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China’s ETS law likely pushed to next year, State Council plan shows
China’s State Council this week released its legislative plan for 2016, listing the law that will support the planned emissions trading scheme under “preliminary projects”, meaning it is unlikely to be finalised this year.
France’s Royal targets a €30 carbon price
Carbon prices worldwide must reach a level of around €30 a tonne to change behaviour of big-emitting industries, France’s environment minister Segolene Royal said Thursday.
Even ‘most efficient’ coal puts global climate goals out of reach -report
Even the most efficient coal plants are not compatible with the global climate change goals, a study commissioned by green group WWF found, undermining claims that such plants count as climate action and are eligible for climate finance.
EU industry lawmaker favours tiered approach to free allocation
The EU ETS should adopt a tiered approach to free allocation after 2020 to better protect those firms exposed to carbon leakage, according to Frederick Federley, the senior lawmaker steering emissions market reforms through the European Parliament’s industry committee.
Spain, Finland complete bulk of 2016 EUA allocations, with Italy as sole laggard
Spain and Finland handed out the majority of their 2016 EUA allocations over the past two weeks, EU data showed, leaving Italy as the only member state to have not yet started to distribute free CO2 allowances to its industry.
Cyprus cleared to hand out free 2015 EUAs to utilities, big emitters still missing ahead of EU deadline
The European Commission has given Cyprus the green light to hand out 1.91 million free EU Allowances to their utilities for their 2015 emissions, according to a notice published on the EU executive’s website late Thursday.
EU Market: EUAs resume upward path, stop short of 10-week high
EU carbon prices gained 1.3% on Thursday to resume their upward trajectory following the previous session’s sideways trade.
Carbon pricing alone not enough to clean up Australia’s electricity sector -think-tank
A modest carbon price would ensure Australia meets its 2030 emission targets, but would fall far short of decarbonising the electricity sector by mid-century and fail to keep the nation within its carbon budget, according to Melbourne-based think-tank the Climate Institute.
California’s ARB hands out 318,000 offsets in latest issuance
California’s Air Resources Board on Wednesday issued almost 318,000 offsets, taking the total amount of carbon credits handed out so far to 39.2 million.
BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Help us help you – The use of market-based mechanisms can help governments cut emissions even more than the minimum amounts offered in pledges under the Paris Agreement, according to a new report by IETA and Environmental Defense Fund.
Investment opportunity – Leading development banks are seeking to tap into the vast assets run by pension and fund managers as they try to ramp up low-carbon investments in emerging markets. Demand for clean energy, transport and infrastructure solutions in developing countries is soaring, the head of the World Bank-run Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) told Climate Home.
Who holds the power in the EU? The EU’s 2030 climate and energy framework was a “genuinely negotiated compromise” where all stakeholders achieved their aims to an extent, according to Inga Margrete Ydersbond of Norwegian think tank FNI. Her report forms a detailed assessment of the influence of the EU’s key executive institutions, the member states and the various stakeholders in the interest group community in forging the framework agreed in Oct. 2014. (FNI)
Worthless, hot air – New cars sold in the EU in 2015 emitted on average 3% less CO2 than those sold in 2014, and 10 grams of CO2/km below the 2015 target, according to provisional data from the European Environment Agency. But according to green group Transport & Environment, in the wake of the VW diesel scandal the EEA figures are “worthless” and the claimed savings are “hot air”. “The testing system is utterly discredited and the claimed fall in emissions is largely achieved through manufacturers manipulating the outdated tests … The reality on our roads is that the efficiency of new cars has been largely unchanged for four years,” T&E said.
Sayonara Igirisu – Japan’s Mitsui is looking to sell its stakes in UK power assets including First Hydro Company and four fossil fuel plants, Reuters reported, citing two anonymous. Mitsui owns 25% of assets including First Hydro, which has two hydropower plants in Wales, along with gas power plants Deeside and Saltend, the Indian Queens fuel oil plant, and the Rugeley coal plant, which will cease operating this summer.
Mossack Fonseca? That’s old news – Panama, one of the few countries to have not submitted an INDC ahead of COP-21, will finally present its emissions reduction pledge at next week’s Paris Agreement signing at UN headquarters in New York, Climate Home reports. The tropical forest nation is responsible for around 0.03% of global GHG emissions.
Compromise in the Centennial State – A Colorado legislative committee Wednesday gave a green light to the state’s $27 billion budget for the coming, Colorado Public Radio reported, with Republicans and Democrats reaching an important compromise over whether to fund efforts to implement the Clean Power Plan. At one point Republican lawmakers had cancelled funding for the agency responsible for developing a CPP compliance strategy, the Air Pollution Control Division, but the negotiations culminated in just $111,652 being cut from its budget.
And finally… “Back in my day” – Oil executives were told as far back as the 1960s that rising CO2 levels driven by fossil fuel use could cause catastrophic climate change. Documents uncovered by the Center for International Environmental Law show that scientists funded by the oil and gas industry’s top lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute (API), informed executives from Shell, ExxonMobil, and Chevron’s predecessors of the link between CO2 and climate change in 1968. Decades later, it was revealed that API had subsequently funded an expensive campaign to mislead the public about the dangers of climate change. (H/T Climate Nexus)
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