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TOP STORY

New Zealand to reconsider Paris target next year

New Zealand will reconsider its “inadequate” 2030 emissions target next year, the country’s new climate change minister said Wednesday, a move likely to further solidify confidence in the nation’s emissions trading scheme, which is seeing its highest price levels for over six years.

INTERNATIONAL

Global carbon pricing costs, coverage need to rapidly increase, World Bank report warns

The expansion of carbon pricing globally needs to accelerate, while the cost of emitting in most of the jurisdictions that have programmes in place needs to increase rapidly, a World Bank report warned on Wednesday.

ASIA PACIFIC

Analysts predict relaunched Kazakhstan ETS will continue to struggle with oversupply

Kazakhstan has made a number of changes to its emissions trading scheme, which is due to start up again on Jan. 1, but the programme is still likely to suffer from oversupply and low liquidity, according to analysts at Thomson Reuters.

Australia’s carbon farming industry pitches multi-billion dollar offset market

Australia’s carbon farming industry could cut almost half a billion tonnes of CO2e by 2030 with proper government backing, earning A$24 billion and creating thousands of jobs along the way, a report said Wednesday.

Labor questions offset use in Australia’s new energy plan

It is uncertain whether Australia’s biggest opposition party will back offset use in the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) after its climate spokesman questioned whether electricity generators should be allowed to use carbon credits given they’ll face easier emission goals than other sectors.

AMERICAS

Milder summer temperatures help RGGI notch 28% drop in Q3 emissions

Power sector emissions covered by RGGI fell by around 28% year-on-year in Q3, maintaining the large annual reduction recorded so far in the northeastern US regional cap-and-trade market in 2017.

Canada puts cash towards GHG-counting blockchain project in Pacific Alliance nations

Canada will provide C$1.6 million to the four Latin American nations of the Pacific Alliance to assess whether blockchain technology can help with aligning their emission auditing methods as they move towards a regional voluntary carbon market.

EMEA

EU Market: EUAs post auction-fuelled rise for second day

European carbon rose for a second day on Wednesday, bolstered by another strong auction showing.

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

No rip-offs, please – A recent South Korean article predicting that South Korea would definitely link its ETS to China’s emerging market has fuelled some speculation lately, but a government official on Wednesday told the Korea Times that Korea has not at all made up its mind on the matter, pointing out that the Chinese market has not yet begun and that it remains to be seen how it will work. Making a reference to gold trading, but really expressing doubt about the stringency of the Chinese market, he said: “If a bar from one country is 100% pure while the other just 80% pure, the trade would be a rip-off.”

Alaska action – Alaska’s independent governor, Bill Walker, has signed an order for state officials to draw up a climate change mitigation and adaptation strategy for the vulnerable state, with recommendations to be submitted by Sep. 1, 2018. It remains uncertain how far-reaching the plan will be as Walker stressed that the state would continue to responsibly develop its fossil fuel resources and use some of the revenue from that to fund climate action. (The Hill)

Vortex delayed – The snows of Siberia are pointing to a late start to the US East Coast winter, and little chance of a bone-chilling Polar Vortex arriving before January, Bloomberg reports. At least that’s the conclusion of Judah Cohen, director of seasonal forecasting at the consultancy Verisk Analytics, who monitors October snowfall across Siberia to predict what winter will bring to the rest of the world. While his method is not without detractors, his forecast is closely watched by natural gas traders and others who depend on anticipating the weather. The arrival of frigid Arctic air released by the polar vortex can supercharge demand for the heating and power plant fuel.

Don’t have a cow – Leaders of the world’s developed countries have been urged by the FAIRR global investor network to prioritise emission reductions in their livestock sectors at the COP23 climate negotiations starting in Bonn next week. They point out that livestock sector is responsible for approximately 14.5% of all GHGs, more than the global transport sector, but no rich nation has a plan to tackle its output in an NDC. Agriculture mitigation has often been a taboo subject at UN climate talks as countries regard food security as an inviolable subject.

Just a formality – Exchange operator ICE on Wednesday proposed amendments to its EUA and EUAA auction procedures to bring them into line with EU regulations.  The bourse, which hosts fortnightly auctions on behalf of the UK government, removed wording stating that it may “at its discretion set any reserve price” in the sales, and replaced it with text stipulating that the auction would be cancelled if the clearing price is significantly under the secondary market price during and immediately before the bidding window.  Experts said there’s little difference between the two procedures, and that the move was a formality to ensure adherence to to requirements set out in the EU’s auction regulations.  ICE was earlier this year selected by the UK government to continue hosting its carbon auctions.

And finally… Make Earth Great Again – Scottish craft brewery BrewDog on Wednesday released a new beer aimed at sparking awareness and start a conversation over climate change, to remind global leaders that efforts to fight it need to be prioritised. Make Earth Great Again is a 7.5% ABV saison “containing ingredients from areas of the world most affected by our changing planet”, including water from melted Polar ice caps and cloudberries from the threatened Arctic. “We then fermented the saison at a higher temperature than our other beers as a metaphor for global warming.” The label features a laser-toting cyborg Donald Trump battling a polar bear.  All proceeds from the beer’s sales will be donated to non-profit climate change campaigners 10:10. And not one for understated marketing initiatives, BrewDog launched the beer on Wednesday evening at one of its bars in east London, serving it from a replica life-sized polar bear.  Separately, CBS reports that due to increasingly harsh droughts in recent years, craft breweries in the US are struggling with a shortage of hops and other ingredients.

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