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TOP STORY
Ramped-up donations keep UN climate fund going, defying US snub
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) refilled its coffers on Friday as a group of mostly wealthy nations upped their pledges to keep the UN’s flagship climate finance vehicle afloat, despite the US refusing to pay up.
AMERICAS
Successful California ETS lawsuit would have few market impacts, lawyers say
California’s cap-and-trade programme would experience minimal impacts if the US Department of Justice (DOJ) prevailed in its challenge of the state’s WCI linkage with Quebec, lawyers told Carbon Pulse.
California carbon market lawsuit not deterring Oregon legislators’ ETS push
Oregon lawmakers will not alter their plans to pass a WCI-modelled carbon market bill next year in light of this week’s US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit against California’s cap-and-trade linkage with Quebec, but the state could forgo linking with the Canadian province as the legal challenge shakes out.
BP makes $5 mln investment into US offset developer
Oil major BP has made a $5 million investment into a US-based developer to help grow its forestry offset business for voluntary carbon markets, the company announced Friday.
EMEA
EU Market: EUAs drift to a 3.5% weekly loss on Brexit, bearish elements
European carbon drifted lower on Friday to end the week with a 3.5% loss, amid a continuation of sliding energy prices, weak EUA auction demand, and Brexit uncertainty.
Engie trading arm loses carbon analyst
The trading arm of French utility Engie has lost its main carbon analyst, Carbon Pulse has learned.
ASIA PACIFIC
CN Markets: Pilot market data for week ending Oct. 25, 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
No chance? – Chile’s Foreign Minister Teodoro Ribera said there was “no chance” of calling off December’s COP25 climate change conference in December amid riots in Santiago that started over a hike in public transport costs and has seen more than $300 million in damage, 6,000 arrested, and at least 16 dead, Reuters reported. Workers continued to lay cement and pound nails at the former airforce base conference site southwest of the city centre, unaffected by the nearby rioting. But the metro line that reaches the site has been heavily damaged, raising concerns over transport connections to downtown hotels, where many of the estimated 30,000 attendees will stay.
Meanwhile, doubts are being raised both inside and outside the country about whether Chile is an appropriate host for the event in light of the protests. One hundred French public figures wrote an op-ed in France’s Le Journal du Dimanche calling for a boycott of COP25, saying that the meeting “cannot be held under a state of siege in a city subjected to cease-fire, in [a country] where to demonstrate for dignified living conditions can cost one death.” According to Chilean outlet El Mostrador, Chilean opposition senator Ximena Rincon said she will submit a request to the government to move the summit to pre-COP host Costa Rica, while former presidential candidate Jose Antonio Kast said that “there are no security or financial conditions to host the COP25 and Apec,” referring to the regional economic meeting scheduled taking place in Santiago over Nov. 11-17.
The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani said she was deploying a team of three officers to Chile to examine allegations human rights violations and gather information. The UN’s Bonn-based climate change secretariat had not replied to an inquiry from Carbon Pulse by late Friday, but it told other outlets it had received assurances that the Chilean government has taken steps to restore order in Santiago and other parts of the country. As such, it is continuing with its COP25 planning “with security and protection for all participants as a top priority”.
More shore – Offshore wind power has the capacity to meet all of the world’s electricity demand and is set to be a “game-changer” for energy systems, according to a report from energy watchdog IEA. It said the global average cost of power generated by offshore wind would drop 40% by 2030, making it competitive with fossil energy within the next decade and joining the past decade’s game-changers of the shale revolution and the rise of solar PV. (Financial Times)
Joining in – The EU, Iceland and Norway have agreed to extend their cooperation to reduce emissions by at least 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, confirming an earlier political commitment that the two non-EU nations could join the bloc’s non-ETS mandatory annual reporting and trading framework and the land-use emissions regime on top of their existing ETS participation.
Little Canucks – Fifteen children and teenagers from across Canada sued their government on Friday for supporting fossil fuels that drive climate change, which they say is jeopardising their rights as Canadian citizens. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Vancouver, alleges that the Canadian government “causes, allows, and contributes to dangerous levels” of GHG emissions. The suit claims the government is therefore responsible for the effects of climate change that the youth are experiencing, including air quality and health issues related to wildfires, increased flooding, thawing permafrost, and sea level rise. (Inside Climate News)
Chuck’s EVs – US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) on Thursday unveiled a plan that would spend more than $460 bln over the next decade to help Americans trade in their cars for hybrid or electric models. The rebate proposal, which Schumer is framing as climate legislation that would get the backing of labour groups, would include extra incentives for low-income households and households that bought American-made cars, as well as billions in funding to boost electric car infrastructure and to help manufacturers create more electric car parts. (Climate Nexus)
The Jersey score – Several New Jersey agencies on Friday released a draft scoping plan for using auction proceeds from the state’s re-entrance into the Northeast US RGGI carbon market in 2020. Two public workshops in November have been scheduled to discuss the Scoping Document, and gather input from stakeholders about funding priorities in their communities.
RGGI hearing – Pennsylvania’s House Democratic Policy Committee will hold a Nov. 1 hearing to discuss climate change and the Northeast US RGGI ETS, following Governor Tom Wolf’s (D) executive order last month to create a power sector carbon market design by next July. State agency chiefs, green groups, and wholesale power market officials are expected to provide comments. (PA Environmental Digest Blog)
And finally… It’s all about the money, money, money – “Gotta get the world back on track. Carbon needs a price tag!” That’s the rewritten chorus of Jesse J’s Price Tag, modified by sustainability leader Paulette van Ommen, supported by the Citizen’s Climate Lobby, and recorded by the San Francisco-based Seastars. Van Ommen said she penned the lyrics to “Carbon Needs a Price Tag” in an effort to engage more people on the importance of GHG pricing, with The Seastars performing the song everywhere from a cathedral to a climate strike. Watch it here.
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