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Trump signs long-awaited order to review Clean Power Plan, rescind US climate policies
President Trump has signed a long-awaited executive order to roll back Obama-era climate policies, in a move that he says will “put miners back to work”.
China’s NDRC fends off calls to share ETS oversight, build in east-west split
China’s National Development and Reform Commission has dismissed proposals from a host of other ministries to jointly regulate the national emissions trading scheme and nixed calls to reduce the responsibilities that country’s poorer provinces will face under the programme.
EU Market: EUAs lift from 2017 low on oil price surge
EU carbon rose on Tuesday as a late surge in oil prices lifted the energy complex, with EUAs holding above the 2017 low of €4.58 touched in the previous session.
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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Outnumbered – In the US, clean energy jobs outnumber fossil fuel jobs by more than 2.5 to 1, according to a new Sierra Club analysis of Department of Energy jobs data. And when it comes to coal and gas , clean energy jobs outnumber jobs dealing with those two fossil fuels by 5 to 1, ThinkProgress reports.
Paris chart-toppers – Only 3 EU nations are on track to deliver on the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to green groups Carbon Market Watch and T&E. In their rankings examining negotiating positions of each member state for the post-2020 extension of non-ETS effort-sharing goals, just Sweden, Germany and France are in line. They also identify efforts to weaken the proposal by Poland, Italy, Spain and Czechia.
Inslee rebuffed again – While Washington state House Democratic leaders proposed a smorgasbord of taxes to pay for their $44.7 billion budget plan released Monday, one was notably missing: a tax on carbon emissions championed by Democratic Governor Jay Inslee. The tax was the centerpiece of the governor’s budget proposal to raise more than $2 billion for education funding, but Democrats rebuffed the idea in favour of higher taxes on capital gains and wealthy businesses. This comes a week after Republicans in the GOP-controlled Senate passed a plan that raised needed revenues from a new property tax instead of a carbon tax. The state still has its market-based Clean Air Rule, which was finalised last year. (The News Tribune)
Bulgarian exemption – Bulgaria will seek an exemption from European Commission plans to introduce more pollution curbs on big thermal power plants, saying they would pose risks to the country’s energy security and economic competitiveness, Reuters reports. Bulgaria’s big coal-fired plants produce about 40% of the country’s electricity. A special commission of EU member states is expected to approve higher curbs on sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions at the end of April and introduce limits on mercury emissions from combustion plants with thermal input of over 50 megawatts. The move could have a negative impact on Bulgaria’s CO2 emissions and, subsequently, EUA demand.
And finally… Boris on the case – The FT reports ($) that UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson has told the Trump Administration that global efforts to combat climate change must be continued. Johnson said that he had raised the issue in his meeting last week with White House officials and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. “I’m not saying we’re there yet,” Johnson told reporters, “but I think we’re in a much better place than we were, say, six months ago in making that argument and I think we will succeed.”
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