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TOP STORY

Quarterly WCI auction again sells out, with clearing prices hitting record highs

California and Quebec’s quarterly auction once again sold out, with the total 73.6 million allowances available in both the current and advance sales snapped up at record prices and sizeable premiums to the auction reserve price.

ASIA PACIFIC

South Australia premier says could return to CO2 market plan if feds back away from Clean Energy Target

South Australia and other state governments might revert to pursuing a carbon intensity trading scheme if the federal government fails to back the proposed Clean Energy Target (CET), SA Premier Jay Weatherill said Tuesday.

China’s Shaanxi province launches call for CO2-cutting projects

The government of China’s Shaanxi province has issued a call for projects that can reduce CO2 emissions, with a preference for those in ETS sectors, although no crediting is planned for achieved reductions.

CN Markets: Shanghai August forward contract to expire on Aug. 28

The August forward contract in Shanghai’s pilot emissions trading scheme will expire on Aug. 28, the local carbon exchange said on Tuesday, with traders asked to close positions by the end of this week.

First Thai project registers under Japan’s JCM

A small-scale solar project has become the first to register and become eligible to earn carbon credits under the Japan-Thailand Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM).

AMERICAS

Existing projects to meet less than half of WCI’s pre-2030 out-of-state offset needs, leaving $1.9bln demand void -analysis

Offset supply from the existing pipeline of low-carbon projects will cover less than half of WCI demand for out-of-state credits between 2021 and 2030, a new analysis forecast.

EMEA 

EU Market: EUAs slip to 4-day low ahead of full auction resumption

EU carbon dipped to its lowest in four days on Tuesday as traders anticipate further falls from last week’s 5.5-month peak ahead of a doubling of daily auction volume.

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Climate ‘hero’ – The Marshall Islands climate ambassador Tony de Brum has died aged 72. As former foreign minister, he led negotiations via the so-called ‘High Ambition Coalition’ to include the 1.5C global warming limit in the 2015 Paris Agreement. This was crucial to give his low-lying island home a chance of survival amid rising sea levels, he argued. It follows less than two weeks after the untimely death of 47-year-old Marshall Islands minister Mattlan Zackhras, who had taken on a climate diplomacy role after de Brum lost his seat in parliament in 2016. Climate Home gathered tributes from diplomats, campaigners and journalists.

No sun? No problem – By all accounts, the US power grid managed yesterday’s solar eclipse well, with few, if any, issues reported. California saw utility-scale solar output plunge 3,400 MW – less than the 4,200 MW that had been expected. However, while California has the most solar capacity in the nation, its plants did not lie along the eclipse’s path of totality.  Meanwhile in North Carolina, a state with a significant amount of solar in the path of totality, Duke Energy lost about 1,700 MW of capacity during the height of the eclipse but the system reacted as planned and there were no outages. (Utility Dive)

They FERCed up – The US District Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 Tuesday that the Federal Environmental Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) failed to adequately review the environmental impacts of the greenhouse gas emissions of the fracked gas Sabal Trail pipeline, which runs more than 500 miles through Alabama, Georgia and Florida. The agency will need to re-conduct its review. According to ThinkProgress, this is the first case to successfully challenge FERC’s GHG emissions analysis and it could have repercussions up and down the east coast. There are currently hundreds of miles of proposed pipeline on FERC’s docket or under construction, including the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, and the Rover Pipeline.

Pollution trade trip-up – The US EPA is seeking permission from a federal court to further delay the implementation of decade-delayed plan to reduce power plant pollution in Texas from next month to Dec. 2018. Scott Pruitt’s EPA says it has made a breakthrough negotiations with the state, which wants to implement an intrastate trading program that would give power plants “the flexibility to purchase allowances rather than install new equipment” via the default federal plan. (Think Progress)

Utah flare –  The Salt Lake City Tribune newspaper profiles a five-year plan by Global Carbon Strategies Corp. to flare up to 400,000 million BTUs of methane seeping from Murray Energy’s Utah coal mines. It intends to earn offsets compatible with the WCI market to be channelled by intermediary project developer BlueSource. Seven such methane capture projects are already registered under California’s market, but this would be the first without generating energy from flaring, which would be as a result of a lack of nearby pipelines.

He lives to legislate another day – An attempt to oust Chad Mayes as the California Assembly’s Republican leader fell short Monday, but another vote is scheduled for next week, the LA Times reports. Mayes has been facing calls for his ouster after he worked with Democrats to extend California’s cap-and-trade programme. The 25-member Assembly Republican caucus met for two hours Monday, three days after state party officials called on Mayes to step down or be replaced. But opponents could muster only 10 votes against him – three short of the threshold. The next meeting will be held Aug. 29.

Wonk corner – The provisional agenda for this November’s COP23 meeting in Bonn, Germany has been released.

And finally… Less grizzle – Alaska’s grizzly bears have changed their diet as elderberries started ripening earlier amid climate change. During an unusually warm summer in 2014, the bears were found to be absent from shallow freshwater streams at the peak of the annual salmon run and busy feasting on berries instead, according to a study published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Inside Climate News)

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