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Washington state plans faster carbon market cap cuts, delayed industry entry

Washington state has slightly deepened the annual reduction in the emissions cap of its carbon market and will exempt heavy industry for the first three years, according to a revised proposal released Wednesday.

EU carbon trade may shift focus to March futures under Parliament plan

The EU carbon market may shift its focus to March-expiry futures should the Parliament’s draft ETS reforms survive, potentially benefitting some bigger emitters at the expense of smaller companies.

Energy Aspects ups near-term EUA forecasts, sees CER price cap despite new demand

Energy Aspects this week raised their short-term forecasts for EUA prices slightly, while warning that despite several large new sources of demand for CERs potentially emerging over the next few years, heavy latent supply would keep a lid on CER prices.

South Korea sells fewer than half of KAUs on offer in first CO2 auction

Fewer than half of the 300,000 Korean Allowance Units (KAUs) on offer were sold in Wednesday’s auction, despite a last-minute lowering of the price floor.

South Korea mulls shutting down ageing coal plants

South Korea is considering shutting down coal plants that have run for more than 40 years in an effort to combat growing air pollution, the government said Wednesday, a move that would also dent in the nation’s CO2 emissions output.

BC to propose deep emissions cuts for LNG project approval

British Columbia will commit to significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions from its nascent liquefied natural gas in order to gain federal approval for the C$36 billion Pacific NorthWest LNG project, Canadian media reported.

EU Market: EUAs dip below €6 on weaker energy, auction outlook weighs

EU carbon slipped below €6 on Wednesday as a weak energy complex and an analyst warning on a looming glut of auction supply tested bulls’ nerves.

BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Latin carbon meet-up – The Carbon Pricing Leadership coalition is expanding across more of the globe and on June 30 in Santiago convenes exploratory talks between Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru and their businesses on how to co-operation on carbon pricing.

From Kyoto to Paris – Chapter two of IETA’s carbon market oral history is available online.  It focuses on early emissions trading trials, including efforts in the UK to build awareness of emissions trading and trading simulations by industry group EURELECTRIC.

Agricultural carbon markets – A blog by the Environmental Defense Fund on why the private sector, food companies and retailers should invest in agricultural carbon markets.

REN21 – 2015 was a record year for renewable energy installations. Renewable power generating capacity saw its largest increase ever, with an estimated 147 gigawatts added, according to REN21. Modern renewable heat capacity also continued to rise, and renewables use expanded in the transport sector. Distributed renewable energy is advancing rapidly to close the gap between the energy haves- and have-nots.

Hey hey, ho ho, our lignite doesn’t have to go – There is strong opposition by unions and politicians in some German states to federal environment minister Barbara Hendrick’s vision of a lignite phase-out as part of the ministry’s Climate Action Plan 2050, writes Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. For the reduction of GHGs, “all sectors must make feasible contributions,” said Social Democrat Garrelt Duin, economics minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, and rejected a discussion about when lignite power plants should be taken off the grid. Ministers from other states see “high risks” for business in Hendrick’s plan, writes Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. (H/T Clean Energy Wire)

Coal’s hole – US coal-fired generation declined 22.2% from February to March, and year-over-year the fall was greater than 33%, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s new Electric Power Monthly report. (H/T Utility Dive)

Trump wrong on Paris – “Trump is wrong on the Paris climate agreement. I know because I negotiated it.” That’s the title of former US climate envoy Todd Stern’s op-ed in the Washington Post, where he lists all the things the presumptive Republican presidential candidate gets wrong in his comments about Paris, and explains how it would hurt the US internationally if the country pulled out.

And finally… Countdown on carbon fraud – UK daytime TV presenter Nick Hewer has launched a crusade to warn British pensioners on sinking their retirement cash into dodgy investments such as carbon credits, which have made up a major chunk of the £1.2 billion a year believed to have been stolen from the life savings of vulnerable investors via ‘boiler room’ scams.  (Daily Mail)

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