Presenting CP Daily, Carbon Pulse’s newsletter. It’s a daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. Subscribe here
ANALYSIS: Provincial preparations, speed bumps ahead of China’s national ETS
Jiangsu province has identified 398 companies that meet the criteria to participate in China’s national cap-and-trade programme due to be launched next year, as officials and emitters across the country scramble to meet government deadlines.
NZ Market: NZUs burst through NZ$13 as buy rush continues unabated
Spot NZUs gained another 5.1% in Wednesday trade, closing at NZ$13.50 ($9.37) as buyers showed no signs of letting up amid expectations of impending government changes to the ETS.
CN Markets: Shanghai CO2 price fall continues even as fresh demand emerges
Shanghai CO2 allowances fell another 10% on Wednesday, the maximum allowed daily price movement, even as buyers stepped in to pick up permits at record low levels.
Norway strikes CER deal with home-grown firm Scatec Solar
Norway has agreed to buy 330,000 CERs from a solar power PoA in western Africa developed by Scatec Solar, the latest deal in the country’s ongoing open tender to help meets its 2020 Kyoto emissions target.
More departures from EDF Trading’s emissions desk
EDF Trading’s London-based manager of clean energy products has resigned and will leave the firm this week, sources told Carbon Pulse, the latest in a number of recent departures from the trading arm of the French state-owned utility.
French think-tank backs EU ETS reserve price starting at €20
France-based think-tank The Shift Project is urging the EU to set a steadily increasing ETS auction reserve price under the MSR starting at €20 to help prevent higher price spikes in future.
EU Market: EUAs dip to take breather after fortnight of stellar gains
European carbon took a breather on Wednesday following two weeks of gains that saw prices rise by as much as 18% to hit a 10-week high of €5.67 on Tuesday.
Cheap industry projects set to win up to half the volume in ERF auction -analysts
Cheap, large-scale industrial projects may win as much as half the contracted carbon offset volume in Australia’s upcoming Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) auction, pushing the average price down below previous levels, analysts Reputex said.
BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Peabody? More like Pea-bankruptcy – Peabody, the world’s biggest privately-owned coal producer has filed for US bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported, listing assets and liabilities in a $10-50 billion range. The company has struggled after its 2011 $5.1 billion buyout of Australia’s Macarthur Coal, in a move to become a key supplier of a metallurgical supplier of coal to Asian steel mills. A sharp drop in coal prices left the company in deep problems. “This is a company that wilfully and deliberately sought to delay, dismantle or destruct climate action. Perhaps if they had spent more time and money diversifying their business rather than on lobbying against climate action and sowing the seeds of doubt about the science, they might not have joined the long (and ever growing) list of bankrupt global coal companies,” said Bill McKibben, co founder of green group 350.org.
Too much coal – China last month suspended construction of new coal-fired power plants in 15 provinces, and more could follow. In an updated “early warning system” on potential coal over-supply, where provinces are given red, orange, or green light signals depending on supply status, the National Energy Agency gave the red light to 28 provinces, meaning the agency thinks further construction would be unsustainable. Only three (Anhui, Hainan, Jiangxi) got a green light. (Southern Energy Watch, in Chinese)
Low fossil fuel prices fuelling delay in low-carbon shift – Slumped oil, gas and coal prices could hold back a global shift towards lower-carbon energy sources, according to the International Monetary Fund. “The current low fossil fuel price environment will certainly delay the energy transition,” the Washington DC-based lender said in its World Economic Outlook on Tuesday. (Climate Home)
EU faulty on standby power – The EU’s power capacity mechanisms have a lot of room for improvement to avoid consumers overpaying and to be in line with the bloc’s energy union strategy, competition chief Margrethe Vesteger said today as the European Commission released its interim report on a state aid inquiry into such mechanisms. Member states are due to expand their use of capacity mechanisms as they rely more on intermittent renewables. The report is now open for public consultation until July 6, with a final report expected later this year.
Canadian miners dig a carbon price – The Mining Association of Canada has released its proposal for a national climate policy. It recommends a “broad-based carbon price that is applicable to all sectors of the Canadian economy,” according to the Globe and Mail. The proposal did not specify whether the association wanted a carbon tax or cap-and-trade, but said a carbon price was the most effective way to drive emission cuts.
Not so fast – Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy has revised the state budget to restore funding for renewable power and energy efficiency projects from RGGI auction revenues, the New Haven Register reported, reversing a widely-criticised decision by the state legislature’s Finance Committee to use $22 million of funds to plug budget holes. According to the Hartford Business Journal and citing the state’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis, “the proposed raid – $2 million of which would be from the [Connecticut] RGGI fund’s current balance – amounts to two-thirds of the $30 million in proceeds expected from RGGI auctions over the next five auctions scheduled through June 2017.”
And finally… Wait, what? North Korea will be among the approximately 130 nations poised to sign the Paris Agreement in New York next week, Climate Home reports. While the country did not submit an INDC in the run-up to COP-21, its foreign minister Ri Su-yong will participate in the Apr. 22 event, a UN spokesperson said. News agency AFP in December reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had “declared war on deforestation and has put forward a massive project to turn all the mountains of the country into mountains of gold, thickly wooded with trees,” and that the country had pledged to cut its GHG emissions by 37.4% below 1990.
Got a tip? Email us at news@carbon-pulse.com
