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EU nations form blocking minority on stronger MSR, for now

Eight EU member states oppose strengthening the MSR, their respective environment ministers signalled on Monday, likely representing enough resistance to block the measure at EU Council at least until new voting rules come into force in Apr. 2017.

Stronger MSR deal likely to survive EU lawmaking process -ICIS analysts

A doubling of the MSR’s annual withdrawal rate is likely to pass into law and could help push EU carbon prices above €20 early next decade, according to analysts at ICIS Tschach Solutions.

China set to beat 2016 carbon intensity target

China is on track to beat its 2016 target for cutting the carbon intensity of its economy, the government said Monday, meeting a third of its five-year goal in the first year.

Record California offset awards ahead following large registry issuances

A handful of large registry offset issuances have entered the California compliance credit pipeline in the past few months, including a record number of units awarded last week that could soon help boost the amount of CCOs currently in circulation by at least two-thirds.

EU Market: EUAs continue to rise as analysts see upside

EU carbon prices hit a three-week high above €5 on Monday as analysts favoured the upside this week due to the start of a three-week auction pause and as they predicted European lawmaker reforms to the ETS would retain the most bullish elements of the current proposal.

CN Markets: Shanghai forward CO2 contracts trade in narrow range on debut day

The Shanghai carbon market’s forward contracts launched on Monday, with nearly 170,000 allowances changing hands just below the spot price.

IETA names new EU policy director

Emissions trading business association IETA has named a Polish policy expert and former green group staffer as its new EU Policy Director.

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Job listings this week:

Deputy Executive Secretary, UNFCCC – Bonn, Germany
Head of Voluntary Client Portfolios, ClimateCare – Oxford, UK
Policy Advisor, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change – Toronto
Policy Analyst (carbon markets and carbon pricing), NewClimate Institute – Cologne/Berlin
Climate Risk Management Expert, AECOM – Arlington, Virginia
Research Associate, Climate/Environmental Economics & Policy, International Center for Tropical Agriculture – Hanoi, Vietnam

Or click here to see all our job adverts

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

No more work – The US EPA stopped work Monday on writing an optional program that states could use to comply with the Clean Power Plan, The Hill reports.  Janet McCabe, the EPA’s top air regulator, announced the decision in a blog post, along with the draft, incomplete compliance plans and related documents that the agency had been working on.  McCabe did not say why the EPA stopped work on the model rules for compliance, which the EPA sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget for final approval in early November, days before the election.  But President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office in just over a month, has pledged to repeal the underlying Clean Power Plan that the model rules would help states comply with, making them moot.

Drax breathes a sigh of relief – UK generator Drax gained EU approval to convert a third power plant unit to biomass from coal. Reuters reported Drax shares rose to a five-month high as Brussels closed its investigation into the British government’s support scheme, which guarantees a £100/MWh electricity price until 2027 to incentivise the producer’s use of a fuel source it controversially deems to be carbon neutral. Environmental campaigners FERN said the decision granted Drax a license to destroy US forests at the public’s expense.

Massachusetts tries again – Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s Department of Environmental Protection has issued a draft of new clean air regulations to address GHG emissions, seven months after the state’s Supreme Court ruled it was not doing enough to cut them.  Under the proposal, utilities would be required to purchase generation credits from zero-carbon sources, starting at 16% in 2018 and increasing to 80% by 2050, according to Utility Dive. Renewables, nuclear and fossil generation with carbon capture would be eligible for the Clean Energy Credits.  The Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act requires the state reduce GHGs by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. Separate regulatory programs announced last week target emissions from vehicles and fossil fuel extraction and transport, along with the power sector rules.

Three down, one to go – Alberta’s government has reached final agreements to settle power purchase arrangements (PPAs) with AltaGas Ltd. and TransCanada Energy Ltd., it announced Friday. Under the deals, AltaGas will pay C$6 million and nearly 400,000 carbon offsets to the province’s Balancing Pool, an independent government agency that handles power agreements.  TransCanada will “provide value associated with a package of carbon offset credit,” which will be valued in February when the company releases its year-end financial statements.  After Alberta unveiled its carbon tax, which begins in January, four companies sought to terminate their PPAs with the government under a clause in the agreements that lets them exit the contracts if there’s a change in law that makes the deals unprofitable or “more unprofitable.” Alberta inked an agreement with Capital Power last month, leaving Enmax only company to have not yet reached a settlement with the government.

And finally… A Filipino carbon tax? – A senior lawmaker in the Philippines’ House of Representatives leader is considering filing a “carbon tax bill” to help curb carbon emissions and allocate funds for the development of renewable energy, Manilla Bulletin reports. Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, is urging Congress to pass new legislation that would help curb global warming, citing increasing evidence of man-made climate change.

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