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US Republican elders push for carbon tax
A group of former US Republican lawmakers led by ex-cabinet members James Baker and George Shultz is meeting with Trump Administration officials on Wednesday to push a tax-and-dividend scheme on carbon emissions that would also include CO2-based border adjustments on imports from nations without emissions pricing.
China’s pollution hotspots get headstart in cutting coal use
China’s most populous and heavily polluted regions will likely overachieve on their five-year targets to rein in coal use and achieve substantial CO2 cuts as regulators work hard to appease public demand for clean air.
Bill to pull New Hampshire from RGGI finds weak support
Supporters of New Hampshire’s continued membership in RGGI far outnumbered opponents at a hearing on Tuesday over a bill to pull the state from the north-eastern US carbon market.
Pair of new projects receive California offsets in largest issuance seen so far this year
California’s Air Resources Board handed out a total 157,700 offsets this week to two new projects, marking the largest issuance seen so far this year.
EU Market: EUAs nudge higher on oil-led energy gains
EU carbon prices nudged higher for the second straight day after surging oil prices lifted the energy complex in afternoon trade and as European lawmakers tabled a slew of amendments to an ETS reform bill.
COMMENT: We can meet the US Paris Agreement commitment without federal support
Actions from state governments, US corporations and foundations will play a key role in ensuring continued US progress toward Paris climate commitments should the Trump administration fall short, writes Peter Weisberg of The Climate Trust.
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
When RGGI? When? – RGGI’s latest stakeholder webinar gave no new information about when its member states intend to proceed on the market mechanism’s programme review, with officials promising that all such notifications will be made public in due course. The session focused on the assumptions that modeller IPM is using to map out various scenarios for RGGI out to 2030. Read our latest on how RGGI states are yet to piece together the collective impact of multiple price-sensitive reform options they are juggling, despite the discussions having entered their second year.
CO2 floor flaw – German experts say the global carbon floor price proposed last month by government advisors in a paper for the German economy ministry is unlikely to be agreed (in German). WWF’s Christoph Heinrich said “implementing a sufficiently high floor price seems unrealistic in light of the current political climate”. (Tagesspiegel, Clean Energy Wire)
Exxon heat – California’s new attorney general is being urged to continue a climate fraud investigation of ExxonMobil by a host of the state’s Democratic House members of the US House of Representatives who say the oil giant and other fossil fuel companies have misled the public regarding climate change. (Inside Climate News)
And finally… Coal fight heads to Bonn – German climate activist group Ende Gelände will hold at least two major protests against coal-fired power production in Germany this year. The activists said “they would block the production of coal in the Rhineland lignite fields – as long as possible” in late August, with further action planned in November to coincide with the UNFCCC climate talks in Bonn. (Clean Energy Wire)
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