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EU Parliament’s ENVI votes for more ambitious ETS reform package

The European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) voted for a more ambitious post-2020 EU ETS package early on Thursday, passing several supply-curbing amendments including the doubling of the annual withdrawal rate of the MSR to 24% between its start in 2019 and 2022.

Reactions to ambitious, controversial amendments approved by EU Parliament’s ENVI committee

The European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI), weighing in on the future of the EU ETS after 2020, on Thursday voted in favour of a number of ambitious changes to the scheme, as well as controversial proposals including full EUA auctioning for the cement sector, more EUAA auctioning for aviation and regulating shipping emissions from 2023. Herein is a collection of expert and stakeholder reactions.

EU Market: EUAs sink after traders take profits on bullish MEP reform effort

EU carbon prices appeared unfazed as lawmakers passed more ambitious than expected ETS reform proposals on Thursday, falling late in the day as traders booked profits and fretted about looming auction supply increases.

Green Climate Fund approves $320 million in new project disbursements

The Green Climate Fund at its latest board meeting approved $320 million in funding for eight new mitigation and adaptation projects, but delayed a decision on a simplified approval process for LDCs and small island nations.

COMMENT: MEPs take a ‘bigger is better’ approach to the EU Innovation Fund

In adopting “Compromise 12” during Thursday morning’s vote, the European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) added its weight to the industry committee’s (ITRE) push for a bigger post-2020 Innovation Fund. NER400.com Director Greg Arrowsmith discusses what to expect next.

BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Bet on green – After eight years of sustainability programs, Las Vegas is now completely powered by renewable energy. KSNV News3LV reports.

Trump team subordinate – After a few days of outrage, it appears Trump’s transition team is disavowing the entire questionnaire sent to the US Department of Energy seeking the names of all staffers who work on climate change issues. “The questionnaire was not authorised or part of our standard protocol,” Trump spokesman Sean Spicer told Reuters Wednesday. “The person who sent it has been properly counselled.”

Follow this map – The US EPA has filed a long-awaited brief defending its power plant new source performance standards (NSPS), the legal prerequisite of its landmark greenhouse gas rule for existing plants, providing a roadmap for environmentalists, states and other supporters who will continue to defend it when the incoming Trump administration takes office in January and seeks to roll back the rule. (InsideEPA, $)

He travelled all this way – Essen district court has rejected a lawsuit brought by Peruvian farmer Saúl Lliuya’s against German utility RWE for contributing to environmental damage in his hometown of Huarez, Reuters reports. Lliuya demanded €17,000 in compensation to finance safety measures taken against the threat posed to his home by a melting glacier. RWE’s carbon emissions were partly responsible for the threat, according to Lliuya’s claim. But RWE rejected the claim, saying a single emitter could not be held accountable for global developments such as climate change. German environmental organisation Germanwatch, which supported Lliuya, said while the court saw no “legal causality” justifying the claim, it conceded there could be a “natural scientific causality.” According to Germanwatch, Lliuya’s lawyer is considering filing an appeal with a higher regional court. (H/T Clean Energy Wire)

And finally… The devolution of a climate change skeptic – Montana Congressman and Republican Ryan Zinke, an ex-Navy SEAL who was one of Trump’s biggest supporters during the campaign, has been tapped by the president-elect to head the Department of the Interior (after Washington seemingly Congresswoman and fellow Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers was seemingly ruled out).  Mother Jones reports that in 2010, as a member of the Montana Legislature, Zinke signed on to a letter calling climate change “a threat multiplier for instability in the most volatile regions of the world” and arguing that “the clean energy and climate challenge is America’s new space race.” The letter warned of the “catastrophic” costs and “unprecedented economic consequences” associated with failing to act on climate change and asked President Obama to push through sweeping climate and clean energy legislation.  Fast forward to 2014, and Zinke, who rose through the ranks of Montana Republicans with big support from the dirtier corners of the energy industry, started singing a different tune, claiming he’d seen no evidence that rising CO2 levels affected the climate. “It’s not a hoax, but it’s not proven science either,” he said at one debate. And by 2015, he’d fully succumbed to the dark side, reportedly telling a reporter from PBS that climate change did not present a national security threat, nor was it even man-made.

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