CP Daily will not be published Dec. 24-Jan. 2. Carbon Pulse will file stories and send out CP Alerts on merit during that period. Regular coverage will resume Jan. 3.

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EU Parliament’s ETS vote not a certainty as partial compromise leaves room for doubt

Observers expect the European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) to vote through a more ambitious post-2020 EU ETS package early on Thursday but are warning of a small risk that the whole deal could be rejected.

G20-backed panel urges companies to do 2C ‘stress tests’

Companies should tell investors how their profits may be hit by emission targets underpinned by the Paris Agreement, according to a high-level panel advising the G20 and aiming to both standardise the global patchwork of environmental and social governance reporting and push it into mainsteam financial disclosures.

Washington governor floats new carbon tax proposal

Washington state Governor Jay Inslee has proposed introducing a state-wide carbon tax from 2018 to help raise $4 billion in education funding, just a month after voters rejected a similar proposal.

Final 2016 UK carbon auction fails on lack of interest

The UK’s final EUA auction of the year was cancelled due to insufficient interest from bidders, the sale’s host ICE Futures Europe said Wednesday.

EU Market: EUAs hold above €5 after lawmaker deal on ETS reform, failed UK auction

EU carbon prices climbed above €5 on Wednesday for the first time since Nov. 28 after lawmakers clinched an overnight deal to push for major near-term supply curbs and the UK’s final auction of the year was cancelled.

New forest project reaps bulk of large California offset issuance

California’s Air Resources Board handed out 3.4 million offsets this week, the most since August, with the bulk going to a new forestry project.

Baosteel subsidiary launches tender to offload surplus CO2 permits

A subsidiary of Baosteel, China’s biggest steel maker, has issued a tender to sell 300,000 Guangdong Emissions Allowances in a move observers say is a result of the government’s efforts to slash overcapacity in the steel sector.

ECOSYSTEM MARKETPLACE: Tillerson for Secretary Of State adds another layer of uncertainty to US role in climate talks

On Monday, Trump chose the chief of oil giant Exxon Mobil, Rex Tillerson, for secretary of state. Ecosystem Marketplace reports on what the appointment could mean for the US’ role in internatinoal climate negotiations.

BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Guerrilla archiving – Alarmed that decades of crucial climate measurements could vanish under a hostile Trump administration, scientists in the US have begun a feverish attempt to copy reams of government data onto independent servers in hopes of safeguarding it from any political interference, the Washington Post reports.  The efforts include a “guerrilla archiving” event in Toronto, where experts will copy irreplaceable public data, meetings at the University of Pennsylvania focused on how to download as much federal data as possible in the coming weeks, and a collaboration of scientists and database experts who are compiling an online site to harbor scientific information.

Germany slips from GHG goal – Germany is at risk of missing its 2020 -40% GHG target as an environment ministry report showed emissions were down by just 27% in 2015. Since 2014, Germany has stepped up efforts to cut emissions with measures such as improving energy efficiency, trying to boost demand for electric cars and agreeing to mothball some brown coal power plants as part of an action plan expected to save between 62-78 million tonnes of CO2e, but now the government expects savings of just 58 million tonnes. (Reuters)

Environmental civil war – Brazil’s government is divided on a bill to tear up federal environmental regulations and hand responsibility to states, Climate Home reports.  Promoted by the rural lobby, the proposal would exempt farming and forestry – responsible for nearly 70% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions – from current licensing laws. Environment minister Jose Sarney Filho warned in a letter to the presidency it would spark “environmental civil war” (guerra ambiental entre os estados), with states competing to offer the weakest restrictions on development.

And finally… Have you heard who’s moving in next door? – President Obama has agreed to lease office space in the Washington DC building of green group WWF, The Washington Post reports.  WWF owns the building in which it is headquartered and leases excess space to other organisations.  It’s unclear how much, if any, of Obama’s post-presidency agenda will be devoted to environmental issues.  While much of Obama’s focus will reportedly be based in Chicago, where he is designing his presidential library and will be building out a center that will promote leadership and other public priorities, he is also expected to engage in other activities including redistricting voter maps to boost the election chances of Democratic candidates across the country.

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