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California cap-and-trade regulators eye post-2020 supply cut, new allocation rules
California’s Air Resources Board (ARB) is considering a number of changes to the state’s cap-and-trade system after 2020 to slash permit supply.
UN shipping chief flags gap in climate measures
IMO efforts to regulate shipping’s energy efficiency do not address the sector’s projected demand growth, according to the head of the UN’s maritime agency, giving his clearest indication yet that a separate measure is needed to tackle international shipping’s rising emissions.
China’s Sichuan to start offset trade in November
The Sichuan United Environment Exchange, one of two Chinese non-pilot emission bourses that have won government approval to host carbon trading, will launch offset trading next month, an exchange official said.
EU Market: EUAs stumble despite strong auction, with observers mixed on next move
A strong auction and firmer energy complex helped keep European carbon prices near €6 for most of Monday, but prices slumped in the last few hours of trade.
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Job listings this week:
Director, US Climate Policy & Analysis, Climate & Energy/Global Climate, EDF – Washington DC
Carbon and climate change consultant, Mott MacDonald – Birmingham/Brighton, UK
Analyst Consultant, Climate Change & Sustainability, Ricardo – London
Knowledge Leader, Climate Finance, International Climate Change Policy, Ricardo – London
Or click here to see all our job adverts
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Does business mean it? – 900+ of the world’s largest companies have a plan to cut their CO2 but only a fraction are doing enough to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, reports the Financial Times after getting a leaked copy of a report due out tomorrow by non-profit CDP on how far business needs to go to meet the pact’s 2C goal. The report found that only 94 of these businesses have a 2C strategy, with only half of companies in the energy sector setting “meaningful” targets.
Trump vs US climate regs: The first 100 days – If elected president, Donald Trump has promised he would immediately redistribute funds earmarked for UN climate change programmes and channel them to domestic projects. In a speech in Gettysburg, Trump said during his first 100 days in office he would also lift restrictions on energy production, including oil, natural gas and “clean coal”, and greenlight projects such as the Keystone XL Pipeline. (H/T Climate Nexus)
Review wishlist – IETA and Australia’s Carbon Market Institute on Monday released a report outlining issued they want the Australian government to consider during next year’s climate policy review. Among their key recommendations were for the government to let emitters covered by the safeguard mechanism use international units for a limited share of their compliance obligations and to play an active part in developing the new international market under the Paris Agreement in order to give Australia access to cheap credits while domestic developers might be able to export offsets. Full pdf available here.
Flyin’ away… with the UK’s carbon budget – Aviation’s GHG emissions could consume around half the carbon budget available to the UK in 2050 even if the sector’s emissions growth is constrained, a study has shown. If aviation emissions increase with rising demand for flights, the sector could claim as much as two-thirds of the budget for 1.5C, Carbon Brief analysis of the latest official climate advice shows. The numbers make for awkward reading as the government prepares to approve a new runway at Heathrow, which it says is needed to meet ever-rising demand for air travel.
Large hydro revisited – India is seeking to classify large hydro as renewable energy in a bid to help the country meet its climate targets, Energy Live News reports. The country’s New and Renewable Energy Ministry is working on a proposal, which will be sent to the Cabinet, to reclassify large hydropower plants as greens projects, according to reports. That could make it easier for India achieve its target of adding 175GW of new clean energy capacity by 2022. Some countries don’t consider large hydro as renewable projects due to environmental and social concerns.
Lower wind target? – China has repeatedly increased its wind installation capacity target in recent years, but may now be about to lower the onshore target to 210 GW from 250 GW by 2020, and offshore to 5 GW from 10 GW, influential research institute MAKE said in a new report. It would still aim at the higher target, but the change would reflect the government’s increased focus on actually getting new wind power on the grid instead of just installing it.
Can we get a dictionary check on ‘revenue-neutral’? – Nova Scotia’s government is reportedly backing away from a key promise that any provincial price on carbon would be revenue neutral. According to the CBC, a report by a committee of lawmakers studying how to fight climate change is recommending that proceeds raised through a carbon price should go to a dedicated fund to be spent on cutting GHGs. The committee’s chair Andy Harvey said this counts as being revenue neutral. However, the Canadian province’s environment minister Serge Rousselle later clarified that “if you want, we can say that’s certainly `fiscally neutral’ … All money that we receive will be reinvested to tackle climate change.”
And finally… There is another – No, that’s not Yoda alluding to Leia as a second hope in The Empire Strikes Back. It’s in reference to US economist Laurence Kotlikoff, who has this month launched a presidential campaign along with running mate and fellow economist Edward Leamer in the hope that they represent a more palatable option than Trump or Clinton to many American voters. According to fivethirtyeight.com, most of Kotlikoff’s proposed policies fall outside of the mainstream, including a $50/tonne carbon tax. But while the pair is officially on the ballot in a handful of states and are labelled by some as the only formal write-in ticket statistically capable of securing 90% of all electoral votes, they have no name recognition and no serious strategy for changing that – translating into zero chance of winning.
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