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TOP STORY

Q4 WCI auction settles underneath secondary market as PG&E returns

The latest California-Quebec current vintage carbon auction settlement retraced from the Q3 clearing price, according to the results released Tuesday, despite embattled utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) taking part in its first auction since declaring bankruptcy in January.

ASIA PACIFIC

China’s Guangdong enables EU allowance swaps as trial deal struck

The China Emissions Exchange in Guangzhou on Tuesday released rules for swap trades involving allowances from the Guangdong and EU carbon markets, as sources confirmed a trial deal had been executed between China Southern Airlines and a European company.

INTERNATIONAL

Nearly 8% annual GHG cuts required to hit Paris’ 1.5C goal -UN Report

Countries must immediately peak their emissions and ratchet up GHG abatement to an 8% yearly clip over the next decade to keep the average global temperature rise within the more ambitious Paris Agreement limit, a UN report said Tuesday.

EMEA

Enel firms up climate goals in new spending plan

Italian utility Enel published a new three-year business plan on Tuesday that aims to deepen its efforts to cut its global carbon footprint by shifting more funding to clean energy and networks.

EU Market: EUAs recover from early dip towards €24 despite weak auction

EUAs fought back from an early dip towards €24 on Tuesday, with a weak auction only causing a brief pause in their intraday recovery.

AMERICAS

Court sides with BP over fired US carbon trader’s bonus dispute, pending termination ruling

A former US emissions trader for BP will be liable to repay a $200,000 signing bonus after being fired within the first two years of employment, the US District Court of the Northern District of Illinois decided Monday, provided it rules early next year that the oil major terminated her with cause.

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Another step – Japan’s environment ministry has announced the results of its biannual funding rounds to projects that will qualify for offsets under the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM). It picked five projects in Indonesia (2), Chile, the Maldives, and Vietnam, with a total capacity to generate about 20,000 tCO2e worth of emission reductions annually. That takes the ministry’s total selected projects to 153, which it says will help cut an accumulative 14 Mt by 2030. Other ministries fund projects too, and Japan forecasts the mechanism will contribute to 50-100 Mt of reductions towards its 2030 Paris target, though only just over 20,000 credits have been issued so far.

Masterplan comes together – A high-level advisory group to the European Commission has recommended that the incoming executive should push for a global carbon pricing system to speed up progress towards net-zero emissions by mid-century. The “Masterplan for a competitive transformation of EU Energy Intensive Industries” by industrial and civil society groups, which was seen by Reuters ahead of publication, said it was “clear that incremental change is not sufficient and there is the need to accelerate the uptake of disruptive solutions.” While it is not clear which proposals will be taken up by the new Commission, the group recommends that it promote an international carbon pricing mechanism and facilitate an EU-wide debate on how carbon pricing schemes can be implemented. “Indirect carbon pricing such as reduction targets on carbon footprint of final products sold on the market are worth examining” as well, the report said. The 68-page report, due to be published on Thursday, goes into detail on how energy-intensive industries in particular can achieve net zero by 2050.

Well, I’ll be darned – Utah residents probably won’t vote on enacting a $12/tonne carbon tax next year, after the leader of a campaign to put the issue on the 2020 ballot signalled defeat in a Friday email to supporters. Yoram Bauman, who co-founded the Clean the Darn Air initiative, wrote that the campaign was hurt by delays and a lack of institutional and donor support, having only collected a quarter of the necessary signatures to make the ballot. Bauman, who helped design Washington state’s revenue-neutral CO2 tax proposal I-732 that was rejected by voters in 2016, suggested the experience would better prepare another attempt ahead of either the 2022 or 2024 election. (The Salt Lake Tribune)

Not feckless about being reckless – Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey (D), a co-author of the Green New Deal, introduced legislation on Monday that would allow for sanctions of individuals and companies responsible for exacerbating climate change. The bill, called the Targeting Environmental and Climate Recklessness Act, would expand the Global Magnitsky Act – a law that enables the US government to punish foreigners for alleged human-rights abuses – and allow the government to restrict access to its financial system for foreign individuals and companies involved in climate-linked corruption. “This legislation would bring us closer to a complete US global strategy that matches the magnitude of the climate crisis,” Markey said in a statement. (Politico)

Fed up with Ford – A group of young Ontarians is suing the Canadian province over what they say is climate change inaction, arguing that the conservative-led government of Premier Doug Ford has violated their charter rights by softening emissions reduction targets. The Ford administration last year repealed the previous Liberal government’s climate plan that set out a 37% reduction in GHGs below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% by mid-century, replacing it with the goal of cutting emissions 30% below 2005 levels by 2030 and no 2050 target. The seven applicants aged 12 to 25, represented by Stockwoods LLP and Ecojustice, claims that recent policy changes “will lead to widespread illness and death,” an alleged violation of Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which promises protection for life, liberty and security of the person. (CBC)

Make room for Martin – Commissioner of Massachusetts’ Department of Environmental Protection Martin Suuberg was elected on Tuesday as the new chair of RGGI, Inc, the operator of the Northeast US power sector carbon market. Suuberg will replace Maryland Secretary of the Environment Ben Grumbles in the role starting Jan. 1, while Grumbles will stay on as RGGI, Inc’s vice chair. Additionally, the ETS operator said in a emailed release that Deputy Commissioner of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation Jared Synder will serve as RGGI, Inc’s secretary, while Commissioner of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission Marion Gold will be treasurer.

And finally… Talk to the chair – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson could be “empty-chaired” during a televised climate change debate on Thursday. He and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage have yet to respond to a request to attend the hour-long Emergency On Planet Earth debate on Channel 4 News, which will focus solely on climate change. The broadcaster said the debate will take place even if they are unable to take up the invitation. Channel 4 has invited seven party leaders to the discussion, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Scottish First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, and Green co-leader Sian Berry accepting the invitation. Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said if the Prime Minister fails to attend the debate it would show the Tories “aren’t taking the climate crisis seriously enough”. (Press Association)

Bonus AF… Think twice – Sending just one less unnecessary email per day could reduce the UK’s carbon footprint by 16,000 tonnes per year, according to research. The study claims that the UK sends over 64 million unnecessary emails every day, shedding new light on how our everyday lives can impact the climate. The research found that adults in the UK send around 11 unnecessary emails each day, with simple one- or two-word replies such as ‘thanks’ or ‘you too’ driving part of the world’s carbon output. The energy required from email servers, networks, and systems such as the cloud in one year are claimed to create a carbon footprint equivalent to 81,152 flights to Madrid. (The Telegraph)

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