 as speculators continue to accumulate -report

The number of RGGI allowances (RGAs) held for compliance purposes remained at historically low levels in Q2, according to a report published Monday.

ASIA PACIFIC

Land-based projects capitalise as Australia issues 237k carbon credits

Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator last week issued 236,502 new carbon offsets, all of which went to projects seeking to save greenhouse gas emissions through land-use management.

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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.

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Job listings this week:

• Director, Global Forest Policy, Climate Advisers – Washington DC
• Chair of the Technical Working Group, Climate Disclosure Standards Board – London
• Climate Standards Manager, Climate Bonds Initiative – London
• Senior Climate Change and Energy Policy Consultant, Ricardo – Oxford/London
• Policy Analyst, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, LSE – London
• Carbon Offset Project Coordinator, CERPD – Seattle
• Carbon Trader and Market Analyst, CERPD – Seattle
• Student Assistant, Climate and Sustainable Finance, Climate Analytics – Berlin
• Intern, GHG Accounting, South Pole Group – Stockholm/Mexico City

Or click here to see all our job adverts

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Tighter control – Despite introducing several sets of new rules and launching major campaigns to monitor big polluters, China is still struggling with falsified and incomplete data. The government is now launching another campaign that will specifically focus on steel mills, paper makers, coal-fired heat and power generators chemical producers and urban sewage disposal plants in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Reuters reports. Most of those sectors have been picked to be included in China’s pending ETS. The central government aims for getting all accredited pollution monitors to be independent of local governments by 2020.

More Brexit please – UK Prime Minister Theresa May is drawing up a plan to extend the two-year Brexit transition period beyond end-2020 as one option to try to break the deadlock in negotiations over a hard border with Ireland, Bloomberg reports, citing anonymous sources. If agreed, this move could also prolong the stay of British emitters in the EU ETS, which are so far scheduled to leave on Mar. 29 2019 with no Brexit deal or at the end of the transition phase at end-2020 under an exit agreement.

Slumber funds – Pension funds across Europe are belatedly waking up to the threats to their investment portfolios posed by climate change. According to this year’s survey by investment consultants Mercer, 17% of European pension funds currently consider the investment risks posed by climate change, up from just 5% in its 2017 survey. (Financial Times)

Ideology and idiocy – The proposed National Energy Guarantee (NEG) keeps hitting the headlines in Australia ahead of Tuesday’s party room meeting in the ruling Coalition, where Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull hopes to win party support for the policy so that it can go back to state governments for consultation. The issue popped up in federal parliament Monday, when Turnbull answered a question from the opposition on internal Coalition disagreement by saying the issue should not be solved by “ideology and idiocy”, the Guardian reported. The comment clearly targeted former PM Tony Abbott, who reacted by throwing his hands in the air. Abbott later proceeded to tweet that the time had come for Australia to drop out of the Paris Agreement.

You’ve got a problem – A Climate Home News analysis of US government data has identified roughly 300 active and 200 abandoned coal mines that are the source of almost a tenth of the country’s methane pollution. US coal mines released 60.5 MMTCO2e of methane in 2016, with roughly the same warming impact as 13 million cars. Efforts to control the problem are being hampered despite those with the technical expertise claiming a whole industry could be built on capturing these emissions and turning them into electricity.

Survey says – The Canadian federal government has a solid base of support, though with clear pockets of opposition, as it moves to impose a carbon pricing plan in provinces that refuse to adopt their own system, a new poll commissioned by the Globe and Mail indicates. At the same time, Canadians appear to have misgivings about a move by governments in Saskatchewan and Ontario to launch a legal challenge to the federal backstop carbon tax plan, the poll of 1,000 people by Nanos Research suggests. On the question of taking Ottawa to court, 58% either strongly or somewhat opposed the action. Some 60% of Ontarians voice opposition, according to the poll, which has a higher margin of error for provincial breakdowns due to smaller sample size. Some 60% of respondents also supported the need for a carbon tax to encourage Canadians to consume less fossil fuels, with 41% strongly endorsing that policy. Support ranged from 72% in Quebec to 41% on the Prairies, where residents are more reliant on fossil fuels for jobs and to heat their homes and power their electricity consumption. In Ontario, 63% of respondents either strongly or somewhat supported the carbon tax.

If they go, we go – If Ontario manages to get out of a carbon pricing plan, Newfoundland and Labrador will follow suit, the Telegram reports. Premier Dwight Ball says if Ontario gets out of the federal carbon pricing plan, his province will try to get out as well. The province has until Sept. 1 to deliver its plan for carbon pricing to the federal government. From there, Ottawa and the province will have until November to come to an agreement on the final plan, with a Jan. 1 start date for the new programme. As for what’s in the carbon plan for Newfoundland and Labrador, Ball says he’ll wait until Ottawa has a chance to look at the plan before releasing it publicly, though he did give a hint, saying the closest comparison is Alberta’s hybrid model, which is also similar to the federal backstop system.

Gavel green light – In May 2018, families from Portugal, Germany, France, Italy, Romania, Kenya, Fiji and the Swedish Saami Youth Association Saminuorra sued the European Parliament and the Council of the EU for the inadequate climate target for 2030. The lawsuit claims that the union’s climate target fails to protect their human rights.  The European General Court has accepted the case and was published in the Official Journal of the European Union today. The European Parliament and the Council are expected to provide their defence within two months, CAN Europe said.

Cool wave – The heat wave gripping Germany has seen households and businesses across Germany purchase record numbers of air conditioners, RP Online reports. An industry association with 300 member companies active in the building and indoor air quality sectors, expects more than 200,000 air conditioners to be installed in 2018, compared to a normal annual sales range of 150,000 to 160,000. Because air conditioners typically use a lot of power, greater domestic demand could push up Germany’s CO2 emissions this year. (Clean Energy Wire)

Caribbean club – More than 40 businesses and 26 Caribbean countries have joined together in support of a $1bn project to create the world’s first ‘climate smart zone’ and help fast track low carbon development across the region. The Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator comes backed by $1bn from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which originally made the funding pledge at French President Emmanuel Macron’s One Planet Summit last year. It will encompass a raft of projects and initiatives covering climate resilience, renewable, energy and the development of sustainable cities, jobs and transportation all designed to protect the region against the impacts of climate change while boosting jobs and low carbon infrastructure. It will support the creation of the world’s first ‘climate-smart city’ in Grenada backed by $300m from the GCF. (BusinessGreen)

Tube checker – YouTube is taking steps to fight back against climate change deniers – with a ‘fact-checking box’ which will appear under videos on the subject. The move comes after YouTube faced criticism for foregrounding baseless conspiracy theories – such as the idea that many Hollywood stars are paedophiles – on its front page. The feature is also being implemented on videos on controversial subjects including the effects of the MMR jab, the moon landings and UFOs. The information displayed underneath the videos will be sourced from either Wikipedia or the Encyclopedia Britannica. (Yahoo)

Six up – North American project developer ClimeCo has promoted Derek Six to Chief Business Officer, combining the traditional roles of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer.

And finally… Carbon Capture and Suds – UK utility Drax is launching a six-month £400,000 trial to capture some of its CO2 emissions, which could then be used to keep the fizz in the country’s drinks and prevent similar shortages to the one suffered by brewers earlier this summer. (Reuters)

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