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TOP STORY
EU Market: EUAs tumble below €20 on bearish Polish sale as volumes, spreads soar
European carbon prices plunged by a euro for the second straight session on Wednesday after Poland’s spot auction cleared at a massive discount to the secondary market.
EMEA
EBRD proposes to extend shadow carbon price beyond coal
European development bank EBRD is proposing to extend its shadow price of carbon beyond coal to all its energy investments over the next five years, which are mainly in eastern Europe and north Africa, it said Wednesday.
AMERICAS
Forestry makes up bulk of 1.3 mln offsets issued by California as CCO-0 volume rises 20%
The California Air Resources Board (ARB) issued more than 1.3 million new offsets this week, while over 5 mln existing credits saw their invalidation periods expire during the past two weeks, according to state data.
RINs descend toward single digits as E15 rumours start again
Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) prices under the US Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) dropped to a new five-year low on Tuesday on renewed talk of the Trump administration’s push for a reform package for the biofuels industry.
ASIA PACIFIC
China on track to add US-sized fleet to coal capacity -report
China has 259GW of new coal-fired power generation capacity under construction, equivalent to the total US coal plant fleet, despite Beijing’s efforts to hold back carbon-intensive development, a report found on Wednesday.
INTERNATIONAL
Fivefold rise in firms aligning with climate risk disclosure push -G20 taskforce
More than 500 companies have aligned with the TCFD to improve their climate risk reporting, according to a survey released on Wednesday, though what is put out is often too vague for investors.
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Looky here – Carbon Pulse has a new RINs & LCFS category for its coverage in the federal and subnational North American biofuels credits markets. The addition comes as California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) is set to vote on programme amendments to its Low Carbon Fuel Standard on Thursday, Sep. 27, and as the OPIS RFS2, RINs, & Biodiesel Forum takes place in Chicago on Oct. 1-3, followed by the Argus Biofuels & Carbon Markets Summit in Napa from Oct. 22-24.
Paris or die – French President Emmanuel Macron told the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday that trade pacts shouldn’t be signed with countries that don’t respect the Paris Agreement, a clear reference to the US, which pulled out of the pact last year. Macron has in the past called for putting carbon reducing standards in trade pacts, but he has never linked entire accords to compliance with the 2015 treaty. At a news conference after his speech, Macron said he wouldn’t rule out industry accords with countries, such as the US, that aren’t in the Paris treaty, but he might oppose sweeping free trade deals. (Bloomberg)
In(vestment) Bloom – The UN named former New York City mayor and billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg to lead a year-long green investment drive on Wednesday. UN Chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement that Bloomberg would help steer private finance toward clean energy and climate resilience projects around the world, including the global target of raising $100 billion a year in climate finance for developing countries by 2020. Bloomberg is also set to convene development banks and private financiers to trade ideas on climate-friendly investment. (Climate Home)
Big promises – UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday pledged to double the number of UK onshore windfarms, increase offshore wind sevenfold, and put solar panels on “every viable” roof in the country if he wins power. In his closing speech at the Labour party conference, Corbyn also vowed to kickstart a green jobs revolution that could create 400,000 jobs. This came a day after the party pledged to aim for net zero UK GHG emissions by 2050. Labour is currently tied with the ruling Conservatives in voter polls. (BBC)
Not Shelling out – Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said the oil company will not join its industry peers in fighting Washington state’s carbon tax ballot initiative this November. Van Beurden told Axios that even though the proposed $15 CO2 fee “has some imperfections”, Shell would not contribute to the opposition campaign against I-1631 that includes Chevron, Phillips 66, and BP. Industrial groups have so far raised more than $20 million in funds to combat the carbon tax, while backers have put up roughly $5.6 mln.
Battery-powered – The World Bank has committed $1 billion for a new global programme to accelerate investments in battery storage for energy systems in developing and middle-income countries. The programme, unveiled at the One Planet Summit in New York, is expected to help these countries ramp up their use of renewables – particularly wind and solar power – improve energy security, increase grid stability, and expand access to electricity. The cash is expected to mobilise another $4 bln in concessional climate financing and public and private investments. The programme aims to finance 17.5 GWh of battery storage by 2025, which would more than triple the 4-5 GWh currently installed in all developing countries.
New model – While the mechanisms of climate change are well-researched, it is still difficult to predict when environmental catastrophes will occur or the price of the damage they will cause. However, new research from the National Academy of Sciences may have found a way to make this problem more approachable, with a model of how willing a country is to pay to combat climate change. Using Hurricane Katrina as a baseline on how costly environmental catastrophes can be, the model looks at a variety of variables, including the cumulative level of greenhouse gas in a given year, the expected GDP of a country and the cost of a potential (but unknown) technological solution to climate change issues. The research concludes that countries need to work together to solve the problem. (Inverse)
Not joshing – Unchecked climate change will rapidly change the US’ national parks system that has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the country between 1895 and 2010, according to new research. A study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters this week found that temperatures in the most sensitive national parks could rise by as much as 16 F (9 C) by 2100 under a BAU scenario. This could lead the Joshua Trees in California’s national park of the same name to become extinct as the amount of area burned by wildfire may increase three to ten times. (Climate Nexus)
And finally… Flying spendthrift – Two countries have halted their funding to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) following sharp criticism of its leader’s frequent flying in a draft internal audit. The audit also said Erik Solheim, a former Norwegian environment minister, had “no regard for abiding by the set regulations and rules” and had claimed unjustified expenses. Now, Denmark and Sweden have frozen their funding until the audit is finalised, The Guardian reports. Concern over Solheim’s activities is also growing in Nairobi, where UNEP is based, with the UN staff union there calling some of the findings in the draft audit “mind blowing”. A prominent climate scientist has also criticised Solheim’s globetrotting as “obscene CO2 hypocrisy”. Solheim spent $488,518 (£371,100) in 22 months and was travelling 80% of the time, according to the audit.
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