HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM CARBON PULSE!
**CP Daily will not be published between Dec. 24 and Jan. 3. Carbon Pulse will file stories and send out CP Alerts on merit during that period. Regular coverage will resume Jan. 4.**
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TOP STORY
All we want for Christmas: Analysts’ reform wishlists for the EU carbon market’s Market Stability Reserve
With the holiday season upon us and the EU ETS’ Market Stability Reserve set to be reviewed by lawmakers in the new year, analysts have weighed in as to what’s naughty and what’s nice about the carbon market’s vital supply management mechanism, and what about it might change in the future.
EMEA
EU Market: EUAs lift to near €32 as Brexit deal hopes boost markets
EUAs climbed to within a few cents of €32 on Wednesday, moving up in thin holiday trade amid reports that a Brexit trade deal could be completed today, while data showed more investment and trading firms flocking to the market.
ICE to launch daily Phase 4 EUA futures on Jan. 29, coinciding with resumption of auctions
ICE Futures Europe, the continent’s main emissions trading exchange, will launch a daily Phase 4 EU Allowance futures contract on Jan. 29, 2021 – the same day that the first permit auction for the EU ETS’ 2021-30 trading period will be held.
AMERICAS
California awards 4 mln offsets to cap off bumper 2020
California divvied out 4 mln compliance offsets across all four active protocols this week, according to data published by state regulator ARB Wednesday, capping off a year that saw total credit issuances under the state’s WCI-linked carbon market rise 70% over 2019 levels.
ICYMI
FEATURE: Legislative roadblocks bring Biden climate cabinet strategy into focus
US President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet and executive office nominees are likely to initially focus on undoing environmental rollbacks from the prior administration, along with advancing ambitious climate policies through regulatory or executive actions in the face of resistance from Republicans, experts told Carbon Pulse.
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Senate showdown? – US Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham are pressing President Donald Trump to submit the Paris Agreement to the Senate in a last-minute attempt to scupper President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to re-enter the US in the 2015 climate pact next year. In a letter obtained by RealClearPolitics, Cruz urged both Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to pave the way for a vote that would fail to achieve the two-thirds Senate majority needed to ratify them – thus blocking Biden’s efforts to bring the US back in line with international allies. Failure to achieve that margin, an impossible target in a narrowly divided chamber, would undercut any unilateral Biden move, experts say. (Guardian)
Up in smoke – Policy changes touted by energy ministries and politicians in Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Bangladesh could mean just 25 GW of new coal-power projects will remain in pre-construction planning stages in developing Asian economies in 2021. This is an 80% reduction from the 125 GW planned five years ago, according to a report from the Global Energy Monitor. The moves are in line with similar cancellations in India, where planned coal projects will fall to 30 GW, from 238 GW in 2015. (FT)
Splitting H – Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Spain have issued a joint letter calling on the EU to clearly prioritise renewable energies under a hydrogen IPCEI (important project of common European interest) R&D project, which was signed by 23 member states last week. The five countries warn the initiative must not be used as a backdoor to finance fossil gas infrastructure. (EurActiv)
Regions and risks – Chile’s environment ministry is working on an update to its climate change strategy to adapt it to each of the country’s regions, and will also release a new risk report by Mar. 2021, a government official told a webinar hosted by the World Bank. The ministry is also coordinating meetings and working groups in the regions, noting that in April Chile will hold its first elections for regional governors. Another update will require companies to report risks related to climate change and energy transition and to set carbon pricing at $40/tonne. (bnamericas)
And finally…’Scaled’-down – A German court has forced Tesla to halt work cutting down trees on the site of its new €4 billion Gruenheide electric car factory because “the habitat of wintering sand lizards that would likely not survive such clearance measures”. It ruled the company’s relocation of the reptiles was done at a time when the adult males should have already been in their winter quarters. (FT)
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