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EU lawmakers resume ETS reform work as parliamentary leaders jostle for leadership
EU lawmakers have resumed work on the post-2020 EU ETS revision bill, with the full European Parliament due to vote on Feb. 15 and ministers slated to meet a fortnight later.
South Korea plans to ignore some sectors in allocation lift
South Korea has released a draft proposal for how to spread the increase in CO2 permits across industrial sub-sectors, leaving out some of the segments that have filed lawsuits against the ETS.
IMO protests EU lawmaker efforts to backstop shipping emission curbs
The head of UN shipping body IMO has written to EU leaders warning that moves by the bloc to curb the sector’s emissions, should a global deal falter, risk undermining those negotiations.
EU Market: Well-bid first 2017 auction, short-covering send EUAs higher
European carbon prices rose on Monday on short-covering after a well-bid first EUA auction of 2017 and the benchmark contract’s failure to fall below a technical level just south of €5.
EU could cut almost 1 bln tonnes of CO2 with bloc-wide price support -report
The EU could avoid up to 943 million tonnes of CO2 between now and 2025 if it sets a carbon price floor for power generators, which would represent the most cost-effective way of driving down emissions in the sector.
EU lawmaker sets tougher line for cutting future non-ETS emissions
The EU must toughen its regime for cutting emission in non-ETS sectors after 2020 to ensure it aligns with the Paris Agreement and deeper energy efficiency goals, according to a senior Dutch MEP.
Guangdong tightens offset eligibility, rules out projects from pilot regions
China’s Guangdong province on Monday ruled out the use of carbon offsets from other pilot carbon trading regions in a bid to protect its market from credits flowing through out-of-province CO2 exchanges to local emitters.
RGGI prices temporarily spike as New York agrees nuclear plant shutdown
RGGI prices briefly shot up late last week after New York lawmakers stuck a deal with utility Entergy to shut down the firm’s Indian Point nuclear plant by 2021.
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Job listings this week:
Professorship of Climate Change Policy, University of Cambridge – Cambridge, UK
Emissions Trader, Allcot – Zug/Madrid
Director of Communications, IISD – Canada
Leader, Clean Energy and Climate Change Program, Australian Conservation Foundation – Melbourne
Marketing & Communications Manager, Nexus – Phnom Penh
Or click here to see all our job adverts
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
**Low-carbon project developer South Pole Group is hosting a webinar on Jan 18 at 1500 GMT on the key outcomes of the 2016 UN climate conference in Marrakesh, asking whether Donald Trump is a climate hero in disguise and how companies can align their strategies with global ambitions in a world where uncertainty is the norm.**
GIB fire sale – The UK’s Green Investment Bank (GIB) is set to be stripped of its prized assets when it is sold later this month. Reports circulated on Sunday that the likely buyer, Australian bank Macquarie, had already lined up suitors for the bank’s wind and biomass assets, worth more than £2.7 billion, and were planning a round of job cuts from its London and Edinburgh offices. The programme of sell-offs is likely to amplify concerns over the privatisation of GIB and raise questions over whether the government is selling off the state-owned lender too cheaply. The conditions of sale set up by former business secretary Sajid Javid mean the government will retain a “golden share”, giving it a say in future investments, but it is powerless to block Macquarie selling off assets. (H/T Climate Home, Carbon Brief)
Holder the ringer – California lawmakers have hired former Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder and his law firm to help bolster the state’s legal fights with the Trump administration, InsideEPA reports ($), including expected policy battles over climate and environmental policy, though one observer says the firm “has not been on the front lines” of those issues.
Retired – California’s Air Resources Board has retired 184,850 vintage 2013 allowances from the state carbon market’s Voluntary Renewable Electricity (VRE) account on behalf of five VRE programme participants. The initiative allows purchasers of eligible voluntary renewable electricity to request retirement of allowances on their behalf, supporting the purchase of renewable electricity and renewable energy credits (RECs) that are not mandated by the Renewables Portfolio Standard. The market’s rules stipulate that a percentage of carbon allowances to be set aside each year for VRE purposes. Retirement of these allowances leaves 420,284 vintage 2013 allowances (over 50% of the original 814,000 allowances set aside) available for future retirement. More details are available here.
And finally… Cracked shelf – An enormous rift in one of Antarctica’s largest ice shelves grew dramatically over the past month, and a chunk nearly the size of Delaware could break away as soon as later this winter, scientists reported this week. If this happens, it could accelerate a further breakup of the ice shelf, essentially removing a massive cork of ice that keeps some of Antarctica’s glaciers from flowing into the ocean. The long-term result, scientists project, could be to noticeably raise global sea levels by 10 cm or almost four inches. It’s the latest sign of major ice loss in the fast warming Antarctic Peninsula, which has already seen the breakup of two other shelves in the same region, events that have been widely attributed to climate change. (Washington Post)
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