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RGGI auction sells out at $5.25, cost containment reserve intact
RGGI states sold all 14.8 million allowances on offer in its latest auction on Mar. 9 for $5.25 each, a slight discount to prevailing futures prices on the secondary market.
UK, France set out ideas with four tiers of post-2020 free EUA allocation
The UK and France have tabled a joint paper suggesting how the post-2020 allocation of free EU carbon allowances could be divided into four different tiers, wider than the Commission’s proposed two, in an effort to focus the handouts on those sectors most at risk of carbon leakage.
GCF steadies ship, sets course to process $5bn project pipeline
The GCF inched closer to speed its processing of over $5 billion of developing-world climate finance as its board approved 13 new partners and agreeing to almost treble its staff numbers.
NZ Market: New Zealand carbon rally continues unabated as emitters scramble to cover risk
Spot NZUs gained another 5.5% this week to close Friday at NZ$10.60 ($7.10) in a rally driven by compliance buyers expecting the government to introduce tougher rules.
CN Markets: Shanghai CO2 permits drop to new lows in nervous market
Allowances in the Shanghai emissions trading scheme shed 2.4% on Friday to fall to new record lows, in a market rich on supply but poor on clarity regarding what the next trading period will bring.
EU Market: Carbon recovers to consolidate near €5 for a rare weekly gain
EU carbon prices rose in early trade and remained pinned close to €5.00 for much of Friday in a calm session that capped a relatively stable week.
China approves 10th verifier for carbon offset market
The NDRC has accredited China Building Materials Certification & Inspection Group as a verifier of offset credits to the nation’s carbon market, taking the number of qualified auditors to 10.
Australian seafood firm buys voluntary offsets to go carbon neutral
Austral Fisheries on Friday announced it was the world’s first seafood company to go carbon neutral after buying 27,444 offsets from Australia’s only Gold Standard-verified emission reduction project.
COMMENT: Tax off, eh! Moving beyond a national carbon price in Canada
Last week, Premiers of Canada’s provinces and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau failed to agree on a national approach to carbon pricing. If you care about climate change, that was a good outcome.
CN Markets: Pilot market data for week ending Mar. 11, 2016
Closing prices, ranges and volumes for China’s regional pilot carbon markets this week.
Voluntary market data from CTX for Mar. 11, 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
The nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima five years ago showed that atomic power was never 100% controllable, Germany’s environment minister Barbara Hendricks said on Friday. Its remains also burden the generations that follow, she said. “To me it is clear: nuclear power does not have a future. It will not prevail globally because with renewable energies we have by now found clean and competitive alternatives,” she said. Despite the German nuclear phase-out, the lights had stayed on, she added. (H/T Clean Energy Wire)
Companies that have expressed an interest in buying Swedish utility Vattenfall’s lignite operations in Germany aren’t revealing their bidding prices, but Handelsblatt cites “sources among potential buyers” as saying that only the hydropower units were worth anything. Vattenfall’s lignite mining and power plant operations are worthless considering current market conditions, the sources added. Vattenfall is considering alternatives, the newspaper reported, including creating a foundation for the assets or pulling out of the sale altogether. (H/T Clean Energy Wire).
The Paris Agreement has been a subject of vigorous debate ahead of the European Council summit on Mar. 17-18, and as the French environment minister jostles her European counterparts into ratifying it as quickly as possible, a potentially thorny issue has arisen: whether or not the EU will be able to ratify it before it enters into force. EurActiv France reports.
And finally… Climate change was finally raised at last night’s Republican primary debate. Miami’s Mayor asked candidates if they accept the scientific consensus and if they plan to do anything about it. Florida Senator Marco Rubio said he had “long supported mitigation”, but then indicated that humans were not responsible. “There’s never been a time when the climate has not changed … As far as a law that we can pass in Washington to change the weather, there’s no such thing.” Meanwhile, Ohio Governor John Kasich took a different tack. “I do believe we contribute to climate change,” said the candidate, generally considered the most moderate of the four remaining contenders. Kasich went on to say that environmental protection and economic development are not mutually exclusive, and advocated for the development of renewable energy, “clean coal” and other energy sources. (H/T Climate Nexus)
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