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TOP STORY
ANALYSIS: California offset prices lagging behind allowance surge as demand remains soft
California Carbon Offset (CCO) prices have softened on the secondary market despite stronger California Carbon Allowance (CCA) prices over the past month, numerous market participants told Carbon Pulse.
EMEA
Ireland to set out pathway, safeguards for quadrupling of fossil fuel carbon tax
Ireland should quadruple its domestic carbon tax on fossil fuels to €80/tonne by 2030, a cross-party government committee has determined as part of its proposed strategy to help the country hits its climate targets and reach net-zero emissions by mid-century.
UK bumps back EU ETS deadline again after Brexit delayed
The UK government has formally extended the country’s 2018 EU ETS compliance deadline by a further two weeks after MPs delayed Britain’s scheduled exit from the bloc.
EU Market: EUAs tumble after another Brexit rejection, still manage 4% weekly gain
EUAs buckled on Friday afternoon after UK lawmakers voted down Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit withdrawal deal for a third time, with the pre-weekend sell-off capping four days of gains that added nearly 10% to prices.
Germany’s EnBW nudges ahead on its hedging over 2018
German utility EnBW advanced its hedging rates over Q4 2018 to leave a larger share of its output hedged compared to a year earlier, it said in financial results that could add to the slightly bearish signal for EUAs indicated by utilities.
AMERICAS
Oregon ETS amendment would start natural gas utilities with 100% free allocation
A proposed amendment to Oregon’s WCI-modelled cap-and-trade bill would directly allocate allowances to natural gas utilities when the ETS starts in 2021, coming after the industry criticised its current treatment under the legislation.
Six new California CITSS accounts opened during Q1 for WCI market
Six entities opened Compliance Instrument Tracking Service System (CITSS) registry accounts as another thirteen closed during the first quarter of 2019, California Air Resources Board (ARB) data showed on Friday.
US RFS stakeholders hit back at proposed biofuel credit reforms
Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) programme advocates offered a litany of complaints Thursday about the US EPA’s plan to implement a series of restrictions on biofuel credit trading, while others felt the agency should go further in those potential measures.
US Carbon Pricing Roundup for week ending Mar. 29, 2019
A summary of legislative action on carbon pricing and clean energy bills at the US state level taken this week, including the passage of a 100% Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in Puerto Rico, an agreement between Hawaii and California to promote offsets, and California utility commission meetings to discuss alternatives to utility Pacific Gas & Electric’s ownership.
ASIA PACIFIC
China needs higher-level body running the ETS, analysts say
China needs to move the operation of its national emissions trading scheme above environment ministry level if the scheme is to succeed in helping curb emissions, a report said this week.
Japan’s environment ministry takes principled stand against coal
Japan’s environment ministry in principle will no longer back the building of coal-fired power capacity in the country because doing so would be incompatible with the Paris Agreement, it said this week.
Australian carbon credit issuance passes 60 million
Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator issued 330,000 carbon credits this week, taking the total number of offsets generated at emission reduction projects past 60 million since the programme began in 2012.
CN Markets: Pilot market data for week ending Mar. 29, 2019
Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China’s regional pilot carbon markets this week.
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
EU wrong – Germany acted legally when it exempted heavy industry from a green energy surcharge in 2012, the European Court of Justice said on Thursday, overturning a decision by the EU antitrust regulator and annulling EU orders to recover the aid. The European Commission had ordered Germany in 2014 to recoup some of the multi-billion euro reductions on the green surcharge it granted in 2013 and 2014 to some 2,000 heavy energy users, including chemical giant BASF and steelmaker ThyssenKrupp. (Reuters)
Long term – South Korea’s environment ministry on Friday kicked off a public consultation process that will end with a 2050 low-carbon society vision before the end of the year. It specifically invited youth to participate in the process, but a technical working group of 33 government organisations was established to estimate emissions trajectories and set future targets. The report is planned to be in line with the Paris Agreement and will be presented to the UN next year, the ministry said.
A carbon tax by any other name – Vermont’s Democrat-controlled House Ways and Means Committee last week voted to increase the state’s tax on home heating fuels for low-income weatherisation projects, leading Republicans to brand the measure a carbon tax. The GOP unsuccessfully tried to introduce an amendment that would have explicitly labelled the 2-cent increase as a “fuel carbon tax”, which Democrats rejected since the tax for weatherisation projects is based on gallons of fuels purchased and not on the amount of CO2 released when fuel is burned. As a result, Politifact looked at various established definitions of carbon taxes, finding that Republicans’ claim that the rate increase amounted to a CO2 fee is “mostly false”. Vermont legislators had introduced several carbon tax bills late in the 2019 legislature, but they did not pass as lawmakers did not prioritise them for this session.
A late first – Solar and wind power has been growing rapidly in Australia the last couple of years, but the nation has yet to construct its first offshore wind farm. That might change as the government on Friday said it had approved a licence for the company Offshore Energy to undertake resource exploration for an offshore wind farm.
Green jets – Supersonic jet developer Aerion Corp is designing its first plane to run completely on biofuels and cut its CO2 emissions at least 40%. Aerion’s business jet AS2, with a $120 mln list price per jet and due to fly in 2023, would be capable of running on synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) biofuel. (Reuters)
And finally… Jobbed by Jair – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday reportedly fired a senior official in the country’s environmental enforcement agency who fined the far-right leader for illegal fishing seven year ago. Jose Olimpio Augusto Morelli, who works for state agency Ibama, in Jan. 2012 levied a $2,500 fine on Bolsonaro – who was a congressman at the time – for fishing inside the federal Tamoios Ecological Station marine reserve just off the Rio de Janerio shore. Bolsonaro apparently never forgot the incident, recounting it in a speech in Congress two months later and unsuccessfully filing an injunction in 2013 to give only him permission to fish in the reserve. Ibama fired Morelli on Thursday without explanation, which he told local media was no doubt related to the 2012 incident. Bolsonaro, who entered office at the beginning of this year, has also reportedly never paid the fine. (Climate Home)
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