Presenting CP Daily, Carbon Pulse’s free newsletter. It’s a daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world. Subscribe here

TOP STORY

Leaked Brussels draft outlines how EUAs could be marked, restricted under Brexit-proofing measure

The European Commission has outlined a possible way forward on the proposed measure to Brexit-proof the EU ETS, suggesting changes to the bloc’s regulations that would include marking and restricting the use of UK-issued allowances from Jan. 2018.

EMEA

EU nations, MEPs set to face off in ‘final’ ETS reform talks

EU member state envoys agreed an updated position on post-2020 ETS reforms on Friday to set up what they hope will be a final meeting on Oct. 12 to complete work on the bill.

EU Market: EU carbon prices again recover from sub-€6.80 levels to post small weekly loss

EU carbon dipped to its lowest for 1.5 weeks on Friday, but for a second straight day buyers emerged after prices sank below €6.80 to help lift the benchmark contract to close at €7 ahead of what could be the completion of post-2020 market reforms next week.

INTERNATIONAL

Japan backs tight rules for crediting of non-NDC carbon cuts

The Paris Agreement should allow international trade in carbon credits from sectors outside a selling country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), but those units should still be deducted from the national inventory in order to avoid double-claiming, according to a Japanese submission to the UNFCCC.

AMERICAS

GHG output from top US emitters falls 2% in 2016

Greenhouse gas emissions from the US’ largest emitters dropped by 2% last year to 2.99 billion tonnes of CO2e, according to EPA figures released Thursday, with power generators leading the decline.

NA Markets: California prices unchanged despite soaring spread volume

California carbon prices were little changed this week amid a surge in volume, with more than 10 million allowances traded on ICE.

ASIA PACIFIC

Australian ERF contracts for nearly 1 mln offsets have been terminated, data shows

Contracts with seven projects from which the Australian government had agreed to buy nearly 1 million carbon credits have lapsed or been terminated, according to data released Friday by the Clean Energy Regulator.

DATA

Voluntary carbon market data from CTX for Oct. 6, 2017

A table of Verified Emission Reduction (VER) prices and offered volumes, based on voluntary market data provided by CTX.

ADVERTISE

CP Daily hits 100,000 reader inboxes every month. Use our newsletter to promote your brand or event and reach new clients. Sponsorship and advertising packages available now. Get in touch for details.

———————————

BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Last-minute cancellation – The Trump administration will propose repealing the Clean Power Plan but won’t commit to replacing it with another regulation.  A draft of an EPA proposal leaked to the media claims the CPP went beyond the bounds of federal law, and therefore it is “not appropriate” to maintain the rule.  The agency will justify the repeal with new cost calculations that estimate scrapping the Obama-era climate regulations will save the power sector $33 billion by 2030, Bloomberg reports. The agency will likely use the new cost calculations as legal justification for a less-stringent pollution regulation, though CPP supporters say the agency’s math fails to account for recent power sector trends. The EPA had been expected to seek industry comment on how to replace the rule, but it appears that plan may have been scrapped in a last-minute change.

Enter coal man – US President Trump has nominated former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to help lead the US EPA as deputy administrator. Wheeler was a registered lobbyist for Murray Energy – the largest privately-owned coal company – until August this year. The nomination prompted “contrasting reactions from industry and environmental groups.” (Reuters)

Don’t pass Go – Germany’s Monopolies Commission, which advises the government on competition policies, is calling for a shift from renewables support to a price on CO2 to finance the country’s energy transition. In a new report on the electricity and gas markets, it recommends reinforcing the EU ETS by including other sectors like transport, increasing the volume of technology-neutral auctions to determine support levels for renewables, and introducing regionally differentiated network charges for renewable generators, which would provide incentives for plant operators to account for possible network expansion costs in their choice of location.  The commission said single players do not excessively dominate Germany’s wholesale power sector, with the market share held by the four largest suppliers falling to 54% in 2016  from 62% in 2014. (Clean Energy Wire)

Blockchain busting out – European energy companies E.ON and ENEL traded electricity for the first time via a new marketplace that uses the blockchain technology allowing counterparties to conduct deals directly with each other in seconds, which usually require a central intermediary. The utilities hope that direct trading will eventually lower costs, with 33 companies and IT specialist Ponton taking part in pilot decentralised marketplace.

Eastbound is down – Pipeline company TransCanada has abandoned plans to build an ‘Energy East’ oil pipeline that would have shipped 1.1 million barrels per day across Canada. TransCanada, a partial owner of the Keystone XL project, did not elaborate on the reasoning for the shift, citing only “changed circumstances” around the project in a brief statement. Analysts guess that fierce environmental and Native opposition, a new and tougher governmental review process that takes GHGs into account, and low oil prices could have all contributed to the project’s demise. (Climate Nexus)

No dumping – The EU has imposed anti-dumping duties on imports of hot rolled flat steel products from Brazil, Iran, Russia and Ukraine, taking the total number of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures in place on steel products to 48. The move may ease industry concerns that the bloc is slow to protect industry against imports that may not be subject to EU regulations, such as carbon pricing.

And finally… Salty storage – Swedish utility Vattenfall will use salt to store solar and wind power as heat in a Berlin pilot project foreseen to be a contribution to the integration of heating into the power sector. “Energy can be stored in salt without loss over weeks and months until it is needed,” the company said.

Got a tip? Email us at news@carbon-pulse.com