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EU Market: EUAs post 4.6% weekly slide as selling subsides
European carbon prices ended little changed on Friday, retreating from a four-day high touched early in the session to post a 4.6% weekly drop – the smallest posted so far this year.
Four years on, World Bank CDM fund signs up first PoA
The World Bank-led Carbon Initiative for Development (CI-Dev) has signed its first purchase agreement, contracting with developer SimGas to buy carbon credits from a PoA to roll out home biogas systems in east Africa.
Banks raise 30 billion yuan for clean projects in China’s first green bond auctions
Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and China Industrial Bank this week raised 30 billion yuan ($4.56 billion) in funding for environmental projects, including efforts to cut carbon emissions, as they held their first green bond auctions.
COMMENT: In a volatile EU ETS, spare a thought for the compliance guys
After a period of relative calm towards the end of 2015, volatility has returned in force to the EU carbon market in 2016, with EU Allowance prices falling as much as 32% since the start of the year and intraday price swings of over 50 cents.
Australia carbon credit issuance surpasses 20 million
Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator (CER) this week issued more than half a million Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), taking the total number issued since 2011 past 20 million.
NZ Market: NZUs slightly softer as buyers unconvinced of value
Spot NZUs closed at NZ$9.50 ($6.16) on Friday, down 1% on last week as buyers remained unconvinced that the underlying market fundamentals could support a higher price in the long term.
German CO2 brokers Advantag see 2015 revenues collapse by 99%
German carbon broker Advantag AG posted a stunning 99% drop in annual revenues last year, it said on Friday, reflecting the tough time faced by dealers in the European carbon market.
Head China carbon analyst leaves ICIS-Tschach
ICIS-Tschach’s director for Chinese carbon markets left the company on Friday, but two new hires will join over the coming months, Carbon Pulse has learned.
CN Markets: Pilot market data for week ending Jan. 29, 2016
Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China’s regional pilot carbon markets this week.
Voluntary market data from CTX for Jan. 29, 2016
A table of Verified Emission Reduction (VER) prices and offered volumes, based on voluntary market data from Carbon Trade Exchange.
Bite-sized updates from around the world
ICAO has rejected a request from the EU Commission to have five MEPs attend the UN civil aviation body’s February meeting as observers, according to EurActiv. Among the issues that will be discussed at the meeting is a global market-based mechanism to cut carbon emissions from the aviation sector.
UK utility SSE is considering shutting its Fiddler’s Ferry coal-fired power plant early, threatening to blow a hole in the government’s plans to keep the lights on, the Telegraph reported. The 2GW plant in Cheshire produces enough electricity to power two million homes and in 2014 secured a subsidy contract with the government to guarantee three of the plant’s four units would be available to generate in 2018-19.
Around $1.6 billion collected through California’s carbon allowance auctions remains unspent, the LA Times reports, adding that a deal on how to allocate the funds remains elusive among lawmakers and the state’s governor. By law, all auction proceeds must be used on programmes to cut emissions. Some 60% of the revenue to date has already been earmarked to a high-speed rail line, affordable housing and other transportation programmes, but the remainder is still up for grabs, with experts warning that some key initiatives funded with the cash, such as California’s electric vehicle rebate programme, are at risk.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), a non-profit regulatory authority tasked with assuring the reliability of the bulk power system in North America, this week released a report outlining essential considerations for electric reliability under the Clean Power Plan. On carbon trading, NERC urged states to coordinate with each other whether to use mass-based or rate-based trading as they would be unable to trade with states using different approaches, an issue that could have an adverse impact on power reliability. The report is available here.
Australia last month released a new Energy Productivity Plan, aiming to increase by 40% the amount of economic activity it gets out of each unit of energy consumed by 2030. In this op-ed, RMIT University’s Alan Pears explains the plan and argues that it could help Australia meet its future GHG emission targets, but that a poor track record on energy efficiency, weak leadership in the field, and strong industry groups lobbying against it mean the plan is at risk of not being implemented. (The Conversation)
And finally… If the world is serious about halting the worst effects of climate change, the renewable energy industry will require $12.1 trillion of investment over the next quarter century, or about 75 percent more than current projections show for its growth, Bloomberg reports. That’s the conclusion of a report setting out the scale of the challenge facing policymakers as they look for ways to implement the Paris Agreement that in December set a framework for more than 195 nations to rein in GHGs.
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